Triple threat unlocked

[rojhan (Rick)]

I’ve taken a week off work to finish all the minutia of moving cross-country and finally have pretty much all of the “honey do” list taken care of.

I’ve also finally managed to free up enough room in the garage to get both vehicles, plus 700x500 laster, plus 6040 CNC in at the same time. It’s a lot more comfortable to not have one of the cars in while working, but not necessary.

3D printer (inside), plus CNC, plus laser up, calibrated, and tested. Watch out, world! I’m now finally working on a Google-controlled button-pusher to start coffee in the morning.

Still some fine-tuning and general cleanup to do, but… it’s there.

[LightBurn (Oz)]

@rojhan

I’m now finally working on a Google-controlled button-pusher to start coffee in the morning.

I’ve been toying with doing this myself…

[raykholo (Ray Kholodovsky)]

And Oz has a 3D Printer now, so “threat” is definitely the word here.

[Gary_G (Gary Graham)]

I’d post a pic of my garage but I have a lot of “gear” (my wife calls rubbish).
Putting down a pair of pliers can sometimes end up like a where’s wally half hour.

[adammhaile (Adam Haile)]

@LightBurn

I’ve been toying with doing this myself…

@LightBurn They do make such things: https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-SMCOF01-US-Coffee-Maker-Silver/dp/B0797P61FV

[rojhan (Rick)]

They do make such things

Multiple reasons, in no particular order

1. too expensive vs reviews/quality all over the place
   1a) Replacing it when it fails is more painful as well
2. already have a coffee maker that we like
3. The various “robot button pushers” also have highly variable reviews
   4a) Some require additional hardware to work with Google/Alexa; not just phone app

But, most importantly:
5) Why not?

[LightBurn (Oz)]

I already have a coffee maker that I like, I just need to add a button, and I really like over-engineering things.

[rojhan (Rick)]

Prototype ready for fine-tuning.

• USB powered
• WiFi enabled (well, kinda hard to automate without some kind of network connection :))
• Enough room for manual activation (using human fingers as backup)
• Status LED from the coffee maker still visible to humans, but also so the button pusher knows whether it’s on or not.
• Over-the-Air (OTA) updates so I can modify the software without needing to bring a laptop over to the coffee maker

Todo:

• Some form of “bumper” on the button pusher so the amount of rotation doesn’t need to be perfect
• Decide whether to put some kind of shield over the electronics, or redsign the mount.

Other notes:

• A solenoid powerful enough to push the button consistently was too big.
• Same for using a small servo; it would most-of-the-time activate the button but not always
• Hubitat for the IOT Hub and Hubduino for Arduino integration.

I’ll post in Finished Creations when I have a video of it finished and working.

[rojhan (Rick)]

CoffeeBot 2020 in action.