For some reason I got the wrong idea from one of the first videos. I thought you were kinda crowd-sourcing the design. What I understand now is that you are doing the design independently, with community input, with the end goal of selling it. That is awesome -- I hope this is wildly successful and provides ample compensation for your hard work and talent!. I've been involved in a few similar endeavors -- just be prepared to support the product if you're going to sell it. One alternative would be to design the thing so it's as much 3D printed as much as possible, offer those files for free and sell the software and a kit with everything else (electronics, nuts/bolts/belts/aluminum/motors). This way you're released from really supporting it, and you can make money from buying the parts in bulk.
This also has the advantage of having people who do all the 3D printing themselves, they'll inevitably improve on the design and you can use that. Imagine 20 iterations happening in parallel.
Thanks for the kind words and advice! I've still got a lot of development to do before it's really ready to be released in any form, but I'll certainly keep your experience in mind.
I agree with Greg. A shop that is doing massive bulk is probably using tcgplayer and their sorter since it pairs well with their tcg direct. If your target audience is the more than casual collector of cards and small shops, then the 3d printing and software sale seems like a good way to go. You could have a members only discord for customers who buy and they can work together to troubleshoot rather than you needing to all the time. Like how to add card lists when a new set comes out. This seems like the only way I'd ever to afford one anyways, so I hope you decide to produce a lot with this 3d printing idea vs. produce a few and charge $200 a month for software and spend a bunch on maintenance.
Been following this since the video a couple months ago. While I'm not a part of the MTG community, I'm hoping that this will eventually be able to work with other TCGs also! Really interesting seeing all these little details that take trail & error to come up with solutions for. Wouldn't have thought about a ton of the different bits that need to be thought out.
Yes, that is a concern right now, as they fall a good distance. I'll be doing some repetition testing with brand new cards to see if any damage is occurring!
I like it a lot, but just from the outside, the contact surface for the card pusher is going to get dirty REAL REAL REAL fast, which is why most card ejectors use a roller. For my personal use, and most of the market that are buying the very expensive card sorters, we're pretty much just looking for value. People bring in 5k's like yours all the time, and say "How much." Being able to tell them in minutes would be amazing, but even if it's in hours, thats still something. Most shops have huge amounts of 5k's sitting in back rooms without being processed. They take out all the good stuff, so paying someone to go through them again every 6 months looking for price spikes isn't worth it. It's the conundrum of a shifting market. Personally I'm using the Quickist software from TCGPlayer that has models for all cards in every game updated constantly, which is also a pain from a software standpoint. What I really wonder is why no one has made one of these for sports cards yet, except that creating the model files would be a massive effort. TCGPlayer keeps threatening to add sport to Quicklist, but its been a few years with no updates. :) Since you have the camera, another function would be to pile cards in, the take pictures of them all, for eBay, etc purposes. My dream machine has rollers N S E W and then can dump the cards into 4 piles with a whir, instead of moving a gantry. Cards worth money high confidence, cards worth money low confidence, cards with no confidence, and cards that are worthless. Now that is clearly a different design. heh. I've also considered ejecting the cards onto a scanning platform that then just tilts in the direction of 4 or 8 shutes into piles eliminating the need for a moving gantry at all. At this point, I just need a cheap card ejector that I can load 500 ish cards into that then spits them out consistently onto my scanning area, so my camera can give me the info, then I act as the gantry system based on the value. :) That's a cheap device that I can't find now. Push a button, new card. Camera using Quicklist tells me its 3c, I choose what happens next.
I think an adjustable belt tensioner could help, and possibly even adding an additional stepper motor or even a stronger motor and dialing back it's power to that it could handle the weight and lift smoothly. Perhaps both?
Thanks for the input, one of the pulleys seen in the video I've been using as my tensioner, but it does take a little effort to adjust properly. And a second drive motor will be a great idea if it ends up struggling with additional load!
Hey Jack! Tried to sign up for the progress alerts, but the link was deleted. Do you have a new link or has the project been abandoned in the past few months from your last comment?
@@jackbaumgartel awesome to hear! I'm likely going to be taking over the card shop I work at in a few years and although scanning in cards with TCGplayer's quickscan is okay, it certainly isnt as good as being able to sort and scan like this. Hope its coming along nicely!
Getting excited to see this project, and support it too. Though I'm curious about how DIY the kit will be, just a bit of measuring and careful assembling? Or nitty gritty soldering and other electronic work. Godspeed o7
Thanks for the support! And I'm not too sure about the details of the DIY kit yet tbh. I wouldn't plan on needing a soldering iron though. Likely simpler than that
Really looking forward to the end result of this proyect, whenever it might be. I personally really enjoy sorting my cards by hand, but watching you work on this from scratch has been very enjoyable. Best of luck and I hope you succeed!
Any update? I am super interested in this project as I am a Magic Nerd and I run a card flipping business. I would love to be able to get a sorter at an affordable price in order to process through bulk. As a side note I saw UCONN as the logo on one of your shirts, what are the chances that you go there?
@@jackbaumgartel Nope I did not go to UCONN, I just live super close. I was gonna say if you still live around here and need help or bulk to sort just to let me know!
Hi Logan! It’s still a work in progress so there are no released plans at the moment, but I hope to release them once the machine is fully up and running!
@@jackbaumgartel It’s an amazing design. Where do you get your parts from? I’d like to at least tinker with the pieces, and having a starting point is very helpful.
@@LoganHarper-vj5oi Most of the parts are standard motors & extruded aluminum hardware. Really any nema-17 stepper motor and 25kg servos will do, along with whatever gantry plate and mounting hardware you'd like!
@@jackbaumgartel two other things ways to organize cards...upside-down and backwards cards. I was going through bulk and thse would be two initial things to think about.
Been following this for a bit after going down a rabbit hole trying to figure out how to do this with Lego. How does the flipper mechanism compare to something like a feeder wheel like a printer?
Good question, I brought it up a bit in the mechanical design video, but a feeder wheel will obstruct the camera's view of the card more. I could make it so the wheel retracts out of view when not in use, but the swiper is a simpler solution!
I think a feeder wheel can work very well, but with a other design than this one (most likely oblique design) and a bit more complexity in term of timing (camera/sorting).
Been thinking about this again, can’t wait for it to release. Suggestion: would It be a good idea to make a 2nd set of sorting cubbies on the back so each return swipe can sort on the back end too?
Thinking into the future a bit.. How are you planning on adding future set/card data? Monthly updates you send out? Can people download the bulk data from Scryfall or alternative APIs?
Thanks for the questions, I haven't figured out the technical specifics yet but yes generally you'll need to accept a download when new sets come out. The way I'm planning the software, the machine itself shouldn't need any firmware updates with new sets. Just the computer app would need updating. I want to make it as user friendly as possible, so no layperson should have to make an API call.
@@byrongehrig8429 It could be! But then I'd need more motors to move the cards once picked up. I talked a bit about it in the mechanical design video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zWT4x6Z0CI4.html
Wow! This is so cool! I’d love to try this out for sorting my cards it’s a lot smaller then the other machines which is perfect for my space. I really hope it is a successful journey for you
Looking forward to gantry improvements, I'm worried about calculating position under variable loads. Idk maybe go the sensor route on each container? Either way, looking forward to it
For the main gantry, maybe a linear rail might help with the belt issue? also for the vertical motor. maybe have the plate wrap around so it is supported from both the top and bottom for extra stability
I'm highly invested mentally in the success of this project. Watching you build this thing has been amazing. I couldn't come up with this stuff, and yet you explain it in such a way that it all makes perfect sense. All the best of luck and skill to you!
