Small machines, built on the bench.
3D printing, electronics and common parts, turned into things that move, light up and draw. Every build, the dead ends included, is in my notebook.
Latest from my notebook
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Bean There Dug That, part 1: a digging game for four
A new project: a table-top digging game for four players. Each player sits at a corner and drives a little servo excavator with two joysticks, and all four dig in one shared pit of lentils for red and blue glass…
Raccoon Soaker, part 5: built and wired
Version 4 of the soaker's enclosure is printed, assembled and wired. The camera, the mini PIR, the relay and the valve all work inside the real box. Along the way, the PIR bezel didn't fit the PIR, the valve got no…
Raccoon Soaker, part 4: the enclosure, version four
I printed version 3 of the soaker's outdoor box and learned what was wrong with it by holding it. Version 4 answers each problem: the inside is now a sled you build at the bench and slide in, there's a basement for…
Measuring a valve: four wrong models and one good drawing
I drew the Raccoon Soaker's solenoid valve four times, and each time the model had something wrong. What finally fixed it wasn't better measuring. It was a measuring sheet: a draw.io drawing of the model with every…
Raccoon Soaker, part 3: the valve clicks
The 12 V solenoid valve now opens and shuts on command. The ESP32-CAM drives the relay, the relay switches 12 V to the valve, and the valve clicks. No water through it yet. It's all mounted on the printed v2 test…
Bench learns to iterate: several models per project, print lists and saved views
A project in Bench can now have several 3D models: the Raccoon Soaker has two test stands and a first draft of its outdoor enclosure, side by side. Bench can lay an old version over the new one as a faint ghost, list…
Projects
All machines →
Experiments
Bring-ups and test rigs →
Asteroid Test
WorkingA tiny Spacecavator-style digger on a Nextion screen: steer through rock and collect gems with a joystick, zoom with a knob.
Servo Tester
WorkingFind a hobby servo's real end points and centre: a PCA9685 driver, three knobs and a display, all run by an ESP32.
Stepper Test
WorkingA 28BYJ-48 stepper driven through the PCA9685 and a ULN2003: milestone one of the pen plotter.
Bench
Every machine here starts in Bench, our own workbench app. One project file gives you the breadboard, schematic, perfboard, 3D model and the firmware sketch, with a live circuit solver and one-click flashing to a real ESP32.
