Automated Small Parts Counting Machine with Arduino

A machine that counts and sorts set quantities of parts into individual cups- to replace a human [me] doing this repetitive task. Machine is automated. Once turned on it will count the predetermined set of small nuts (#4-40, #6-32, and #8-32) until completion. This machine is very early in design and inherently also very time consuming to develop. Just sharing my ideas to help other DIY-ers that may have the same redundant task of counting parts.
Weighing parts (the crimp connectors) is always an option, but I am trying to automate the task as an end goal, so counting seemed like the correct first step. It's a learning process.
Update! Version 2.0 here: • Automatic Small Part C...
My website: www.retrobuiltgames.com

[@Frank-yb4zd]

very nice work. I love seeing person solve a problem with an Arduino!

[@graiggutowski2788]

Nicely done. I like the crimp connector sifting device

[@shaggybuffalo9377]

I hope one day I can engineer stuff like this with the knowledge I get, this is really cool

[@imajeenyus42]

Love that sifter board idea!

[@peoplethesedaysberetarded]

Hey, my hat is off to you! Great project there, friend!

[@pg9112471]

Very cool. Like your thought process on this. Wish you the best of luck.

[@Sanatan_humanity]

wonderfully done, well done

[@robertlam88]

Wow really impressive! Thanks for sharing.

[@jasongiaco]

This is really impressive. Thank you very much

[@igorandradepontocom]

Amazing! Good job.

[@shubhammakreja1912]

That was educational!

[@santiago81726]

Awesome! Very nice. Congratulations

[@RetroBuiltGames]

Thank you very much!

[@Belioyt]

Thanks for sharing this. I love this.

[@CarlossIkee]

Very nice project!

[@mrtech6644]

Cool project!

[@PilotPlater]

of everything it seems like the crimp connector sorter is the most efficient to load and use. Think the electronic sorter is crazy cool too. For items where you don't have 30+ of them, you could make a similar jig as what you did for the crimps, but have it sectioned into 3 or 4 different areas to drop into 3 or 4 different cups when you slide the tray open, paralelling it can make it even more efficient.

[@JeMasLT]

how awesome is that! nice!

[@abhijitrashinkar]

Good work, keep it up, cheers....

[@NikitaLab]

Thanks for the video, helped a lot with what I'm working on but to count out washers for M3 screws (they're TINY).

[@RetroBuiltGames]

happy to help. check out my v2, might work for any round [metal] part

[@C4C96]

Awesome video!!

[@Zetor42]

Love the nailgun in Mario Bros at 1:02 :D

[@MyBigThing2010]

square hole in your sort gear that allows the red component to just fit in (opposite corner to corner) will work on your current setup for the ones you need 30-36 of

[@ashish1993abk]

3:56 You should mount the magnet there so the nuts get to the place

[@mehdibenhmida9552]

that 's what we call a perfect job.

[@saifal-badri]

great use for Arduino love it ;)

[@ganis6020]

now this is nice

[@landonferguson7282]

I could use one of these machines later on, once I start my small business that i'm planning on making.

[@thenews25]

Superb bro...keep it up💐👍

[@shortyumpire]

Commercial machines use vibrators to turn the nuts on their flat sides. Then they push them up a sprial against the outer wall to a counter and they fall off into a bin. Maybe a vibrating platform that lays the nuts flat and then feeds them into your rotating disc. Great machines!

[@darth1]

Good job!

[@cristian-bull]

I love this.

[@joebenoit7422]

One nut weighs x grams. One connector weighs y grams. If each kit contains 8 nuts and 38 connectors, then 8 nuts and 38 connectors equals 8x+ 38y grams. Might be good to sample your final kits to ensure the machine counted right.

[@beam664]

awesome build, i'm new in the arduino world hope one day i will be able to make things like that haha

[@FunctionalDesign]

Awesome project! Also the manual connector counter was surprising and great! How would you sort bolts with the machine? Next design phase I guess. Thanks for sharing!

