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I had these machines sitting by the hall entrance to my lab so I looked at them every day. I knew Brandi would decorate them but I kept thinking I should do something to make them draw attention to themselves.
1) My first thought was to add LED strips up the corners inside to light up the capsules. I already had some LED strips and an audio color controller. So I took measurements and printed a few mounts as a proof on concept. This would work but getting the wiring into the clear capsule container part of the machines would require a full tear down of the machine and Dremel tooling a path through the capsule distribution mechanism. Anyone that has ever had a chance to work on these machines knows that they are basically held together with one very long screw that screws into the bottom cast iron and runs all the way up through the chrome cap. There is a keyed lock that screws on to the other end of the screw locking the whole thing together. The Cap has to be opened to fill the machine and the capsule tank must be leaned back to open the front of the machine to get the tokens out. This was the fatal end of this Idea as Brandi's plan was to transport this to different venues and I couldn't have her wire and unwire the lights making sure that the wires didn't get pinched or cut while assembling the machines after she filled or transported them.
This would take more serious thought..... A month or two went by as I finished up some other projects and figured out what else I could do.
2) My second attempt was to stay outside the machines as much as possible and add some light sabers, figures, and such to the machines. I would add a controller box to the under side of the dual mounting bracket. The plan was to get a different reaction base on your choice of either the Repel or Empire machine. I did a design for a small smart MP3 player controller for the "Voice of the Mummy" project and thought I could have Yoda or Darth Vader say something from the movie based on your choice of machines. So I picked up some nice looking toy light sabers with the intention of adding LED strips inside the translucent blades. I also ordered a computer sound bar that I would be able to mount under the machines. My MP3 controller uses 5vdc so I needed a sound bar that would work off of the 5vdc supplied by a USB port.
Enter the TaoTronics Computer Speakers, Wired Computer Sound Bar, Stereo USB Powered Mini Soundbar Speaker for PC Tablets Desktop Cellphone Laptop(Upgrade) (Title taken from Amazon ;)
I needed to work out just how I would know which machine was selected. I took off the token mechanism and played with it to see how it worked.
Cam
Token
Flipper
There is a Cam used to allow you to turn the mechanism only once and not backwards that rotates with the handle on the front that rotates the distribution mechanism gear. I needed to make a bracket to hold a small limit switch that could be activated by the cam and not interfere with the token path as the handle is rotated.
Distribution
Mechanism
Gear
Handle
Not Activated
Activated
As I started to look at mounting everything to the bottom of the dual mounting plate that the machines were bolted to I realized that once again the process of disassembly for transportation was going to thwart my design. The stand must be removed to transport with a vehicle. It is a 2.5" pipe that screws in to a flange on the bottom of the dual mounting bracket. You must set the machines on top of this pipe and turn them so the pipe will screw into the bracket. So if I have a bunch of gear mounted to the bottom it will be a pain to align the pipe and the flange while holding the machines.Also the machines need to be transported sitting up and so they would be sitting on the equipment mounted to the bottom. Even more thought will be required......
The Rise of R2G2
