Homemade Claw Machine

Here it is: The final version of my own homemade claw cachine!

It workes with an arduino which controls the motors. Lots of people already tried out playing with the machine, it was a lot of fun for all of them!

If you are interested in detailed information about the single build-steps, just take a look at the first two tutorials V1 and V2.

As German is my native language, excuse me for spelling/language mistakes. It might also be that some descriptions in my schematics are german, just use Google Translator and you know what I am talking about. :D

Step 1: The Cabinet

In 2015, I started building a wooden cabinet for the claw machine. I always updated it until today: I added a color design, lights and glass panes.

Step 2: The Electronics

The most difficult and complicated part of the whole project: The electronics. I am working on the perfection of them until today.

The "brain" of the machine is an arduino MEGA 2560, as it has enough in/outputs for all the motors, etc.

The programming is very similar to real claw machines, even with a rigged mode. Then the claw loses strength when it moved up again.

You can download the zip file containing the current version of the code for the claw machine!

Step 3: Accessoires

Of course the machine needs some "accessoires" like the keypad and some LED lights.

Step 4: The Gantry Assembly

It is the most important part of the whole machine: The motors and the claw itself! I bought the assembly online, as it would be very complicated to build it yourself. Then I just rewired the whole thing and added some limit switches.

Step 5: The History of My Claw Machine

A few pictures of the very first version of 2015 until the latest and final version of 2018 of my awesome claw machine.

Here are two video with gameplay:

Thank you for your interest on my tutorial! Have a nice day!