Ryedale Sorter and Suzo Happ Coin Cube MKII

I broke down last week and bought a Ryedale sorter.

Just a few comments I wanted to make about the experience for all who have thought about doing this, or those who are on the edge of deciding:

• Customer service and shipping were excellent -- Under the special instructions I asked that the package be "handled with care" which normally means nothing to the company shipping the product or fulfilling the orders. HOWEVER, at Ryedale the internal packaging was done very well and on the outside of the package I counted six "Fragile" and "Handle with Care" stickers in neon colors and packaged with tape marked "Fragile". Needless to say the package came to my door being carefully transported without even a ding on the box. I was impressed.
• There were a few extra pieces in the shipping box that I hadn't ordered that were just thrown in for free. Nothing of a huge value but a couple of extra U.S. mint reproduction cent bags and a few extra parts, pieces, and a loupe. These weren't advertised as part of the package so I was pleasantly surprised by their arrival.

Now onto the other observations:

• The machine itself appears to be well built and has stood up to the first $400 FV in cents with no major problems (It sorted 28# of copper in the few hours I used it).
• I experienced a chute jam but once it was cleared it never happened again. It is insanely quick and much much better than hand sorting copper cents. After seeing this jam, I doubt I would just leave the machine alone while it works as it sends coins shooting into both buckets indiscriminately as it cannot divert them correctly. Some kind of automatic shut-down would be nice on these and wouldn't be hard to incorporate if they use calibrate it based on the chute weight.
• I have re-checked the work done by the machine and have seen no discrepancies or errors in differentiating the mostly copper pennies from the mostly zinc counterpart.
• I was a little surprised to see that the main hopper is a commercially available Suzo Happ Coin Cube MkII which has a retail price of around $60 online. I was happy to see that this part can be replaced as a whole if it is damaged or defective but have trouble justifying the additional cost I paid -- I'm not certain that the comparator, chassis, and other pieces are worth the additional money I was charged.

Does anyone know whether the coin cube portion can be replaced with one of Suzo Happ's other coin hoppers (dimes?) and if the comparator can be adjusted to filter through dimes vs. the nickels and pennies it is advertised to do out-of-the-box?

At this point I'm just trying to find another way I can use it to turn a profit, or potentially pay for itself because the 50,000 copper cent pieces required to pay itself off seem

My Recommendation:

My overall opinion is very high on this unit and Ryedale's customer service. If you sort through boxes of wheats and copper cents for your own use or as a long-term investment or to supplement your income I would encourage you to get one - It makes short work of sorting and isn't damaging to the coins if you put a soft piece over the tine. If you are the occasional roll-sorter in search of wheats or error coins, or even if you sort through a few boxes a month and your focus is on copper, wheats, and errors I would advise against it based on cost alone.