The first new project I’ll be talking after Maker Faire Orlando is a sorting machine. The goal will be to sort skittles (or any uniformly shaped and colored candy) into separate cups. The project is heavily based on the fantastic work done by Willem Pennings on his blog which you can find here: https://willemm.nl/mm-skittles-sorting-machine/. There have been other sorting machines similar to this, but I think Willem’s looks the best and so that is the design I’ll be drawing from the most. Over the last week I’ve put together a parts list and begun to CAD the mechanical aspects of the project. Below you’ll find a link to my list of components and the cost so if you would also like to make one you have a good starting point. Once I finish modeling the system I’ll make the files available so that anyone can reproduce the project as well. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1la5NeMdJq9JeEP6mPAfT1UIemX3s4QXKkNj9bEyEvt4/edit?usp=sharing

The current state as of this post is here. Over the next few weeks I’ll be finishing this up and verifying that everything fits together correctly.