Candy dispenser

Revell-Fan · Aug 14, 2023

Hello fans,

a few days ago my cousin celebrated his birthday and invited me and my mom for dinner. My mom had the idea to bring something personal with us but she was unsure what we could make for him. The premise was clear: It was supposed to be fast and simple but at the same time it should be attractive and fun. It would be nice if it had some moving parts, we thought, and I started my search. By accident we saw a candy dispenser on TV, so we thought this would be a nice idea. A quick google search later I found this:

The model is very easy to make and without further ado I downloaded the plans and enlarged them a bit. The initial idea was to use thicker card for the model in order to increase the sturdiness since it would be not just a model for the shelf but a working dispenser. So I printed the parts on regular 80gsm paper and used my trusty LED brightpad to trace the lines on to some 200+gsm card.

All parts were cut out.

I started with thr trommel. There are two versions provided with the kit, one with a larger and one with a smaller opening. I chose the smaller opening which was a wise choice (I'llexplain later).

I reinforced the rim and the hole with paper strips.

Instead of applying glue to the strips and then end up with dirty and smudgy hands and fingers I applied the glue to the inside of the trommel, rolled up the strip around my finger and pressed the ring onto the glue area.

I found out that the little notch on the outside made the trommel prone to jamming, so I cut that one off.

Next was the handle for rotating the trommel:

The bar template is not constructed well. The end caps should be a rectangle with 90° angles but instead they are trapezoids. They do not close up the bar well. Only the creators know why they did that. I left them the way they were because they fulfilled their task. But this was not the only issue with the template!

Revell-Fan · Aug 14, 2023

The main body was constructed easily. It is mainly a box with a viewing window and a few spacers.

As you can see the template has a differently styled viewing window. If you want to replicate the one seen in the making of video you will have to make one yourself. The kit does not give you a template for a circular cutout.

Some clear sheet is taped behind the viewing windows. Again, the kit does not provide a template for that.

The spacers block the sweets from falling down into the dispenser tray. I must say I like the way they are positioned but as a result of the slits the tabs are visible from the outside. If you do not like that you will have to conceal them (see below).

Before closing the box make sure that the trommel rotates freely. I had to cut off the reversed flap of the trommel and trim the spacers a bit.

The tabs are supposed to be glued to the outside of the box. I changed that, added some slits into them to make room for the internal spacers and glued them to the inside.

And now a very important tip: DO NOT GLUE THE TOP FLAP TO THE BOX - or you will never be able to fill her up.

Now it was time to insert the trommel. A very blatant flaw of the kit became apparent:

The trommel as provided with the kit is way too high! It can be moved outward by quite a margin. The small hole inside would then align with the hull of the box which results in jamming. The trommel with the larger hole would not fit at all, the hole would protrude outside the box itself.