Bindactor V1

So I've finished the first version of my very own bindicator. It's pretty janky, but it works. Considering this is the first time I've ever made anything using a prototyping PCB board and actually coded firmware, I think I did a pretty good job, especially for a weekend project!

I ended up using transparent PLA to 3D print the bin. I used a premade model which I would've edited more, but I'm not familiar with Fusion 360s mesh system and they have a whole new 3D printing/manufacturing thing in the app? I'm not a fan, so it disrupted my whole workflow and I ended up cutting out a bigger hole in the back for the PCB, which itself was too big for the model (whoops). I always found transparent PCB to look tacky, and so far I've been proven right. Granted my printing is hardly top of the line, but it does just look cheap, which is fine for a first version but I want to find a different solution for the next one.

The web-scraping runs passively in the background on my little YIKES machine (see earlier posts), and communicates directly with my central API, which then wirelessly signals to the ESP32 to handle the LEDs. It's all fairly simple, but there are a few things I've realised in reflecting on this project.

Firstly, there are edge cases I hadn't considered. For example, the web page I scrape doesn't not display the following month, meaning that if there is a bin collection on the following day and that day happens to be the first of the month, there will be no alert. Thankfully there is a paragraph at the top of the webpage just outright stating when the next bin collection day is, so I might refactor to use that instead, which would require a lot more regex code but I could use the practice.

Second, I realised I need to find a way of crossing the bridge between my 3D modelling skills. I've designed engineering pieces and I've modelled art, but I've not modelled art that needs to act alongside engineered components. Blender is difficult to do CAD in, and fusion 360 is difficult to be artistic in, so I should probably develop my skills there.

For version 2 (yes I intend to do a version 2), I want to make it slightly bigger, ideally have a LiPo battery, maybe run self contained, and be way more accessible to set up. I want to overhaul the lighting as well, since I only used 2 LEDs (one green, one blue) at the bottom on the board, whereas I want to have a more even spread of light and would love to experiment with RGB lighting. Otherwise, I just want to make it more my own. This is a well established product idea that plenty of tinkerers have made themselves, and though I'm proud to be among them, I'd like to make my mark in my own way, and now I have the foundation to do that!

Exploring web-scraping, firmware, and ending up with a useful little gizmo has been very educational. It's already given me ideas of more things I want to make, so I guess we'll see what comes next!