US Coin Sorter and Counter Tools

Probably should've been doing other things this afternoon but it's raining, work will wait and I just needed something mindless yet arguably productive to do ... like counting up the spare change.

Everybody has a container where you throw your spare change at the end of the day (mine is a metal nautilus received as a Christmas present). But, trivial amounts can add up over time. This design was inspired by http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11322, and while I sure that thing works fine, it seemed way too complicated so I cooked the concept down to four essential parts; one for counting, three for sorting.

Throw a hand full of change in the quarter sieve then shake out anything that's not a quarter into a quart Chinese takeout container (also handy for storing this apparatus when not in use). Repeat for the nickel and penny and you'll eventually end up with just a pile of dimes. Go with smaller handfuls of dimes and pennies because their diameters are so similar. Overall the process is pretty quick. Once they're separated just load them into the counter then the wrappers.

A note about the counter, Z-axis calibrations vary so you definitely want to manually count the first time through. Once you know exactly where 40 or 50 count falls on your print just mark it with a Sharpie if it's not perfect and you think you might forget what the sweet spot looks like.

I've included the STEP and Rhino files in case anyone has a need to remix this for other currencies.