This project is all about dough. Ka-Ching is very important to society and living in this world. Do you want to see how much you really earn? Well, now that is possible with our very own design. Using materials you can find even in your own house, high quality wood, and both precision and accuracy, we are constructing a piggy bank that is in the form of a truck! This trucky bank of ours will be able to detect when the moolah has been inserted into the truck and will be able to light up its headlights as a result. We will be accomplishing this through a lot of hard work and time.

Step 1: Materials & Tools

4 LEDs (5mm)

Arduino Uno

6 Wheels MDF

Pinewood

Light Sensor

4 Magnets

2 Hinges

2 Dowel rods

Ramp for coin

Switch

Wire

Resistors

Buzzer

Tools:

Wood

Glue

Bandsaw

Drill Press

Screwdriver

Nails

Coping Saw

Step 2: Day 1

On day 1, we decided to use MDF to build our trucky bank. We cut out the sides and opening and closing of the back of the truck. We chose to use this type of material because of its size and flexibility to adapt and be manipulated.

Step 3: Day 2

Step 2: We realized it would be a better idea to make our trucky bank out of pine wood instead of MDF so we started cutting out those pieces for the back part of the truck. Because we were using a thicker material than we originally intended, we created a trucky bank that was larger than the original design was supposed to be.

Step 4: Day 3

Step 3:

We placed a hinge on the back door so that we can access the money once the truck is fully built. The hinge also would allow us to be able to efficiently change the battery for the circuit and make changes to the circuit if we ever needed to.We also figured out how to make a ramp for the coins to slide down once they pass through the coin slot. The purpose of the ramp is so that the coins would be able to go into the bank portion of the truck without getting in the way of where we will eventually install the circuit (below the ramp).

Step 5: Day 4

Step 4:
We hammered all of the sides together except for the top by using nails and we made a coin slot for the truck. We didn’t hammer the top down because then we wouldn’t be able to easily access the inside of the truck when installing the ramp and the circuit. We cut out pieces of styrofoam using the wire cutter to make the front of the truck. The front of a truck slopes downward, which is why we cut out different lengths of styrofoam. We measured the coin slot using the dimensions of a quarter, so because we used the biggest coin to measure it, any sized coins can go into our trucky bank.

Step 6: Day 5

Step 5:

Next, we drilled 4 holes in the back of the truck, below the coin slot. These holes are for the 4 LEDs that will go through the back of the truck. Because we already nailed the sides of the truck together, we couldn’t use the drill press to drill in these holes, so we had to use a drill for this.When we drilled the holes, we used a drill bit that was two different sizes, so that when we drilled in deeper, we would get a deeper hole (you can’t see this from the picture because it only shows the outside view). That way, the LEDs would be able to be shown from the outside, but there would also be enough room on the inside (where the hole was bigger) to fit the wires connecting to the LEDs and make sure those two wires don’t touch each other. If the two wires from the same LED touched, it could blow the whole circuit, so keep that in mind when you go to design the circuit.

Step 7: Day 6

We created a slot under the front of our truck to allow the wire to pass through. Make sure to not cut under the front piece too because then the cuts would be visible when you look at the truck from the front. The slots on the bottom aren’t visible because it is underneath the truck.

We also created small holes in the front piece so that the 4 LEDs could go through. We did the same process of using the drilling techniques from step 5, where we used a drill bit with two different sized diameters to get the bigger hole inside of the smaller hole to better accommodate the LEDs.

Step 8: Day 7

Step 7:

Today was the first day that we started to solder the circuit together. We started creating our circuit by creating a parallel circuit on a seperate breadboard. We did this so we could then use the model circuit we had to make a replica of the same parallel circuit and put it in our truck. We also started painting our truck today. Painting the truck in the earlier stages in important mainly because it gives you time after its dried to carry it around and keep working with it. We painted the truck red and black at first but then changed the front of it to a blue color. This is because we realized that the black would match the wheels of the truck, which wouldn’t look as good. As you can see from the first picture, the front of the truck had those two lines cut into it so that the wiring from the bottom could come up and into the front piece of the truck (which isn’t in the picture). We kept the front piece separate because we first had to install the circuit before attaching it to the rest of the front.

Step 9: Day 8

Step 8:

We completed the circuit. Our circuit contains connections that are both in series and in parallel. Our truck has green LEDs on the top row of the front and back of the truck, and yellow LEDs on the bottom row of lights on the front and back of the truck. We put the same color lights in series with one another on the back of the truck, but the different color LEDs were in parallel with each other. This is because if we had the whole circuit in series and if one light stopped working then the entire circuit would stop working so when in parallel we are able to have a full complete circuit even if one part fails.

Step 10: Last Day

Step 9: We had to add another hole into the side of the the truck to create a spot for the switch to turn lights on and off. We also used 3 thin metal pieces to attach the wheels to. Because the wire is most likely to long, we used tape to keep the wheels sturdy and placed it so the truck was able to move. After this we added the coin ramp back to the truck and was able to add in all of the light bulbs to the truck and used tape and hot glue to keep them in place. Then we added the top back onto the truck and hammered it down, then we attached the parts of the truck together the was it looks best. In the end you should have a truck that can move manually that is also a piggy bank where you can store your extra change and save up. This piggy bank should be able to light up if set up the same way in parallel circuits and carefully. (any part of this design may be edited for your convenience ex. Amount of LEDs, type of piggy bank, and specific designs).

Step 11: Reflection

Throughout this project, we learned lots of different things. We learned how to solder a circuit together, and learned how to create a parallel circuit. We also learned how to manage our time by splitting up our responsibilities and our workload. Some things we would like to change would be to make our circuit more accessible inside of the truck so we could easily change LEDs or batteries if they stopped working. We would also change it so that the truck could actually move so it could be both a piggy bank and a toy. A few things that we believe that was a strong part of our trucky bank was the structural design and the back portion of the truck. We spent a lot of time designing the ramp and the coin slot, so we are glad it turned out well.