[@brocktechnology]

I like a complicated Arduino project as much as the next guy but looks to me like you've reached the point where it's time to hire a fulfillment house.

[@expataudio]

I've been working on something very similar, but trying to count M3 screws! (5mm long). I couldn't get them to fit nicely through my opto interrupter. However, your sifter board is AWESOME. :)

[@tamgaming9861]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I have to build my own machine too, and i am atm a noob. Very inspiring to see, what is possible with an arduino. For your Question, how to solve your problem. EASY by weight. Let them bring in different containers in a circle, and mix gram by gram to the middle container, so that at the end your result is x-gram what you need, and you know x-gram are 10 peaces for eg. - then the containers opens at his bottom and let it drop to the joghurt bottle :-) (sorry my bad english) I know that priciple is done too in the food industrie. I have at the moment the problem that i have no startpoint, only solutions :-)

[@MyBigThing2010]

you could also build a servo kicker on the opposite side to kick the cup onto a scale, weigh, verify weight within a selected spec, if it's light/heavy signal a stop and a buzzer, then wait for correct weight parameter and consecutive button press to continue operations

[@jarodmorris611]

Why move the cup? Build the scale into the platform holding the cups.

[@chrismr3972]

Most of industry uses vibration. Hemispherical bowls with a spiral shelf around the outside with 3 coils organised as 3 phases to shake the bowl so that the parts (from the centre) 'walk' around the shelf to the top. They have arms and / or low bridges to force ones that are the wrong way round back to the middle so the ones coming out are the right way round. They do it that way because it is to simple - and works with sticky rubber parts. Nothing to wear out being the other obvious reason to do it that way.

[@riccardopeltretti9191]

Hi random viewer here, that is very cool Sir! Random suggestion: the combination of vibrating plate and a narrow slide could help you line those clamps up. Then you could have them slide to a wheel from the side instead of perpedicularly and pick them up from there. Hope I made some sense, bye ;)

[@simond.2593]

Great video

[@mamdobreklapki0]

brilliant! :)

[@jasum437]

You're good !

[@h.k.p.4714]

wondeful ! great !

[@rverm1000]

Nice!

[@ewap-by-daniel]

Great, I like your PoP / Prototype. It makes me think about a low-cost, open source hardware part counter. What do you think, would be this an idea?

[@sajovicd]

Do you have some intructibles for DIY project. Or is it possible to buy a code from you? I saw I can buy arduino shield and LCD from your web page.

[@jesterolog7]

Cool device

[@RetroBuiltGames]

thank you

[@JeMasLT]

Please do tutorial how you making these wood boards. What software, basics for joints and so. I would like to do some experiments, and then I could cut them in special shops.

[@1_HighDuke]

Wouldn't it be more efficient to make the inclination of the sorting/pickup wheel more horizontal? I'm sure you've thought of this and I'm curious why you chose that fairly steep angle for it over a flatter one.

[@zachburke8906]

1_HighDuke the angle helps them land vertically by sliding down.

[@bwoogie]

on the connectors you could always use weight, just keep feeding them one by one until they match the desired weight. that is, if you can either figure out how to make a digital scale, or hack one.

[@1_HighDuke]

It's really easy to make an Arduino scale using a load cell and amplifier circuit ($5 together). And yes, I would use a weighing method too, esp for irregularly-shaped parts.

[@SpaghettiEnterprises]

I'm thinking manually load the things(to be counted) into a tube and use a solenoid to push them out a slot in the bottom. kind of like a gravity fed upside-down pez situation. idk.

[@johnnaskalski1295]

Nice work, was thinking have you tried 3d printing a custom spoon/fork with pokeyoke features for crimp connectors.

[@RetroBuiltGames]

in what context is the spoon/fork used with crimp connectors?

