Phone Lockbox (Tamagotchi-Style)

I designed a PCB for my lockbox that wraps around the solenoid lock and added supports for it in the case.

Tested the buttons and buzzer when switching screens using a breadboard and dupont wires.

Got the tft display working!!! At first I couldn’t get it to work because the tft_eSPI library my code was using didn’t support my esp32-c6, so I switched to LovyanGFX which uses all the same functions as tft_eSPI and just needs some basic configuration, which I did with the help of Claude. I’m super excited to put it all together, see you next time!

Added some blocks to hold the solenoid in place and make the hole actually proportional to the actual insert.

Heyyy! Not much to say today. I hopped into KiCad and designed a schematic for my project. I won’t be using a pcb, since the shape in abnormal and will probably be more expensive to produce and wires just make more sense for my project. That’s it for today. Next up: assembly. See you on the net devlog.

[ Note for Hardware Reviewers: I accidentally left my Lookout Desktop timelapse running while I took a break to watch a movie. The total recorded time says 5h 48m, but my actual work time was around 3h 17m (the last 2.5 hours is just a gray screen). I already talked to the @Fraud Squad on Slack about this and they said it’s all good, and that they’ll deduct the extra time after the project gets approved. You can reach out to them if you need to double-check! ]

Hey everyone!
Since my last devlog, I’ve made a lot of progress on my lockbox. I started working on the design of the enclosure in Fusion, trying to figure out how to make everything fit inside without making it look bulky and ugly. I watched some tutorials on youtube (not included in the time) on how to design the hinges, and modified the design so it accommodates the specific needs of the project. I also started working more seriously on the code and UI. I designed the different screens on lopaka.app and started putting them together using different functions. I also designed the home screen, which is going to be the main screen you see when using the lockbox. I’m trying to keep the UI simple, because it has to be navigatable solely using physical pushbuttons. I also spent some time optimizing the slicing settings in Bambu Studio for the 3D print so the enclosure can be printed more efficiently and hopefully come out cleaner.

That’s it for now, see you on the next devlog!

Hey there! This is my first devlog. So, I’ve had this project idea for a long time, to build a lockbox where I can put my phone inside and lock it for a specific amount of time. There’s gonna be a TFT LCD display with a tamagotchi-inspired character who reacts to how you use the box. He’s happy when you put your phone in and lock it, celebrates when you finish a session without unlocking the box early, and is sad when you do. To start, I used chatgpt to get a first idea of how the character is gonna look, and then I drew him by hand on Piskel (a free online pixel drawing app). I’ve made 7 versions so far: idle, blink, happy, excited, celebrating, sad and sleeping. That’s it for today, see you on the next devlog!