Has anyone built a simple change machine for use in their home arcade ?

[arcadegeezer]

Want to make my home arcade, just that little bit more authentic. How difficult would it be/what parts would I need to build a simple change machine?

i.e. enter multiple coinage 20p, 50p, £1, £2 and always dispense 10p's

Any thoughts or if you have done this please reply.

Thanks

[ratzz]

I use a hammer and my daughters piggy bank 

I think this might be a project too far... What with the customised electronics for counting and delivery - it might be better to employ someone to sit in a booth and hand it out to you!

For me, authenticity would be spilt drinks, ---Bad words, bad words, whatcha gonna do? Whatcha gonna do when saint censors you?--- burns in the carpet, youths hanging outside, and girls looking for some action in the streets. Pretty much like where ark_ader used to live! 

[protokatie]

i.e. enter multiple coinage 20p, 50p, £1, £2 and always dispense 10p's

If its just for coins, get a coin mech for each of the larger denominations, and have each one setup for the proper coin. using an Ipac, keywiz, etc, coupled with an LED controller(to control some simple "kick 1 coin out at a time" type mech). Of course you would also need a computer and approprate software to coordinate the key presses for each type of coin and then have it trigger the dispense mech a certain number of times. Other than this being costly, it also wouldnt look authentic. Try just buying a real money exchanger, it would prolly cost similar... If you got a used one that is, and a used one that needed a little TLC...

[daywane]

here in the US it would be hard.
bills keep changing.
$1, $2, $5, $10, ect...
old style and the new look
strange seems most people here in the US think there is a bill larger then a $100.00 bill. There is no such bill made

[CrazyKongFan]

The $1 and $2 haven't changed, and I don't think there's any plan to. If you're doing it for home, I imagine you wouldn't need it to accept anything but $1 anyway. Also, I don't recall ever seeing one in an arcade that'll take more than a $20, with $1, $5 and $10 being the norm in the old days (if I remember correctly). Don't know that I've ever seen any of them take a $2.

[Ginsu Victim]

strange seems most people here in the US think there is a bill larger then a $100.00 bill. There is no such bill made

My friend bought a computer at Wal-mart in the early nineties with a $1,000 bill. You should've seen the cashier's face.

Management was QUICKLY called, but we told them to call the bank he got it from and they confirmed it as real.

President Nixon ordered all bills over $100 to be pulled from circulation in 1969. You can, however, still get ahold of certain bills if you want them.

[daywane]

never knew that.
I really thought $100.00 was the largest ever made 

[Ginsu Victim]

Straight from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_denominations_of_United_States_currency
The high-denomination bills were issued in a small size in 1929, along with the $1 through $100 denominations. Their designs were as follows:

    * The $500 bill featured a portrait of William McKinley
    * The $1,000 bill featured a portrait of Grover Cleveland
    * The $5,000 bill featured a portrait of James Madison
    * The $10,000 bill featured a portrait of Salmon P. Chase
    * The $100,000 bill featured a portrait of Woodrow Wilson

[Jdurg]

Those massive bills were used quite frequently, but only for inter-bank transactions where it was easier to pass over a few $100,000 bills as opposed to massive amounts of other bills.  This was also before the electronic age we're in today came into existence.

[Turnarcades]

Building a functional coin dispenser is probably a bridge too far. Whereas building a video arcade is easy now due to the majority of solutions needed being electronic, coin dispensers, grabber, pinball and fruit machines all involve mechanical moving parts, which are usually all custom-made in-house by the respective manufacturers for use in a specific machine.

I'd recommend just scouring ebay for a second-hand unit or going to a second-hand vendor for an ex-arcade unit.

[CheffoJeffo]

I think protokatie either has something different in mind or is potentialltyoversimplifying the issue.

For a change machine, you need both a input mechanism (e.g. coin door/mechs and a bill acceptor), which is not too terrible, but you also need a dispenser (e.g. a coin hopper) to pay out the coins/tokens.

I have no expertise (yet) in coin hoppers (I suspect this will be a common issue for folks here), although I need to gain some in order to restore a slot machine I have sitting beside my bench downstairs.

My advice is to check for them at auction -- I've seen a number and, while they didn't go cheap, they were not unreasonably priced (and cost less than I think I could build one for).

[protokatie]

For a change machine, you need both a input mechanism (e.g. coin door/mechs and a bill acceptor), which is not too terrible, but you also need a dispenser (e.g. a coin hopper) to pay out the coins/tokens.

I was refering to the coin based UK currency, and that is why I suggested using multiple coin mechs (one for each coin, IE 20p, 50p 1 quid, 2 quid). It wouldnt look good to have multiple coin mechs right next to each other (each accepting only one coin (eg 20p), but it could work. Also, dispensers arent a big deal, basically they are a hopper that goes to a disc with coin sized holes. The disc rotates and "grabs" the coin in the holes and drops them out the coin compartment. The suggestion I made would have looked like a ghetto coin exchanger, and as thus I suggested looking for used ones, esp laundromats and whatnot. The cheapest coin exchanger I could find was like 300 quid, for a new one. They arent cheap...

