hardware × software × 3D print
Maker knowledge for people who like to build. When circuits, code and a 3D printer share one bench, a breadboard experiment turns into a device you use every day. Start from fundamentals that are right, then build up one step at a time.
Three sides of the work
You can learn each side on its own, but the things that really work happen where the three meet.
Circuits, sensors, motors and power. Know where the current goes, wire things without frying the board, and measure with a multimeter.
What you learn
Leans oncode to drive it and a case to protect it
Firmware on ESP32 and Arduino: read sensors, drive outputs, send data over the network and show it on a screen or a web page.
What you learn
Leans onhardware to work with and somewhere solid to live
Cases, brackets and parts that fit the real thing: the right clearances, strong walls and a material that suits the job.
What you learn
Leans onthe board's real size and the job the part must do
From idea to object
Project ideas
Every one uses easy-to-find parts, with the level, the parts and the skills it teaches. Pick the next one that adds one new skill.
The first project, and it teaches the most important thing: why an LED needs a resistor and how much a GPIO pin can supply.
Print only. Practise measuring a real object, adding clearance, and seeing where a part breaks when printed in a different orientation.
A BME280 and an OLED share one I2C bus at different addresses, in a printed case with vents that keep the sensor away from the board's heat.
A capacitive sensor gives an analog value you calibrate yourself between dry and wet soil. On an ESP32, use an ADC1 pin: ADC2 is unavailable while Wi-Fi is on.
Every WS2812B LED hangs off one data wire. The hard part is power: full white can draw up to about 60 mA per LED, so size the supply first.
Watch out Do not run a long strip from the board's 5V pin. Use a separate supply and wire rated for the current.
Two servos driven by 50 Hz PWM on brackets you print yourself. Practise designing parts that take torque, and screw holes that hold.
Watch out Servos draw current spikes when they start moving. Give them their own supply, with the ground shared with the board.
Articles
Measure the board, choose clearance and wall thickness, work out the case size step by step, plan screw holes, USB cut-outs and vents, and pick PLA, PETG or ABS.
5 min readWire the two I2C lines, find the address with an I2C scanner, read values with the Adafruit library, tell a BME280 from a look-alike BMP280, and why it reads too warm.
5 min readWhy an LED always needs a resistor, the step-by-step sum for an ESP32 (3.3 V) and an Arduino Uno (5 V), which GPIO pins are safe, and blink and button code.
5 min readBench rules
Something we built
A browser-based parametric design tool for 3D printing, made by the owner of this site. An example of the code side and the print side meeting.
A project that stalled, a circuit that will not work, or a topic you want covered. Contact details will appear at the bottom of the page soon; meanwhile, the learning path is a good place to start.