Think we can hack it to accept crypto payments and dispense sd cards, screws, and… coffee?
Ok so that’s CA, sorry but we’re not a bunch of artists.
Now the take away from that thread was “sure but only if someone’s going to own it”. Considering this is a revenue stream for the committee, better believe that we’re going to pwn2own it.
That said, there has been previous “attempts” within the history of the makerspace. Other than someone not “owning it” what was the failures of prior vending machines?
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Another thread:
so basically lack of interest, lack of responsibility and it was more of a “hobby” level approche?
Yeah, I think one can do much better than that.
I’m not saying you can’t, but just giving another example. Lots of people at the space can/could but not as many will/would. 
It’s not a challenge I’m throwing down to you personally or anything, just keep in mind it’s a device with issues that you can’t always fix with a git pull request (and customer support expectations are higher when purchases are involved).
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just keep in mind it’s a device with issues that you can’t always fix with a git pull request (and customer support expectations are higher when purchases are involved).
Yeah I know where your coming from; I ran a tech firm for over 15 years. So while I may be good at software engineering and infrastructure architecture. I’m damn good when it comes to entrepreneurship and customer relations.
'ell my campaign of fixing infrastructure issues so the community grid is stable for all the makerspace and future proofed is an example of that.
Either way, any other concerns we have?
The vending gizmo is a candy dispenser type machine. Drop a quarter, twist a knob and some form of candy drops out.
There is nothing to engineer into an electronic driven machine.
It would take a whole lot of time and parts to convert this into whatvi think you are interested in.
At Ladybird we had a vending machine game. Gus authored that device. You might talk to him.
We had someone else that had a website to pay then a code to drop the item.out of another vending machine.
I think we could justify a small store for consumables. Screws. Drillbits. Filament. Arduinos and Raspberry Pis. Paint brushes. Etc. The question is how do we operate it and keep track of inventory? Is THAT part worth the time and energy? Store hours? Who has access? Accounting for items sold and sales taxes. Etc.
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One suspects that there are better foundations upon which to build an internet-connected device that dispenses goods with electric actuators than a mechanical coin-op vending machine.
As @Diplomat has stated, what you’re proposing is well beyond “hacking” and well into substantial reconstruction. Suspect a more conventional dry-goods vending machine would be a better platform for such a project.
Crypto payments aren’t something we take at the present time. This might change, of course, but before planning and executing a cryptocurrency vending machine I’d put some effort into ensuring that can be made to happen in a fashion that’s acceptable to the BoD and our bookkeeper.
Simpler would be a Square kiosk and the honor system like other committees use for payment of services and goods.
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This made me think of the talk about a gift shop. It wouldn’t be a perfect solution since I don’t assume it would be open 24/7 and its not nearly as much fun as a vending machine project would be, but would having some of these kind of supplies available there be a simpler option?