In 2004, while in college I decided to create a machine that made mixed drinks. I got the idea from some other students who built a similar machine. While the machine worked, it wasn’t very practical because of the poor quality of parts. Particularly the pumps. Being a college student without a lot of money, I couldn’t afford quality parts. But the project was one of the funnest I’ve worked on.
A computer inside the machine running Linux ran a small program that I wrote that controlled the parallel port. Each of the 16 data lines on the parallel port ran a pump and each pump was assigned to a different ingedient. The pumps would run for a specific amount of time depending on the recipe of the drink that was ordered. To figure how long to run the pump for, I ran tests see how long the pump would have to run to put an ounce of liquid into a glass. Then the program could calculate how long to run each pump depending on the recipes programed in. There were over 1000 different drinks programmed into the machine!
The electronics arrive
Testing, when a pump was to be activated, an LED would illuminate.
More wire than I knew what to do with
Schematics, The original plans were scraped however
The plan was to use this LCD panel for the screen, but I ended up using a old TV instead
Here is the completed shell, and close to how it looked when finished
Pump wiring and my cat modeling
Tubing and relay switches for turning on and off the pumps
Installing the computer that ran the machine
This is where you put the liquor. Crude, but it worked!
Pumps and wiring installed, what a mess!
Close up of an installed pump