Real Life Coin Block

Do you love Mario Bros?
Did you always want to know how getting a coin by hitting a block feels?
Or maybe you just want a cool place to store your coins.
Well this is the perfect project for you!

Step 1: Materials

The main items you will need are the coins, I used the coins of my country. Any size would be good, but the bigger the better. Cardboard is also important in this project, almost everything is made using 3mm cardboard. For the sound I used an old 128mb MP3 player. A servo hacked for continuous rotation. If you buy a new servo, it will probably come with a few handles, I you use a old servo you will have to make your own handle. Two springs, one to push the coins up, and another to push the coins into the charger. A small piece of a thin plastic, like the kind used in credit cards. Electronic stuff is detailed in step 10.

Step 2: How Does It Work

First we have a stack of coins in a tube. A spring pushes them forward. Then a plastic lever grabs them one by one. The servo moves the lever down. And releases it making it push the coin up. It is controlled by a timer (based on a 555) that fires with each hit to the block. The timer must be configured to make the cursor of the servo turn 360 degrees. Also parallel to the timer button is the play button. So you will hear the sound of the coin every time you press it.
 

Step 3: Prepare the Mp3 Player

Easy step, open your mp3 player and find the play button, solder two wires to it and then solder a switch to this wires, in order to make an extension of the play button.
You have to make an empty folder with just the sound of the coin, so each time you press the button you heard the sound of the coin.

Step 4: Electronic Boards

The two circuits were made on separate boards.
One is used as a timer. Is responsible for making the servo rotate 360 degrees each time it activates.
The second is an amplifier. It is used to listen to the mp3 player sound on a common speaker. The two boards work on 4.8 volts from rechargeable batteries.

Timer:
1 - NE555
1 - 100nf capacitor
2 - 1k resistors
1 - 470uf capacitor
1 - tip41c transistor
1 - 10k preset

Amplifier:
1 - LM386
2 - 100nf capacitor
1 - 100uf capacitor
1 - 10uf capacitor
1 - 10k resistor.
1 - 1k reistor.

You can find the pdf file for making this boards in the intro step, or just use a perfboard.

Step 5: Coin Tube

Finding a cardboard tube for the perfect size of the coins can be hard, so we are making our own cardboard tube.
Take some coins and tape them together. Cover the half of a paper with glue and roll the coins there.
Then repeat this with a few more papers. When the glue is dry cut about 50mm of the center of this tube.

Step 6:

Another easy step. The credit card plastic should be cut like in the follow image. The size is 78mm x 18 mm.
If you have to make a handle for the servo make it 38mm long.

Step 7: Prepare the Top

The top of the box is the main piece of it. It is where almost everything is attached. Be sure that the hole for the coin is big enough for a coin but small enough that it won't let two coins out at the same time. Use the image as a guide for cutting your shapes. Glue everything and let it dry.

Step 8: Inside

Now install the servo and its handle. Attach the the leveler, with a nut and a bolt.
Then secure the spring with a piece of wire.
Paste the tube for the coins in front of the hole and secure it with some pieces of cardboard. Now you can test if everything is going to work.
The next videos will show you how to test it.

Step 9: Assemble the Box

The box is made of 3mm cardboard and an external measurement of 120 mm.
It can be made larger but you would have to enlarge the images of the sides.
Paste guides to 3mm from the top. These guides will provide support for the cover, which is not glued.
The back is open, you only have two guides for the sliding mechanism (see step 11).

Step 10: Decorate

Print the pictures and glue them to the sides of the box.
The design can be modified, assuming that the sides are of bricks or question mark.
Color the edge of the cardboard with a black marker.
The pdf files for these pictures can be found in step 1.

Step 11: Slider

The slide mechanism is what allows the box to go up and down.
It has to be firmly secured to the wall. It will also be the support for the timer switch and play switch.
The next pictures will show you how to do it.

Step 12: Finish

Use hot melt glue to attach the switches to the sliding mechanism.
Put everything inside the box. Only the battery and speaker are attached, other things can be loose.
Put the back of the box on before securing it to the wall to test if the box can go up and down.