[lukevanoort]

Why not suck instead of blow? With some sort of motor running a fan (not that hard to make, weld a couple bits of sheet metal to a collar) you could suck them into a hopper. Sure the range might suck (well maybe not, last year's fisher price at 24000 rpm could probably pull a good amount of air) and you'd need mesh over everything to keep from chewing up stuff. Speaking of which, you'd need to watch wiring and tubing to make sure the suck/blow force of the fan doesn't unplug it. (not really an issue with tubing, but those pwms are screwed.)