coin sorting machine

[jnb1994]

Does anyone use a machine to sort out the good coins from bad such as copper pennies from zinc and silver from clad?

I'm thinking of building my own so I can sort through the good and bad stuff without having to physically look at the coins. I have a knex motor and I think I can get the materials I would need for around 20 bucks. And if my estimates are correct I could go through a box in about 10-15 minutes, maybe even less. With that kind of speed I could theoretically get up to 4 boxes done in an hour. Averaging two silver per box that's like 8 silver in a hour give or take.

I'm getting excited looking at those numbers haha... if only banks would order them

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[Generic_Lad]

Yes. A lot of people use Ryedale sorters and Madwest uses his home-built "Franken-Sorter" to sort various denominations

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/c...-built-cent-sorter-franken-sorter-update.html

I'm sure there's a better post with more info on his sorter, but this thread was the first one I could find

 

[jnb1994]

Ya I saw something about that one. I've decided to build one. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

[bradarv90]

I'd love to hear how you are doing it. As a programmer, I've always wanted to build my own, but I just don't even know where to start.

 

[madwest]

I'm on my 2nd generation sorter . . .

. . . put together . . .



Features:
- . . .
- . . . pass, yet . . .
- Modified . . . to eliminate . . . jam . . .
- Speed control (I only use FAST)
- . . . to catch . . .
- . . . the Zn rejects . . .

I'll post pics/video when it gets put back together. That's days away though because life has been getting in the way of the hobby.

I've also started making a 3rd one of an entirely different design. When I get that one done, I'll put all three next to each other for a video. I'll probably have 2 doing cents and one doing dimes. After the video, Franken-Sorter will be disassembled and go into the parts drawer for a well deserved rest.

 

[BCD11]

I'd love to hear how you are doing it. As a programmer, I've always wanted to build my own, but I just don't even know where to start.

If you're serious about wanting to build your own sorter I will be glad to help. I've built two with the help of madwest, and members from other forums, and this is a way to return the favor.

The parts & pieces for my sorters were bought on ebay, at Goodwill, a junk store, a couple of slot machine parts suppliers, and snared from my neighbor's garbage can. After getting all the parts and pieces together and marching in the same direction I can single sort a $25 box of pennies in 7 1/2 - 8 minutes.

Like madwest, I've rigged one sorter with two comparitors so coins are double sorted on one run. This machine I run at 200-225 pennies per minute. I will be adding a second comparitor to the other sorter so I can increase the coins sorted per minute without increasing the individual sorters' speed.

They ain't pretty but the sorters will plow through pennies and quarters fast enough to suit me. As I said, others were a huge help to me and I'll be glad to help you with yours if you don't mind having something that looks like a Rube Goldberged ugly duckling.

 

[jnb1994]

I'm not that technically inclined when it comes to machines and stuff like that but I was going to borrow someone elses design I saw on youtube. Basically I would attach a circular disk with penny sized holes in it to a basic motor. The disk spins and the pennies are fed into the hole through a funnel. Then the pennies go over levers with counterweights. The copper coins fall into one bin and the zincs fall into the other. I would make different disks so it could sort any type of coin, not just pennies. Depending on how quickly the lever resets I could get up to 4 coins sorted per second (that's the speed the motor goes - if the lever doesn't go back up quick enough then all the coins would fall into the same bin. Next week I'm going to go to lowes to pick up some supplies. I'll keep everyone posted

 

[BCD11]

I'm not that technically inclined when it comes to machines and stuff like that but I was going to borrow someone elses design I saw on youtube. Basically I would attach a circular disk with penny sized holes in it to a basic motor. The disk spins and the pennies are fed into the hole through a funnel. Then the pennies go over levers with counterweights. The copper coins fall into one bin and the zincs fall into the other. I would make different disks so it could sort any type of coin, not just pennies. Depending on how quickly the lever resets I could get up to 4 coins sorted per second (that's the speed the motor goes - if the lever doesn't go back up quick enough then all the coins would fall into the same bin. Next week I'm going to go to lowes to pick up some supplies. I'll keep everyone posted

Definitely keep us posted!

