Trying to draw up plans for a BS2 powered liquor dispensor.. Need ideas for dos

Brann Fenix

I am waiting on some parts for my fish tank controller project and figured I would start brain storming a few other projects I have cooking.....


The plan is to have a machine that holds an array of liqour, mixes, soda, ect. You then pick the drink you would want then insert your glass and the BS2 will turn on the servos or pumps that will pour the correct amounts of liqour and mix into the cup.

I have attached a picture of a rotating shot despensor I was thinking of using. The workings of them are pretty simple... you mount the bottle in it and when you push or twist the little valve on the bottom it pours 1oz of liquid. The liquid is held in a prepouring chamber that holds the 1oz rather coming directly from the bottle. They have different ones that pour from 1oz to 2 1/2oz of liquid... My orginal plan was to buy a 1oz pouring device and rig up some servos to trigger the valve then close it for the correct amount of times for the requested drink.. Now this works fine for 1oz drinks where you can have 2 squirts of something, 3 of another and 1 of a 3rd liquid... but what if you need a 1/2oz? I do not have one of these pouring machines in my hand to see if you can time out a 1/2oz and close the valve... I assume since not all liquids flow the same it would be kind of hard to figure out unless you did the math for each type of liquid the BS2 will pour...


I was wondering if anyone knows of a doser or pouring device can do a half oz or ~15ml and be triggered by the BS2. All the dosers I have found are for IV drips and run at like .05ml/hr which would be pretty damn slow even for drunk people hehe [noparse]:)[/noparse]

Any advice or ideas would be great [noparse]:)[/noparse] I guess worse case I could just try to modded the pictured device for 1/2oz by adding something to the value that takes up 1/2oz of volume or timing it.. who knows hehe [noparse]:)[/noparse] I think that is half the fun...


Thanks in advance,
Brann

Post Edited By Moderator (Chris Savage (Parallax)) : 9/16/2006 1:44:33 AM GMT

Bamse

Personally, I would just double the recipe if it called for 1/2oz...

But that is just me...

Sounds like a fun project...

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Living on the planet Earth might be expensive but it includes a free trip around the sun every year...

Experience level:
[noparse][[/noparse] ] Let's connect the motor to pin 1, it's a 6V motor so it should be fine.
[noparse][[/noparse] ] OK, I got my resistors hooked up with the LEDs.
[noparse][[/noparse]X] I got the Motor hooked up with the H-bridge and the 555 is supplying the PWM.
[noparse][[/noparse] ] Now, if I can only program the BOE-BOT to interface with he Flux Capacitor.
[noparse][[/noparse] ] I dream in SX28 assembler...

/Bamse

stamptrol

I worked on a commercial version of this back in the '80's. The idea is to use the measuring chamber because it ensures correct measure. In a commercial application, the government, among others will be very strict on accurate measurement.

So, use a chamber that is equal to your smallest standard measure; say 1/3 oz or 1/2 oz. Then, because you'll have some computing power available, let the processor figure out how many times the small chamber has to be filled and emptied. You can use a calibrated float switch to confirm that the chamber is properly filled before opening the bottom valve into the glass.

By the way, we found that an honest human bartender is more economical than the best computerized system.

Cheers

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Tom Sisk

http://www.siskconsult.com
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Brann Fenix

Thank for the speedy replys!

I think it will come down to modding a measure chamber or building one myself [noparse]:)[/noparse] I was pretty much just thinking of building one of these for fun and to learn a few new things. The main reason to build one other than that was to free up the bartender for a little party I like to throw now and again. I was even thinking of maybe putting an RF ID scanner on it and people would get a tag at the start of the night when they turn in their keys to limit abuse of the poor booze despensor [noparse]:)[/noparse] Like I said... who knows I was thinking like Bamse said... just a fun project [noparse]:)[/noparse]

stamptrol if you would not mind a few questions about your experience from working on a device like this I had some heh [noparse]:)[/noparse]

1. I figure there are 2 choices when it comes to pouring difference liquids.
a. Move the glass under the correct spout with before pouring the liquid *the hard way*
b. Have all the spouts pour their liquid into a funnel/tube which shoots into the glass *the easy way*

My only problem with a funnel and/or tube is cleaning... once you pour one drink the funnel will be tainted and then every drink after that could taste funny... I was thinking maybe after you remove the glass their would be a drain where the glass was*for overfills also* and it would shoot some water down the pipes to clear everything out for the next drink? I'm thinking like what if you pour milk or like Bailey's irish cream down the funnel and then the next person asked for something sour... yea it could get ugly... like funky alcoholic yogurt ugly hehe [noparse]:)[/noparse] How/would did you work out that problem?

