| Project by Blackbear | posted 09-11-2013 01:30 PM | 8107 views | 44 times favorited | 15 comments |  |
 |
Inspired by numerous projects on the web, and a few here on LJ’s as well, I built my wife a candy machine for our sixth wedding anniversary. The traditional gift for the sixth anniversary is candy or iron. Iron would be a tough one! My wife loves skittles so that is what I built. The hole in the dowel mechanism is sized to give 3-4 skittles per turn.
For the wood, I had a real pretty piece of curly quarter sawn white oak. It’s the kind of wood you buy because it’s so pretty, even though you don’t have a specific project in mind yet. I don’t think the pictures do the wood justice really. The base has some insect holes in it also. The dowel mechanism is red oak and the small ramps are hard maple.
At a big box store I purchased some Lexan sheets. They were 8”x10”, which pretty much determined the width and height of the project. I knew the top needed to be removable to fill it with candy, and ended up deciding on through tenons just for looks. I think this gave the whole project a bit of an Asian feel, so I gave the horizontal edges a good sized chamfer to match that feel.
This project was my first attempt at hand chopped mortises. I did OK, but they are definitely not as crisp as they could be. I also used the table saw to cut the curved tray in the base, moving the wood side to side over the saw blade. It worked better than I had hoped and came out fairly smooth even before sanding.
Finish is Watco Danish Oil. Thanks for looking.
edit: I forgot to mention I still need to carve a couple small wedges/pegs to fit in the through tenons. I’m thinking black walnut or some pretty dark wood to contrast the lighter oak.
15 comments so far
Bytesabit
home | projects | blog
79 posts in 3322 days
#1 posted 09-11-2013 02:21 PM
Love it!! I’ve been seeing the usual dispensers and was JUST thinking yesterday how I could make one to watch the candy!
Thanks for the post!
Great work!
Bytesabit
home | projects | blog
79 posts in 3322 days
#2 posted 09-11-2013 02:23 PM
Is the Danish oil safe for food contact?
doubleDD
home | projects | blog
11281 posts in 3498 days
#3 posted 09-11-2013 02:29 PM
Cool looking dispenser. I like the way you have them falling to different tiers. Go ahead, skittle me.
-- Dave, Downers Grove, Il. -------- When you run out of ideas, start building your dreams.
Blackbear
home | projects | blog
137 posts in 3674 days
#4 posted 09-11-2013 02:48 PM
Bytesabit, I have read most any finish is safe for food contact once fully cured (not that I would use Danish Oil on a cutting board). That, combined with the fact the there is no cutting on the machine as you would do on a butcher block, makes me feel just fine about it. Good question though.
Marty 529
home | projects | blog
344 posts in 3175 days
#5 posted 09-11-2013 03:11 PM
I think it’s great. I would love to build a candy dispenser for the wife and grand-kids. I love the look of this one and the kids could watch them fall to the bottom. Very nice
-- Marty, Ohio
lumberdustjohn
home | projects | blog
1263 posts in 4622 days
#6 posted 09-11-2013 04:55 PM
Looks like fun!
Nice build.
Thanks for posting
-- Safety first because someone needs you.
JoeinGa
home | projects | blog
7741 posts in 3462 days
#7 posted 09-11-2013 10:03 PM
Pretty cool. Gonna hafta favorite this one for future reference! :-)
-- Perform A Random Act Of Kindness Today ... Pay It Forward
LeroyTheLips
home | projects | blog
248 posts in 3703 days
#8 posted 09-11-2013 11:29 PM
Good for when you are in “Beast Mode”
BENTWOOD
home | projects | blog
401 posts in 3237 days
#9 posted 09-12-2013 01:54 PM
What’s not to love? I want one! :)
-- http://www.bentwoodjewelrydesigns.com
Monkman
home | projects | blog
134 posts in 3740 days
#10 posted 09-12-2013 02:39 PM
Well, I really like it! You can definitely can see the rainbow. A very neat invention.
-- MonkeyMonk
gfadvm
home | projects | blog
14940 posts in 4145 days
#11 posted 09-12-2013 07:51 PM
Very nice job. I built several of these and was surprised that they aren’t as easy as they appear to build. Yours came out just right. I cut the Lexan on my tablesaw and the dados hide the chip out.
-- " I'll try to be nicer, if you'll try to be smarter" gfadvm
jaysuzi
home | projects | blog
153 posts in 3255 days
#12 posted 09-13-2013 01:47 AM
Very cool – now my daughter wants one.
-- Jay in Pennsylvania, https://www.facebook.com/Hobby4Charity
Fishinbo
home | projects | blog
11362 posts in 3631 days
#13 posted 09-16-2013 03:32 PM
Cool and fun project! Both kids and adults would want to see and have the candies. Well done!
helluvawreck
home | projects | blog
32122 posts in 4322 days
#14 posted 09-16-2013 03:41 PM
This looks like a really fun project. Nice job.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- helluvawreck aka Charles, http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
Roger
home | projects | blog
21055 posts in 4259 days
#15 posted 06-16-2014 01:11 AM
I’m sure kiddos luv this little machine.
-- Roger from KY. Work/Play/Travel Safe. Keep your dust collector fed. [email protected]
Have your say...