This is something I have been thinking about for a while and now I have a 3D printer, I have been able to realise the idea. I hope this will be useful to parkruns around the country and the world.
parkrun finishing token dispenser
This is something I have been thinking about for a while and now I have a 3D printer, I have been able to realise the idea. I hope this will be useful to parkruns around the country and the world.
Marathon Mann 
Richard, love the Parkrun finish token dispenser, how can we get hold of some please?
RD at Frickley Country Parkrun.
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HI Colin. parkruns can obtain these at very low cost. It’s available as a free 3D print design so anyone with a 3D printer can download the design and make one. 3D printers are becoming very common in schools and at home. My recommendation is that core teams who want one reach out to their local parkrun community for someone with a 3D printer who would be willing to “print” one. There have been some issues with different sized tokens in use around the country (and indeed the world) – to this end I will shortly be making available an improved design so hang fire for a few weeks (ill let you know by replying to this post when its available)
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I left a reply last week but it doesn’t seem to display. I printed your design and used it for the 1st time last Saturday at Father Collins Parkrun (Ireland) and it works great. It’s wonderful. thank you. I can see improvements to be suggested but I’m awaiting for the new design
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Hi, sorry your comment didn’t get published – it’s moderated and I don’t understand how I missed it. Anyhow, thanks for the amazing feedback, it is very much appreciated. The new design which has improved strength in the way the bobbins are held in place is about to be “field trialed”. I also am testing a version that can be printed in two parts to hold more tokens (i’m aiming for 200).
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Hi
I was very impressed with your design
A link to the .stl would be appreciated.
Thanks &
Kind regards
John.
Home parkrun is Reading TVP
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Hi John. Thanks for your interest. Last year (September) I created a new design which is in use at Rothwell parkrun (in Leeds). I just realised that I hadn’t published the files so prompted by you, I did so this afternoon. They are here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6071446/files Let me know how you get on.
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Hello there. I printed one for our local parkrun (Father collins parkrun in Ireland) and it did a fantastic job today. Thank you soooo much. Looking forward to the new design but I know the area where the bobins are look a bit under pressure. Anyway, It’s been tested successfully
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Hi there, have you considered using the springs from a ‘nerf’ gun toy instead of the elastic? We have just started to use one of your dispensers, which works great but the pressure seems to be waining when we get to the last 20ish tokens and on these colder/wetter days I believe it may not improve
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Hi Martin. That’s a great suggestion, I hadn’t thought of that but one guy from Texas told me that he would try and re-design using a firearm magazine spring!! (the trick with the last few tokens is to apply very little pressure but I get the problem and will have a look at the springs)
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The springs I have are an inch short but worked well with all tokens, can give Jill a spring on Saturday to pass on for testing. It needs a blanking plate at the bottom with a hole so you can still hook the block onto for loading. The other draw back is the spring can pop out when compressing
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Hi Martin, that would be awesome! I did a search and all I could find was various types of heavy-duty replacement springs, presumably to give more power. If the solution is to work it needs to use parts that can be easily and cheaply purchased, where do you buy the one you tried? I can see that the use of a spring would need quite a bit of a redesign but I relish the challenge.
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Hi. I have already printed two of your old designs and they work fantastically well, although the hook to hold the block in place is a bit weak and has been broken by token sorters a couple of times.
However as our parkrun increases in size I now want to print a 3rd. Which is the latest version?
Thank you for producing a fantastic design.
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Hi Tim. Thank you so much for your positive feedback – it is great to know that this is being used in other parkrun! The latest version is on Thingiverse at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2950534 The files for the latest version are all prefixed MK5. I will take on board the feedback about the hook and will put up a stronger version soon. Thanks again, Richard
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