[CheffoJeffo]

Fair enough ... I just think that controlling the hopper would be the problem spot ...

[paigeoliver]

Buying a comp with a $1000 bill is also pretty silly, since a $1000 bill is actually worth quite a bit more than $1000.

How did he even get one from a bank? I am pretty sure they have to turn those in if they get them, which they shouldn't since they are basically all in the hands of collectors.

[Ginsu Victim]

His dad is a state employee (and now he his).
I'm not sure how his dad got it from the bank, but it was actually his dad's idea to pay with one.
Of course, this guy's dad buys new vehicles with cash, so I don't question much.

(Unrelated note: Thanks to all your talk about Happ Universals in other topics, I've just put them in my new CP. Hope they're as good as you say. I might get a softer spring for each of them, but I love the throw distance.)

[HaRuMaN]

His dad is a state employee (and now he his).
I'm not sure how his dad got it from the bank, but it was actually his dad's idea to pay with one.
Of course, this guy's dad buys new vehicles with cash, so I don't question much.

(Unrelated note: Thanks to all your talk about Happ Universals in other topics, I've just put them in my new CP. Hope they're as good as you say. I might get a softer spring for each of them, but I love the throw distance.)

Well, buying a new car with cash isn't the brightest idea, either...   

[Ginsu Victim]

When did I EVER say he was bright?
The guy's always been a little "off" in my opinion, anyway.

[danny_galaga]

His dad is a state employee (and now he his).
I'm not sure how his dad got it from the bank, but it was actually his dad's idea to pay with one.
Of course, this guy's dad buys new vehicles with cash, so I don't question much.

(Unrelated note: Thanks to all your talk about Happ Universals in other topics, I've just put them in my new CP. Hope they're as good as you say. I might get a softer spring for each of them, but I love the throw distance.)

Well, buying a new car with cash isn't the brightest idea, either...   

hehe. i once paid for $10000 worth of shares in cash  but then it was simply a matter of withdrawing it from one bank, walk 100 metres down the mall, and deposit it with another bank. i did it for the novelty. what i forgot about is that in australia any amount of cash 10k and over has to have a form filled out. that was a pain in the arse.

oh, and  on the 100k bill!

[danny_galaga]

went on a bit of a wiki trip with that denominations link. i was quite amused to find that many people dont know that there is such a thing as a $2 bill:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_two-dollar_bill#The_two-dollar_bill_in_American_consciousness

of course i didnt know either, but ive only spent a number of weeks in the US...

[HaRuMaN]

For some reason, my college bookstore would have large amounts of the $2 bills around the time students would come to sell their books back.  SO twice a year, I'd end up with a few of them.

[Ginsu Victim]

I've seen $2 bills here and there, but they're pretty rare most the time. I find it funny that we again have a dollar coin and you'll never see it because people won't spend them. This fascination with holding onto any currency different than the norm.....I'll never get it....

[FrizzleFried]

here in the US it would be hard.
bills keep changing.
$1, $2, $5, $10, ect...
old style and the new look
strange seems most people here in the US think there is a bill larger then a $100.00 bill. There is no such bill made

Only half right.  While it is true that the US Government is currently only minting 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 dollar bills,  there are still 500, 1000, 5000 and 10000 dollar bills in circulation.  When a bank receives one,  they take it out of circulation though.

On July 14, 1969,  David M. Kennedy, the 60th Secretary of the Treasury, and officials at the Federal Reserve Board announced that they would immediately stop distributing currency in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000. Production of these denominations stopped during World War II. Their main purpose was for bank transfer payments. With the arrival of more secure transfer technologies, however, they were no longer needed for that purpose. While these notes are legal tender and may still be found in circulation today, the Federal Reserve Banks remove them from circulation and destroy them as they are received.

EDIT: Seems I am late with this...though my link makes no mantion of a $100,000 bill.

EDIT #2:  Seems the 100,000 dollar bill wasn't really a "100,000 bill" per-se...

What was the largest currency denomination ever produced?

Answer The largest denomination of currency ever printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was the $100,000 Series 1934 Gold Certificate featuring the portrait of President Wilson. These notes were printed from December 18, 1934 through January 9, 1935 and were issued by the Treasurer of the United States to Federal Reserve Banks only against an equal amount of gold bullion held by the Treasury Department. The notes were used only for official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks and were not circulated among the general public.

[Ginsu Victim]

Yeah, they weren't circulated really outside of government use

[HaRuMaN]

I have some old $1 Silver Certificates...  I wonder if I could still redeem them for a $'s worth of silver somewhere...   

[knave]

I have some old $1 Silver Certificates...  I wonder if I could still redeem them for a $'s worth of silver somewhere...   

I think the silver certs are collectable as well nowadays.  It's gonna be worth something.