How to Make a Gum Machine Out of Plastic

Find a home for those wayward gumballs in this DIY plastic gumball machine.

Functional machines do not have to be complex and made of many, confusing parts. The simplicity of an old-fashioned gumball machine is a perfect example of a machine. Using plastic pieces you can find in the hardware store and your kitchen cupboards, you can make a plastic fishbowl gumball machine. The fishbowl is flipped over and lowered onto a plastic base made out of an upside down 8-by-8-inch plastic food container. With a little PVC pipe and glue, you can make your very own plastic gumball machine.

Things You'll Need

• Plastic coffee can lid
• Plastic food storage tub, 8 inches by 8 inches by 1 1/4 inch
• Electric hot knife
• Plastic fishbowl
• Hot glue gun
• Large plastic bead
• Wide plastic ruler
• 2 sections of PVC pipe, 1 1/2 inches long by 2 inches across
• 1 PVC elbow joint, 2 inches
• 1-inch gumballs

Instructions

1. Cut a hole that fits the diameter of the PVC pipe in the center of the coffee can lid and the center of the bottom and one side of the food container with the hot knife. In the lip of the fishbowl, cut slots that will accommodate the width of the plastic ruler on opposite sides of the bowl.

2. Hot glue the plastic bead to the ruler to make a handle. Cut a 1-inch hole in the ruler just to the left of the center mark on the ruler using the hot knife. Thread the ruler through the slots you created in the fishbowl in step 1.

3. Thread one piece of the PVC pipe through the side hole in the food container with 1/4 inch left outside the container. Put a thin layer of hot glue around where the pipe meets the container on both the inside and outside.

4. Attach the elbow joint to the PVC pipe glued into the side of the container. Thread the second piece of PVC through the hole in the bottom of the container so that 1/2 inch is above the plastic bottom and snap the other end into the PVC elbow joint. Just like in step 3, place a thin layer of hot glue around the outside and inside of the container at the seam where the PVC and plastic meet.

5. Fill the fishbowl with gumballs. Place the coffee can lid on top of the bowl and carefully flip it over. Lower the fishbowl onto the exposed PVC pipe so that the exposed piece of pipe goes into the hole in the coffee can lid and butts up against the ruler. The gumball machine is now ready to enjoy.

Tips & Warnings

• Pull the ruler handle by the knob through the fishbowl until the hole in the ruler lines up with the PVC pipe. This will release a gumball into the PVC pipe. It will then run down the pipe and out of the base of the machine made of the food storage container.

• Hot knives and hot glue guns are dangerous and could cause burns; children under the age of 13 should be supervised when using these tools.

Resources

• Science Spot: Junk Box Wars