Arduino Powered CD Changing Robot

arduino cd robot

[ross], a reader is working on a CD changing and ripping robot. The arm picks up a CD and the platform then rotates, stopping in front of the tray to drop the CD. A JB welded tire pump provides the vacuum pick up, while a brake light acts as a resistor to trick a PC power supply into operation. A Motor Shield beefs up an Arduino in order to drive the servos.

21 thoughts on “Arduino Powered CD Changing Robot

  1. Something like this would be very useful if you run any sort of duplication/video services business.

    I would like to see one optimized for multiple drives in a stack. With a Z axis it could load/unload multiple drives. Then it becomes a very useful tool.

  2. I have been wanting to build a simple CD loader to allow ripping of a large library of CD’s. A quite basic one that feeds 1 cd from the bottom of a stack held above the drive tray. the tray can hold about 100 CD’s. I just need an easy way to take the CD off the tray ready for the next to drop in. Any ideas? dont want suction or complex grabbers or swing arms if possible

  3. Hey Paul123,
    The original link was mine. I really struggled trying to find the “best” way to grip a cd. The commercial units use something that grabs the discs from the center. The cheapest idea I have found to duplicate that is to actually use the ‘rose’ (i think that is actually what it is called) from a cd case. You would need a cone mounted below it to position it perfectly on the disc, and you would need a servo or something similar to pull it off of the rose when you unload.

    I don’t think your idea of pulling from the bottom will work. I think it would scratch the cd bottoms too much when the weight of the stack pushes down on the one disc sliding/dropping out.

    Good luck! Post here when you’re finished.

  4. paul123 and rossasarus,

    Instead of using suction you could use a relay with a solenoid. You could use some type of lever system to create some outward gripping jaws (like an armatron with the grippers flipped outward)

    If your gripping jaw is precise enough you should be able to grip just the top CD off the stack. I suppose you could do something of a different nature to drop a CD off the bottom of the stack, but you would need a more powerful solenoid to hold the entire stack in place.

    Of course, instead of a solenoid you could use a lever and a large rubberized surface. Think of a razor scooter’s brake system. Just turn the concept 90 degrees and enlarge it. That *could* work, but the grabber idea would work better (hence the industry standard).

  5. Regarding the power supply:
    i’ve heard multiple times that power supplies need a load (the light) so they’ll supply their full power

    i’ve never had a power supply that had that requirement

    am i going crazy?

  6. _matt
    you’re probably not going crazy. The load is (afaik) only needed when reporposing pc power supplies. I think it is a sensing circuit that somehow is useful in its original purpose. I have found a few pc psu that didn’t need a resistor, but not many.

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