Devlog #18

The Final One

###my project in short to those who havent seen it yet
My project is a “beeper” with an e-ink display. It features three low-profile mechanical switches, an ESP32, a battery, and a 3D-printed case to tie it all together. I built two of them and gifted one to my GF for her birthday!

so this is it, the last devlog for Ebeep.
i finished the Blender showcase animation, check it out ⬇️⬇️⬇️

took way longer than expected since I’ve never really used blender for anything like this before, but I’m happy with how it turned out. (or kicad)
as for the PCB, the design is fully done, routed, and ready to export to gerbers, but I decided not to actually order it right now. the perfboard build already works and does the job, and the PCB was mostly a “because I can” side project once I started documenting everything (devlog #16 lol). might revisit it in the future if I ever want to build a v2 or make more of these, but for now the current build is what’s shipping as “done.”

looking back

this project went through basically everything a project can go through: missed deadlines, a broken 3d printer, a bug that silently deleted my girlfriend’s messages for a week without me noticing, failed prints, finals eating my motivation and somehow it still came out the other side working, on both devices, doing everything I wanted it to do.
if I had to do it again I’d probably:

start the PCB earlier instead of perfboard + rework
set up proper MQTT retained-message handling from day one instead of patching it in later.
budget way more time for the case than I did CAD alone ate multiple redesigns and i still needed help from my friend to finish it i really need to work on my CAD skills

but honestly, for a project that started as “let’s port some code to an esp32 I’m scared to solder,” I’m really proud of where it landed.
whats next?
id really love to keep working and making it the best i can (the 3d render is really rough as i had to finish it TODAY and some of the code is still messy), but realistically, nothing planned this is the ‘finish’ line. maybe a better PCB with a good showcase with cleaner code and a case that actually houses the PCB someday, maybe not. either way, thanks to everyone who followed along since the start.

TL;DR
finished the showcase render, PCB design is complete but staying unbuilt for now, and the project is officially ‘done’. thanks for reading 🎉