[@j4n83benja]

Hello! someone know where can i find the code for this machine? i already searched in his website but i couldn't find it

[@lebalusch4463]

@ryan Bates. just an idea but instead of trying to get items into tiny holes and then into cups and then bags would it not have just been easier to just weigh the amount that you needed?

[@adamwagner7105]

You just reinvented something that's exactly already out there! Congrats! I've done that a few times myself. What you built here is essentially what we use for reloading ammo. We use a bullet and a separate brass feeder. Your design for the nut counter is almost identical to the plate and process for the brass. The bullets work slightly differently. Watch a video on "bullet" and "case" feeders for ammo reloading and you'll see the high similarity. Put a light gate or something on the drop tube in the feeder and interrupt the switch when your count is right and viola! Same thing. Neat, though. I'm researching a way now to make a counter for loading the finished ammo into boxes (for less than $25k).

[@abdulazizelsharimy3380]

Can I get the design and measurement of the dimensional dimensions in the project and the map of the electrical circuit and thank you for the effort

[@CraigHissett]

This is great! I love the design for your custom Arduino- can I get the boards anywhere?

[@RetroBuiltGames]

www.retrobuiltgames.com/diy-kits-shop/electronics-non-arcade/

[@asimbhuta3820]

Do you or anyone reading this know where I can purchase the IR trigger you have used? I am based in the UK and the ones I keep coming across have a very small trigger gap i.e. 5mm max. I need something closer to 15mm-20mm

[@totalys]

You can build a large funnel and use vibration + gravity to make the parts fit linear tubes. Then, it would be easier to count them. But since you have such a nice prototype it may not worth to change at this point. Congrats! It is very nice.

[@chrisdavis3055]

I really like your ingenuity - great job! I feel your pain, I sell electronic kits and I need to count out parts like LEDs, resistors, transistors, etc. I don't know if I could adapt your system to work with those odd-shaped items. What do you think about using a seed counter? They're just a small table-top vibratory counter for agriculture.

[@RetroBuiltGames]

That's a great idea. I've be redesigning this machine but using a Rx pill counter style design. It's definitely a challenge.

[@HacksterIo]

This is awesome! Sharing now. Any chance you can add tutorial to Hackster?!

[@shubhamthakor7062]

how do you come to know about this project ?? and program is made by your own ??

[@alexinnitro2]

Hey ZSauce, Mitchell here...

[@microdesigns2000]

Industrial sorting methods may "be a mess", but they also are intended to sort at way higher speeds and usually in some intended orientation. The rotary feeder shown in this video is sometimes called a pocket feeder, usually used to sort difficult parts because they cost more to build. A small vibratory would be able to singulate the parts in this video. I saw a 3D-printed feeder bowl for nuts here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:1313337 Nice job on your machine!

[@debrajacobsparkerson599]

Wow

[@RyanNeufeld]

You should have a link to the cabinets you sell in the description. I am interested in buying one.

[@RetroBuiltGames]

done

[@RyanNeufeld]

Dude, you have some cool stuff!!

[@dapoopta]

Is there a place to download the arduino code

[@cumuk1]

Yoğurt dedi yoğurt dedi

[@_qry]

for me as a 15 year old diy maker its very difficult to get a nice chassis like you have. can you explain how you created this wood thing? looks like cnc but i dont think it is.. pls answer ;)

[@zachburke8906]

_qry laser cutter

[@Juanruizsalamanca]

un proyecto muy bueno mi mas enhorabuena amigo, un saludo desde mi canal

[@satrah101]

Hello Ryan, is there a way to load cups. and reload to next station, Say from part A to part b, and so forth, Then when all parts are filled, it is weighted for accuracy. project code maybe to big, i,am still learning this, currently planing for paper folder. you design helped alot will keep you up to date, all the best. P.S yum yogurt going to buy some now, 8 cups. have to start your project some where. may as well start with the cups of yogurt.

