Automated Candle Dipper
Over the summer of 2003, my dad and I built an automated, computerized candle dipping machine. For several years now, my dad has run a fairly successful candle business, making very unique and high-quality candles. Up until now, he has bought blank white tapers from a supplier. We built this machine so that we can have more control over the process. He did most of the hardware and I did the most of the software. I used an 8051 Development Board as an interface between an old Palm V and the equipment. We are designing it to be very precise and use a stepper motor to control the dipping so that we can eventually make shapes other than tapers.
After getting quite familiar with the Palm/8052 combination, I decided to pretty much drop the palm. We put all of the logic on the 8052 but still used the palm to download the applications. The software is very close to dipping candles but still needs a few tweaks.