Pharmaceutical dispenser

[Bony]

Every month I need to sort 150 pills into weekly pill boxes (with a separate compartment for each day of the week). The pills comprise 5 different sizes and are dispensed in blister packs of 30 tablets. It's a chore but I've now devised an easier way of sorting and dispensing them.

This idea originated from Rick Sparber, a very active member to this site, and I acknowledge and give credit to his contribution, thanks Rick. The dispenser has several requirements, be able to accommodate pills of different sizes and shapes, allow only one pill of each size to be dispensed for each day, be simple to make and use.

It's made from aluminium, but could be made from cardboard, MDF or 3D printed. The tray inserts not only allow for different sizes and shapes of pill but also add a millimetre or so depth to better hold the pills and prevent unwanted spillage after they have been shaken into place.

THE COMPONENTS


From the left, 3 sorting tray inserts to suit different sized and shaped pills, the dispensing tray (note the 7 holes for pills to drop through), the tray holder which sits at a height to overlap the pill box compartments, and the pill box.

INSERT LOADED WITH PILLS


TRAY IS AGITATED GENTLY TO FILL SORTING TRAY HOLES


SLIDE TRAY TO RIGHT TO ALLOW PILLS TO DROP INTO BOX


Repeat for the next week until all 30 pills have been dispensed then change sorting tray to suit the next lot of tablets.

[DIYer]

Thanks Bony! We've added your Pill Dispenser to our Storage and Organization category,
as well as to your builder page: Bony's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Pill Dispenser by Bony

tags: storage

[rgsparber]

Bony,

This is a superb design! In my case, only two sheets are needed making this a very efficient design.

You said your pills are in bubble packs. The next challenge is how to free them quickly with a simple tool.

You have again proved that all of us are smarter than any one of us.

Thanks,

Rick

[Bony]

Thanks Rick.
Quite a few of my tablets are hard to release from their bubble pack wrapping so I came up with this to save sore thumbs. If you're going to make one he hole in the lid of the plastic bottle screw top needs to be quite large to save crushing larger tablets. In my case the hole is 13mm, whereas the largest tablet is 9mm in diameter.

The components disassembled



It's made from some scrap spring steel strapping and spot welded on the end to form a kind of forceps, the rest should be self explanatory. The idea isn't mine, it's modelled off an imported commercial version which is available on-line for a dollar or two.

[rgsparber]

Great design! You have solved two problems with a single tool.

Rick