This week I made meaningful progress bringing the input of the chip sorter prototype together. The two key milestones reached were getting chips moving sequentially through the track reliably, and confirming that the magnet pickup is working consistently. Having both of these functioning together is a significant step forward from last week where I was still validating tolerances and adding magnets to the wheel.
Here is a step by step of the working prototype for the magnet pick up. This week I will be 3d printing all of it in a more solid piece.
Progress is still a bit behind schedule due to the printer downtime from last week, but the working prototype represents a real recovery. This week I hope to do some extra work and printing to catch up. My goal for next week is to integrate servos into the sorter for color-based chip sorting, which will move the project from a mechanical sequencing prototype into a functionally complete sorting system.