DIY auto trickler project (hooked up to balance beam scale)

bertn

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Just sharing my build here. Hopefully it's helpful for other diy-ers who want to build something like this.
Again build on a budget since I have more time than money LOL.

Scale works as usual, throw the bulk of the charge and with only one push of the button the trickler
tops powder up to the desired weight, shuts motor off and resets for the next cycle.

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I am still waiting for a motor speed regulator from ebay so I can reduce the speed (drop rate) in case it drops larger kernels to fast.
Tested it with H335 and works great.

What I would do different next time is ordering the right sensor. I accidentally ordered a NO (normally open) contact one and should have been an NC (normally closed).
Since I did not want to wait another 6 weeks or so to get the right one I had to hook up a 12v NC relay to the circuit to make it work.

Material cost is roughly $ 21.00 after taxes for the sensor, motor, 12vdc wall wart transformer, magnets, plastic box, cable connector, momentary switch, circuit bread board and terminal strip including shipping cost for motor and sensor.
Other bits and pieces were just laying around in my garage (there is a lot of stuff there, you don't want to know..) and relays were salvaged from old electronics.

Momentary switch is wired up as a "latching relay" situation so it stays on until the sensor calls it enough.
The metal part is put on with double sided tape so in case I want to sell the scale at some point I can restore it
to original condition without holes drilled etc.
 
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Nice work, I,m going to build a manual trickler soon, the motor is a nice touch, but for my needs I can do without it for now. You can't beat yours for the price.
 
I don't really need it :)
Just like tinkering around and building useful things.
Much better than sitting on the couch watching tv.
If you just want a motorized trickler then it won't cost much. Half of my budget went into the optical sensor alone.
 
Cool! Do you plan to put together a bill of materials and a schematic of the circuit board for us non-experts? Please? I bet a lot of us could solder and wire one together but designing circuits is another matter...
 
Cool! Do you plan to put together a bill of materials and a schematic of the circuit board for us non-experts? Please? I bet a lot of us could solder and wire one together but designing circuits is another matter...

Will post this tonight. need to go to work now.
 
Need to go to my daughters highschool for an open house so the schematic and parts list will be posted later tonight.

So here is a short video in the meantime :)

I had a bullet in the pan and topped it up with the trickler.

 
For rifleman762;

I'm not educated in electronics or anything so I might not have used the right symbols in the drawing and disclaimer; use at your own risk :)
This is the version if you use a normally closed (NC) sensor. (so with only one relay instead of two like I used)

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Parts list:
* Sensor; ebay USD 12.68 https://www.ebay.com/itm/1-PC-E3S-G...879837?hash=item2a4f0d055d:g:KQ4AAOSwxH1UADaa
(I bought the NO version for USD 8.41 so clearly the NC is more expensive and less common)
* Motor; ebay USD 3.57 for two motors https://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-DC6-1...794833?hash=item1ea60b9151:g:AIcAAOSwxBdZgEJD
* Momentary switch; ebay USD 1.17 for 5 pcs. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-Round...012480&hash=item1ecb5161f3:g:AUEAAOSw0TxZZ7z8
* Cable connector; ebay USD 1.39 for 10 pcs. https://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-PG9-...197404&hash=item2135163d3a:g:6WQAAOSwWHBaMdWH

From my local surplus store:
5 small neodymium magnets $0.10 each
1 circuit breadboard $0.99
1 plastic box $0.99
1 terminal strip $0.79
1 12v dc transformer 3.99

The rest I had laying around; nail plate for bending the sensor holder, threaded rod and nuts for height adjustment, brass nail to activate sensor, some wires and the relay.

If you don't like to solder then this relay might be even better, then you also don't need to buy a solder breadboard. Just this relay and a terminal strip that is all you need.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/12VDC-5A-C...958048?hash=item25d9541c20:g:DVgAAOSwnK9ZSM5T


For whoever wants to build this and does not know anything about a relay or a latching relay circuit then check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7SuHDmuVUk
 
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I actually thought it would need some kind of IC for slowing down the motor as it approaches the limit but I guess it works good without it. Super simple.

Yes indeed super simple.
You don't want to trickle the whole load but just the last little bit.
I'm still waiting for this speed controller to arrive.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/PWM-DC-3A-...710436?hash=item2848d68624:g:kpIAAOSwh2xX~Svy
With that I have control over the trickle speed to make it a bit more precise. It would not matter to me if it takes a few seconds longer.
 
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that's great, but I think you may need to adapt some kind of sealed bearings to the trickler.
otherwise the second most expensive part of the device will wear the fastest.
 
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