[@RetroBuiltGames]

Hi Wayne. It's possible. A ramp placed below the cups could be used to push the cups upwards out of the carousel, then redirected. Another sloped ramp under the cups could also push the cups onto a scale to weight them. I do not know of any [affordable] precision scales that you can interface with via I/O, that is the tricky part with measuring weight. Good luck with your project!

[@satrah101]

how high precision scales do you need. what were the weight per cup of product (nuts).

[@RetroBuiltGames]

The nuts in shown in the video (my guess) weigh between 0.5 - 3 grams. I have other parts (nylon spacers) that weight ~0.02 grams.

[@ropkazip1236]

why do you need to count these nuts?

[@shortyumpire]

Hi is building and selling the video games he presented. The machine is for that buisness.

[@Deqster]

How do you deal with the licensing rights on all the old video games? I mean those are still under copyright aren't they? It seems like no big deal if you're building your own retropi, but if you're packaging and selling kits with the software included...not sure you are... but that seems like you're at particular risk for getting called out. I'm not gonna do it though. :)

[@vladiklass1890]

3:48 what were the reasons that the first design didnt work out? :)

[@RetroBuiltGames]

to count a different sized nut/washer, the sorting disc had to be changed. this was more trouble than it was worth when i knew a revision 2.0 would fix a long list of other grievances.

[@gamebangla7169]

I need all eliktrical divais name, plz I will try this job, show my collage skill competition project. plz help me

[@adithmart]

Ryan, I want to count to five and then have a stepper rotate a1/4 of a turn. Then repeat with an arduino. Will you give me some sample code to play with? I am in stage one, but I ordered a bench top power supply, soldering station, resistors, diodes, capacitors, bread boards, jumper leads (male and female) as well as other items. I purchased a small stepper motor also. I need some kind of code to manipulate and play with. Count to five and then step....

[@zachburke8906]

More information is needed. In the most simple way, you could use delay(5000); And then use a library to rotate the stepper motor 90 degrees.

[@adithmart]

Delay stops the entire program

[@adithmart]

I want to count five input signals on a single input pin lets say from a 5 volt signal that occurs every 1-2 seconds (but never an exact time) . Then rotate a stepper 180 deg (100 steps). Then repeat. I built an automated machine at work and now I want to add this function to the machine. (count five parts then rotate a stepper 100 steps). Thank You Zach

[@sunxisunknows9697]

Can the Arduino run for 24 7 at room temperature ?

[@zachburke8906]

Sunxis Unknows yes

[@adithmart]

Ryan Bates PLEASE!!! post me some kind of code that I have some variables that I can manipulate...The internet has no real samples of code. The internet just seems to show how to plug in wires.

[@railgap]

I ached to see how complicated you made this. You need two things: a precision scale and a vibratory feeder. There are good reasons why literally everyone does parts counting that way. It's a solved problem.

[@RetroBuiltGames]

literally everyone does not do it with vibration and scales. optical and magnetic field detection are common. check out my version 2 of this.

[@mrlawilliamsukwarmachine4904]

I found this searching for something to use to count jigsaw 🧩 piece counting. I sell jigsaws online. 1000 piece sometimes!

[@j.a.harvilla2819]

(sigh)...it's just cups 5:12

hey Ryan, i want to automate my window covers (they are not blinds, they're like metal doors. i have 5 in my room and it's a pain to open and close everyday due to placement.) how would you automate it?

[@Fifury161]

I'm impressed and Kudos to you - however isn't it a little over engineered? How much time did you spend creating this versus manually counting out the parts? But hey thanks for sharing your ideas, inspiration can be had from your toil.

[@calebmonkey1560]

hi

[@kisswine1]

hi RyanI like to know if you could help me with my player 1 and player 2 on my pi????? is there a email I can send you to tell you what I have and can't get the player2 joy and the 6 buttons to work....I hope you can help me or how can I give you my email thank you jim

[@irszgatti]

awesome

[@shubhammakreja1912]

That was educational!