When I was a kid I occasionally wondered how vending machines differentiate coins. The thought comes up once in a while but I’ve not looked at it. Recently Dave brought up the idea of making a fancy coin sorter. And now I can’t get it out of my mind.

Okay, let’s have a look at this. According to this table the diameters are:

Two Dollar (twoonie) 1.1″ (28mm)
One Dollary (loonie) 1.04″ (26.5mm)
Quarter 0.94″ (23.88mm)
Nickel .8346″ (21.2mm)
Dime .709″ (18.03mm)
Penny .75″ (19.05mm)

I made this simple sorter based on the measurements above. I’ve only tested it on a nickel, quarter and dollar. Works great so for. The 3 degree slope might be more than I need. Next revision sill be 1.5 degrees.

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