Claw Machine

Emma has tons of little stuff animals and small toys. I need a place to store them and came up with the idea of creating a claw machine so I can dump them in there, but also have a fun way to "win" them back and also serve as a piggy bank.

I want to make it the same height as the arcade machine I built to continue with the theme of a mini midway. Probably the biggest build so far combining all my skills and tools together.

The Materials

• MDF for the cabinet
• plexiglass for the windows
• vinyl adhesive for the graphics
• Canon Pro 100 printer
• LEDs for lighting
• Speakers
• M3 bolts
• Arcade buttons and joystick
• ESP8233 micro-controller
• PLA filament
• TPU filament
• Wood Glue
• Belts
• Stepper motors and drivers
• Limit switches
• Zip ties
• LCD display
• power supply 5/12V
• motion sensors

The Tools

• Fusion 360
• Lightburn
• CO2 laser
• 3D printer
• CNC router
• Soldering Iron
• Cura3D
• Cricut Maker & Design Space
• Gimp
• VS Code

The Design

Initial claw machine "barrel"

The idea is to use a motor attached to a long screw that extends the barrel of the claw. With the "barrel" (as I call it) extended, the claw will open. Hopefully the motor will be strong enough to open and close with enough force to pick up the object.

Vector illustration of the claw game device

My design is slightly different since I will only be using PLA plastic for the claw. The wider the claw is towards the top, the more leverage it'll have making it easier for the motor to have more torque. I am going to use a DC motor with PWM (pulse width modulation) via the controller to adjust the "strength" of the grabbing.