I haven't done my blog in a while because I was sick 1 week and forgot another, but I made a lot of progress on my basketball project. First of all, I bought plastic capsules with a diameter of 1 inch, but those were way too small and didn't even fit one Jolly Rancher. I got ones with a diameter of 2 inches and now I'm able to fit 2 or 3 Joly Ranchers in one capsule. I had to keep adjusting the size of the turning wheel trying to get it to dispense only 1 capsule at a time perfectly, and I'm pretty sure I got it. I printed the different components in layers and glued them together, but I kept having to add more layers so that way the bigger capsules fit. Eventually, everything was put together and working expect for the wheel, which is the most important piece. I was using a small metal rod I found in the supply closest to turn the wheel, but I had a lot of trouble keeping it from spinning on it's own. At one point it worked, but it never stayed in place. I tried to hot glue it in but that still didn't do anything, then with some help from Mr. L I bent the rod to make it more like a lever, but that didn't stop it from moving on it's own. I also worked on some of the code for the motor that will spin the wheel, and Mr. Christy told me that I should use limit switches to make sure the it spins back and forth perfectly. I didn't really get far with that because I was so focused on actually making the physical dispenser, but I know the basics of them. After doing this project for most of the year, I want to start a separate mini project to last the rest of the year. I'm getting tired of the basketball project, but I definitely want to pick it up again next year and finish it. For my mini project, I want to make frames for old sports jerseys that my dad has and use LED strips to light them up. I just started brainstorming so I'm not sure exactly how I'm going to make the frame, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.
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