Thanks again,
Brann

willthiswork89

Brann, i have no experience with this but i do have experience with Starbucks Machines which do alot of the stuff your asking for, i figure you could have a Gravity powered water type thing, with a vlavle that way a servo can handle the pressure of gravity, put a valve and tuve inside the thing, when the order is finished pause about 10 seconds and open the gravity powered water dispenser, along with every valve in the system, except the filler which you could have closed until it senses it is full then open it to flush that, along with the tubing. Thats basically how starbucks works we paid 15,000 dollars for each one of our machines so its a bit more technical but thats the gist.

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-Learn somthing about everything, and Everthing about somthing-

stamptrol

Brann,

Mixed drinks are a whole other set of challenges, as you've noted. The cleaning and swishing and spitting would be neat to watch but would be more complicated than its worth, I think.

Our design was for a small, simple bar. Perhaps 8 or 10 choices. We used the commercial bottle rack because the dispenser was already approved. The mechanism just operated the gravity fed measuring cup with a motor and cam arrangement. The person still had to get it under the right spout!!

We used a keypad and ID code, but an RFID system would work just as well.

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Tom Sisk

http://www.siskconsult.com
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pjv

Hi All;

When we made these commercially many years ago, the size of shot was simply a solenoid opening for a duration determined by the micro. The system was pressurized, and a card reader kept track of each server's account.

Cheers,

Peter (pjv)

ChrisP

I'm not sure of the variation of specific gravity of the different liquors, but what about no chamber, solenoid valves and a single dispenser. Set the glass on a load cell and mix by weight if the specific gravities are close enough together, nothing should have to move. Just an idea, but it could eliminate a lot of complexity.

metron9

I have always wanted to make a multi head PERISTALTIC PUMP. Using 8 tubes all connected to one outlet you could get exact output and dispense all 8 at one time in different amounts for a nice Hmmm I forgot what we use to call them back then.

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Think outside the BOX!

Brann Fenix

Thanks for all the posts everything!


I was have a duh me moment... I was reading all these posts and talking to people to get ideas when it hit me... Why not have an array of tubes? I mean who says you need to have one tube that fills the glass anyway? My thinking is if you have like 8 tubes that are in a tight group connected to each bottle... it should work as long as they fit over the glass and can shoot the liquid in there without missing the mark [noparse]:)[/noparse] I figure it means a little more tube, but it will stop the problem with getting the main tube funky with different liquids... I bet I could even use something as small as fish tank air hose to pour out shots into the glass which would allow me to fit a bunch of tubes in the array. I was thinking like a coffee vending machine. I noticed when you put your cup in there your getting a stream of coffee from the left of the machine and then the milk stream comes from like 1/2 inch over to the right... They do it the same way but will metal tubes since coffee is hot...

feedback?

metron9

Feedback, that's what i'm taualkin bout, build some of these http://www.welco.net/index2.html
Use 1/8" tygon tubing all to 1 head. A good way to make a multiport head is to put 8 tubes into a 3/4 inch PVC
fitting. Tape one side, fill with epoxy to fill in all the spaces arounf the tubes, on the other side of the fitting
have one 1/4 inch output. Feed it with the pumps, add one line for a flush line to clean out the head for
sticky stuff. The positive displacement pumps will prevent backflow when another pump is on.
IV drip machines use tiny pumps like this for exact dosage. Epoxy resisn dispensing where two or more
resins are needed are mixed through a static mixing tube http://www.conprotec.com/sm-static-mixers.php?gclid=CMOMr9mcuIcCFSNdYQodbz-MOg

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Think outside the BOX!

Brann Fenix

Thanks for the links metron9!

I will be taking a good look at that stuff in a few... I think those little pumps might even help me with another project I have going [noparse]:)[/noparse] Double score!


Thanks again!