For you university students (or those using laudromats), you are probably very familiar with those coin-operated washers and dryers. Fortunately, there is a way to get around paying these steep prices in under one minute.
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all you need for this hack are ordinary plastic coffee shop stir sticks. I find that the thinner they are the easier they are to use. Thinner can also mean that they break easier, so if you are worried about leaving evidence behind (i.e. only to have your grumpy landlord to find out), then try to find slightly thicker ones.
In the end, you will need as many stir sticks as you will need coins, so a wash of $0.50 requires 2 sticks, as long as there are two 25c slots for quarters. It is important that the sticks fit within the slots, otherwise your instructable promptly ends here.
The stir sticks in the picture here are probably too round but they give you an idea of what I'm referring to.
In the end, you will need as many stir sticks as you will need coins, so a wash of $0.50 requires 2 sticks, as long as there are two 25c slots for quarters. It is important that the sticks fit within the slots, otherwise your instructable promptly ends here.
The stir sticks in the picture here are probably too round but they give you an idea of what I'm referring to.
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I rent a house, and already own a washer and dryer, so had the instructable been called "How to Bypass a Public Laundry machine" I would have never went to it.
But since I'm on the subject again, the owner of the machine does NOT owe you free laundry any more than the soda machine owns you free soda or a newspaper stand owes you free newspapers; I don't care how much they charge you in rent. It's not like anyone pays my laundry bills because my rent is so high. Take the time to think about the fact that every time you "make" a dollar that you didn't earn, that's one dollar the owner earned but didn't make.
There, now that wasn't too rude, now was it?
Any luck with rigging this? we have the same problem.
To make the prongs, I cut equal lengths of hangar, straightened them, and then made a P shape loop at the end. It's important that it's just big enough to wrap around another hangar wire, loose enough to spin but there should be no play, or else they wont sit level on the torsion ring. I then took a long piece of hangar and bent it into a rectangle. I made a hook shape on mine so that I can pop it open later to add more prongs, and I spent some time gently bending it so that the rectangle was flat, and that when all the pins were sitting on the ring, that they sat level.
Please wear eye protection when bending and cutting hangar wire! Also be aware of your hands and don't use too much force in case your needle nose pliers slip and take a chunk out of your finger!
Thanks!
My machines are gated. :(
Push all the way while empty. Pull back a bit so that gates are half open. Put in the McDonalds coffee stirring sticks as instructed in intractable. Push in the tray all the way (it will now go 100 percent in). Pull back fast (maybe try pulling on stick at same time so they don't get stuck).
I have a $1.25 wash and $.75 dryer. Sangandongo's trick with the zip-tie's worked much much better.
What he forgot to mention however, was that you need to trim the end of the zip-tie that go's into the coin-slots.
Cut no more than half of the tip off! This way is much quicker, because it is in one "pretty" solid piece. 'Free Laundry For The Crafty!!!!!'
Basically you put a penny in the coin return slot, hold in the return button, and flick the penny into the slot....if you can get it in there, it counts as a quarter (I will personally test whether this works in a few days)