Given your description, it's the same path I started down when I first learned of this addiction. I had a heck of a good time trying different designs and actually came up with a contraption that was semi-accurate by feeding pennies from four separate Walmart oil change funnels into 3/4" feed tubes then onto a revolving plexiglas disk with 18 holes drilled through it. The pennies travelled over one of four fulcrum type gizmos that were counter balanced to allow the zincs to proceed to reject holes but tripped when the coppers moved over the fulcrums. It was a rollicking good time to watch but not real accurate.

Some points that might save you some aggravation. When you drill your holes in the revolving disk MAKE SURE THEY ARE DEAD ON AS FAR AS BEING ALL THE SAME DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE DISK. MAKE SURE THE CENTER POINT OF YOUR LEVERS IS AS CLOSE TO THE SAME DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE DISK AS POSSIBLE. ALSO MAKE YOUR HOLES AS SMALL AS POSSIBLE WHILE STILL ABLE TO ACCEPT YOUR COINS. Trust me, the laws of physics will rear their ugly heads if the your measurements are too far out of whack or your holes are larger than need be. There isn't much difference in the weight of high copper and high zinc pennies and for your levers to be effective the pennies should hit them in the same spot every time. You can fine tune the levers to some extent by your counterweight placement but, try to be as accurate as possible in the hole drilling and lever placement.

One thing that really made fine tuning the lever counterweight easy was using a small rubber stopper (cork shaped), with a wire through it, and the wire attached to the end of the lever. The lever trip point could be very precisely set by sliding the rubber stopper toward or away from the balance point of the lever. I found this much more precise than piling washers on a bolt like in a the Youtube video.

As I said, my Rube Goldberg operation was not real accurate, in part because pennies can vary by weight due to wear and dirt. So a dirty zinc would trip the lever and a worn copper would slide over and into the reject hole. But, that was just my result. You could very well come up with a design that solves that problem.

GOOD LUCK and definitely let us know how you are coming.

 

[jarlbartar]

I am currently working on my own, following Madwest's design. I only have 1 comparitor that I am still working out the settings and box positioning so I can get it just right so as not to cross Zn and CU. I've got my hopper and second comparitor on order so I can piece them all together. Been stockpiling cents to feed the beast when I finally get it put together!

 

[BCD11]

I am currently working on my own, following Madwest's design. I only have 1 comparitor that I am still working out the settings and box positioning so I can get it just right so as not to cross Zn and CU. I've got my hopper and second comparitor on order so I can piece them all together. Been stockpiling cents to feed the beast when I finally get it put together!

Good for you!

Madwest is an EXCELLENT source for guidance. He has helped me a LOT.

If you do a good job building your sorter you will fly through your penny stockpile.

Keep me posted on your progress.

 

[jnb1994]

I went to lowes today and found what i'm going to use for the disk. I bought a no parking sign for a couple bucks and cut it to size and drilled penny sized holes in it and tested it out and it works perfectly. That was the hardest part for me since I had no clue what I could use that would work. Now that I have the disk I'm going to attempt to build the rest of it and figure out how to get the levers to work.

You may be a CRH if you buy a five dollar no parking sign with the hopes that it will make you hundreds of dollars in profit selling pennies on ebay

 

[BCD11]

You may be a CRH if you buy a five dollar no parking sign with the hopes that it will make you hundreds of dollars in profit selling pennies on ebay

LOL! "Improvising"...the foundation of most progress; and when improvising fails...copy. New Chinese proverb.

Getting the levers masterminded was the second most fun thing when I cobbled together my whirlyrounder. Most fun was watching the thing work...or at least try to. Actually it did a semi-decent job.

If you go the washer route, as on Youtube, be sure to have a good array, as in size, of small washers on hand for the counterbalance. As I mentioned earlier, a wire mounted on the opposite end of the lever from the penny area with a small rubber stopper that slides is proved to be an excellent way to fine tune the counterbalance.


Good luck and keep us posted.