medora

• ok what i did last time was kind of a waste

• didn’t really need that

• lets work on the actual CAD

• ok took me a bit to get here

• i made a bunch of mistakes

• idk this feels so odd

• im going to lock in on the other project and come back to ts

• bruhhh this got deleted

• ok ill rewrite

• basically, i found a THT LED on KiCAD that Claude didn’t know about

• i made the schematic

• i tried to find the dimensions on Dollar Tree’s website

• i calculated the LED position with Claude

• PCB:

• ok im making it a little bit longer

• noice

• im going to print ts out

• ok i printed two pages out

• the dimensions feel right

• the LEDs feel centered

• i cant be sure tho

• so ig ill just go with it

• i had to update the library

• it works!

• time to start CAD

• ok i was thinking to have two seperate panels

• but im just going to have display under the thing

• ok i dont want to work on CAD ngl

• ill make a render of the PCB

• made it!

• its not the best or anything

• but it looks cool

• ok lowk this was unneccesary cause ill prob change some stuff

• but its still cool

• i went to the dollar store today

• i got a pill organizer

• im going to make it smart!

• $5 BOM

• THT components so its easy to assemble

• im starting with taking measurements

• it took so long for some reason

• but i got it done

• ive never used calipers before

• i always just use a GrabCAD model

• i got calipers from OpenSauce

• so ill just use those

• i also needed to use rulers because calipers were too small

• test print time!

• it was originally bigger, but Raygen told me to make it 1mm tall

• so i did that!

• first is too tall but not wide enough

• changed dimensions a little bit

• hopefully it works this time

• 2nd one didn’t work

• 3rd works but not ideal

• 4th ones the charm

• ok it works

• could be a bit wider but im done with test prints

• ok i need to figure out where to put LEDs

• uhhh ill just work on KiCAD rn

• this is going to require A LOT of prototyping

• i’ve been trying to find a kicad model for so long

• i do not want to make my own kicad model

• looks like i cant use THT neopixels

• ill just use RGB leds

• ok looks like i can’t do THT

• thats unfortunate

• PCBWay reached out to sponsor my hackathon

• my hackathon was too close, so I said we could collaborate in the future

• i also asked if they could sponsor this project

• they said yes!

• i just need to update PCB + repo

• done!

• will email now

• ok i need to fix 3d print also

• right now, it’s not printable

• the handles and the rectangle on both sides is too big of an overhang

• so ill split the handles

• added holes

• made the handle

• used calipers IRL to gauge what dimensions i need

• noice!

• will adjust the dimensions

• ok im going to figure out how long ts will take to print

container: 4h45m, 212g
lid top: 49m14s, 33g
lid bottom: 1h33m, 64g
handles: 18m32s, 7g

• thats in total: 7h 25m, 316 g

• i think ill need to add 1kg filament because i’ll likely need to reprint stuff

• apparently 1 screw isn’t enough

• ok i need to add 2 screws

• nice!

• i added 3 screws cause why not

• i might not use all of them; we’ll see

• new cutout

• also larger

• ok i realilze i have a problem

• i have to fix it

• ok that ended up fixing it

• idk how im going to print this

• cause supports wouldn’t work… or would they

• i asked in Slack hopefully someone responds

• i downloaded the EllieGrid app to see how it works

• i will use this for my app

• brainstormed what pages will be on the site

• idk if i should journal this here

• i want to render this cause why not
• imported it into Fusion
• there was some stuff wrong with it but i ended up fixing it
• I asked Claude to help me
• after struggles, i got this!

• trying to make an exploded view

• looks weird ngl

• modeled the magnet

• looks good!

• ok its time to lock in

• im submitting this to Congressional App Challenge

• added slot

• i want to add magnets

• not enough space

• i added the holes

• added more holes

• looks pretty ugly

• im ready to submit almost

• it looks really ugly

• will fix later

• im going to create a BOM rq

• this doesn’t count hotplate

• im going to figure out how much it would cost for 100

• ok it comes out to around $25/unit

• ill figure that out later

• ok im going to set up repo for submission

• prepared the repo!

• going to redesign schematic with neopixels

• ok i dont think i need to model it exactly like the other thing

• planning to do 8 containers with a CAD of 200 x 100 mm

• thats what claude came up with

• pretty nice

• added mounting holes; took wayyy longer than expected

• noice

• 3d view looks pretty clean, ngl

• i will create case now

• lets start afresh

• just realized it wouldn’t work because the USB-C is too far away

• redesigned it to be 198.5 mm wide so its easy to plug in

• made it 195 x 95 cause it looks too thin in CAD

• still kinda thin, ngl

• going to make it even smaller PCB

• 190 x 100 now!

• hanging over the edge

• it was also mis-centered

• fixed that as well

• nvm not centered

• voila!

• will design lid to lid

• looks like an ominous box

• im going to flip the MCU so it is thinner

• fixed!

• made top part thinner where LEDs will be so it shines brighter

• still looks like a box ngl

• duo-tone design

• container!

• going to make top holes now

• done

• need to make it better

• ok i think ill need to hotplate this because its too thick

• going to use neopixels cause they are better and I could make this sleeker

• im going to use WS2812B

• ok ill come back to this

• lets design the case

• idk if I even need a PCB

• it makes it a lot cleaner tho

• im just going to restart it cause i messed something up

• took way longer than it should have

• fixed this resistor i misplaced

• thinned it down

• added holes… time to make the top!