Introduction
My passion project was an automatic card shuffler. I chose this project because it was a quick and easy way to shuffle cards. It improves the flow, speed and truthfulness of the game.
Project
This is a picture of my finished product it can shuffle a standard deck of cards in about 10 seconds. We chose to make it mostly out of cardboard because it was easy to move around and adjust I also found that wood unstuck more and rattled when the shuffler was turned on. I chose to use Styrofoam for the support to hold the shuffler up because it was easy to mold and gave a bit of vibration reduction.
Presentation
This is a picture of the presentation, it outlines the basics of my project along with materials, design process, prototype and future direction.
Check in 1.
All of check in 1 was about ideating thinking about a project before finally resting on an automatic card shuffle. This check in was also about research and figuring about if our project was really possible. During this time we would figure out the cost materials and time it would take.
check in 2
This was the building phase where we gathered materials and did the basic wiring at this point we hadn’t received all the parts yet.
check in 3
During this phase we created the wiring and prototype (pictures bellow). It was primarily made of cardboard and was hot glued this was just made to find the basic dimensions.
check in 4
For this step we finished soldering the new parts we ordered and tested it. Sadly the power was too low and they motors needed help to start moving. After a while we discovered it needed the 8 battery power supply to make them move properly this was good progress. So we put together the final* project…
check in 5
…The Project did not work. When we added the rubber, wheels and body of the shuffler. The due date for the passion project was approaching and we understood why the project took 3 months. We worked tirelessly for hours until I discovered some flaws; hot glue (adding friction), height of card slit, speed of motors and finally and most importantly the distance from one side of the shuffler to the other. I discovered a farther distance would give I higher chance of shuffling without creating a bridge as I called it forming(When the cards come together in the middle of the shuffler and block it all up.).
check in 6
This was the final check-in and I was pretty confident I had finished the poster, and the card-shuffler. I was very happy with the outcome it could shuffle cards in a matter of seconds and sounded very powerful. The finished product was also very clean, we didn’t want to add too much to it because if it works it works and I don’t want to make it stop working.
STEAM fair
During the Steam fair I got lots of very good feedback, Even the superintendent said it was good and that he was impressed. All my friends and parent that checked out my project were very impressed about speed, power and