Okay, so I got this idea buzzing in my head about building my own beverage dispenser machine. You know, like the ones you see sometimes, but I wanted something simple for my workshop, maybe just for water and maybe one other drink.
Getting Started – The Hunt for Parts
First thing, I needed parts. Didn’t want anything fancy, just functional. I spent a good afternoon rummaging through my old electronics boxes. Found some small water pumps, the kind people use for fish tanks or little fountains. Perfect, I thought. Cheap and easy.
Then I needed tubes. Grabbed some food-grade silicone tubing online. Had to make sure it was safe for drinks, obviously. Needed buttons too, simple push buttons. And the brain… I had an old Arduino Uno clone lying around, figured that would do the trick. Didn’t need much processing power just to turn pumps on and off.
Finding a decent container was a bit tricky. I ended up repurposing some large plastic food containers I wasn’t using. Had to make sure they sealed well enough.
Putting it All Together – The Messy Bit
Alright, assembly time. This is where things usually get… interesting. I started by drilling holes in the lids of the containers for the tubes – one for the pump intake, one for air to get in.
This part was messy.
Plastic shavings everywhere. Then I mounted the pumps. Tried hot glue first. Bad idea. One pump came loose pretty quickly. Ended up using small screws and brackets I fashioned out of some scrap metal. Much better.
Wiring was next. Oh boy. Just connecting buttons to the Arduino, and the Arduino to a relay board to control the pumps (those little pumps draw more current than the Arduino pin can handle directly). It looked like spaghetti junction under the hood for a while. I’m not the neatest wirer, gotta admit.
- Connected Button 1 to Arduino Pin 2.
- Connected Button 2 to Arduino Pin 3.
- Connected Relay 1 control to Arduino Pin 8.
- Connected Relay 2 control to Arduino Pin 9.
- Wired pumps through the relays to a separate power supply (an old 12V adapter).
Getting the code onto the Arduino wasn’t too bad. Super basic stuff. Like: if button 1 pressed, turn on relay 1 for X seconds. If button 2 pressed, turn on relay 2 for Y seconds. Took some trial and error to get the timing right so it dispensed roughly the amount I wanted.
Testing… and Leaks
Filled one container with water. Plugged everything in. Took a deep breath. Pressed Button 1.
The pump whirred! Water started flowing! Success!
…Then I noticed a small puddle forming. Dang it. One of the tube connections wasn’t tight enough. Used some small zip ties to really clamp the tubes onto the pump nozzles. Tried again. Better. No leaks this time.
The dispensing amount was way off at first. Had to go back into the code, tweak the ‘on’ time for the pumps. Took maybe half an hour of pressing the button, measuring, adjusting code, uploading, repeat. Finally got it reasonably consistent.
The Result – It Works (Mostly)!
So now I have this kinda clunky-looking, homemade beverage dispenser in my workshop. It’s got two buttons, two containers (usually water and iced tea). It’s not pretty. The wiring inside is still a bit chaotic if you look closely. Sometimes it drips a tiny bit after dispensing.
But hey, it works! I press a button, I get a drink. Built it myself from bits and pieces. There’s a certain satisfaction in that, even if it’s not perfect. Maybe one day I’ll build a nicer enclosure for it, but for now, it does the job. It was a fun little project, reminded me how much fiddling goes into getting even simple things working right.
