So I have always wanted a single player coin pusher. Most pushers you see these days are big 3/4/6/8 player machines, and they take up alot of space!

Over the past few years there has been some really good single player coin pushers hit the arcades. Machines like Pacman Ball and Magic 7s. One of these would be perfect for me but the price tag of around £1000 just puts me off just a little bit.

After looking over youtube at various homemade coin pushers I have decided to make my own. I am going to build it inside an old fruit machine cabinet. I already have one of these so my first job is simple..... I am going to completely strip the machine down so all I have is an empty fruit machine cabinet. The machine I have decided to kill is Mdms Safe Cracker Club. It's something that I picked up many years ago. It was never 100% working. I never liked clubbers that much so it's going to be my choice!


 

 The above clip is the machine, all working bar the sound the the alpha display. Since the video was taken the machine has pretty much stopped working. Over the next few weeks or so I am going to try various motors, showing how you can get them running. The first thing I thought of was using a big fan. That has a nice big motor but will it have enough power for what I need?




UPDATE 26/03/2013

 Right. I have a couple of ideas on what to use for the motor. First thing I though was an big fan I had that broke! Now this thing just isn't man enough for the job. It's a shame as it was a good size, fitted in the cab very well and even had a piece of metal that came off it that would go into a frilled hole to secure it! Never mind. Next up is a window wiper motor. I bought a rear subaru wiper motor. I was unsure if this would be ok but it was only 99p+£4 p&p off ebay I thought i'd give it a shot...

Well, it came the other day. I got my power supply that powered an old external hard drive (out put DC 12V 1.2AMP), I cut the 'plug' at the end off it to leave me 2 exposed wires. Now, I don't have a clue about anything like this. I didn't really know what would happen when plugged into the wall socket and then turned on! I got he wiper motor and cut the plug/socket off that too. That gave me 4 exposed wires. I powered to 12v power supply (and didn't blow up or electrocute myself) and went around the wires, just see see what happened. Eventually I found the right wires. Great speed and perfect for the job..... but it's a rear wiper motor! This is no good. It just turns one way then back again. It does not spin round and round. Turned everything off and put it aside, got back on ebay and have ordered a front window wiper motor, also so LED strips.

Once these arrive, I will do a short video showing it working (provided it's not naff)! If the rear wiper motor is anything to go by then the front motor will be perfect, and surprisingly easy to get up and running. The fan motor might one day get a use. Have you seen the type of pusher that flicks the coins from the bottom instead of being dropped in from the top? Well, I am pretty sure that fan motor would beable to do this with ease!


UPDATE 01/04/2013

Ok, the motor arrived and it works! To start with I had a 12v 1.2amp power supply. This does power the pusher but just not enough. If I am fair it's no good at all! So back to the loft I go, in search of another power supply. I find an old sega megadrive supply. This out puts 10v 0.85amp. The spped on this is great, very good. Only problem is it's over heating so it's a no no.

So back to ebay and a 12v 5amp is bought for £5.99. This has also arrived now. Plugged in and this is now spinning too fast!

I have had a search for devices that will slow the motor down. I will report back once I have found something suitable, or a power supply that has less power and at the same time does not overheat!


UPDATE 16/04/2013

So I have got the coin pusher pretty much up and running with the old 12v 1.2amp power supply. Decided to stick with this as the speed is just about right.



I have the LEDs all in as you can see. Just need to fix those in place. They are just hanging there at the moment!

Also, I have fixed a couple of old draw runners to the pusher which keeps everything in line and gives the motor less to do. I have also installed a metal lip at the front so the coins build up.

Things I need to do is,

- Pusher, now draw runners are fixed to the under side, I need to fix something to the front as there's a gap.
- Design the area where the coins are going to fall down. This will be either pins so the coins bounce about on the way down or 'alleys' so the coins go down to the same place each time.
- Make something where the coins go in
- Decide to get some perspex to seal the unit. Not overly sure if I will do this or not. I suspect those will cost a few quid and this is strictly as cheap as possible project. Plus, it will be only be myself and my children who will be playing it anyway.

UPDATE 16/04/2013

I have taken a few videos along the way. I found a few on youtube but the information you need is not always to hand.

Below are various clips I took as the project went along.


Here is my empty cab. Just a short clip to show how a fruit machine is perfect for a coin pusher!



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Some more of the cab. Showing cash boxes and so on.



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The rear wiper motor which turned out to be no good at all! You live and learn.



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Making use of the cash boxes and using some scrap metal to divert the coins into those cash boxes.



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Now those traps are in, time to test them!



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More trap testing.



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Connecting the LED strips up to old power supplies/phone chargers.



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Powering up the FRONT wiper motor with a sega megadrive power supply.



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And finally hooking the motor upto the 'pusher' past of the coin pusher.