DIY Cream Dispenser: How to Build a Handheld Squeezer with Your Daughter

[noanalyst]

Hi everyone,

Just new to the forum and a novice electronic geek. I am trying to build a small cream dispenser with my daughter. Basically a hand held device that when you press a button automatically squeezes the bottle and dispenses a preset amount of cream. I know there are probably professional made ones out there but will be fun building one with her.

That being said, I am ok with the electronic circuitry but I am not sure what are the various ways a small handheld bottle can be squeezed. I pulled apart an electronic stapler but it was a series of gears that I could not possibly make. Is there some other easier mechanical mechanism that I can reasonably and cheaply build with her over a weekend or two.

Just to clarify, I am not talking about the big 16oz cream bottles, just the handheld 1 or 2 oz ones that you can carry in a bag or that you find for 99 cents in most drug stores.

Thanks in advance

 

[Simon Bridge]

The usual solution is to put the cream in a syringe and use a motor+rod to drive the plunger.
Similarly, a lot of creams come in pump-nozzle bottles - you know, where you press on the spigot and cream comes out? You can easily get a motor to work oe of those.

Squeezing a tube would be done using rollers - a bottle may be similar, depends on the details of the bottle.
You can put a bottle in a vise, and use a motor to drive the screws?

What you really want to know is what it would take to squeeze the bottle as much as needed.

 

[noanalyst]

Ok. I like the suggestions. Did not think about using rollers for tubes. Do you have any examples or sketches I can look at.

 

[Simon Bridge]

There used to be a roller device for toothpaste tubes - a quick google of those terms will show you the manual version in several designs.

 

[noanalyst]

Just saw it. Perfect. Thanks