Devlog 1

hello pokemon enthusiast!

In this Devlog I will be showcasing the PCB, Schematic and Case.

• See Images.

Journal / Explanation of process

• The PCB and Schematic were quite simple, followed the tutorial.
• The case here is to resemble the Pokemon Wailord, under him is the ocean where I might add some water pokemon swimming there. (ex. Magikarp or Sharpedo)
• The Tubes there are for the Wailord so he can fly/float.
  Maybe i’l change them to some tentacle’s from tentacrule. Also the tentacles will be where the jumper wires can go through for the screen. (hollow)
• The scales/circles on Wailord will be the buttons for the clock, while the clock will be on the side of the ocean.
  (not sure if I should make/CAD circular keycaps or just make the scales a square)
• For printing / CADing later on I might make them so they are detachable

Slight problems

• The size and weight might be overkill for a “simple” clock. I’m not sure if this can even be printed
• Also due to school starting and procrastination im not sure if I have enough time to ship and build this by Sept 30th (stardance end)

Upcoming…

• MAYBE Pokemon in water
• Hole in Wailord (for PCB to fit)
• Opening in ocean (for clock)
• Making it functional in CAD.

ok thanks for reading!

DEVLOG 5

hi

Main tasks done

• Model complete (might add some tilt to it)
• Code complete
• Github complete

Journal

• While rotating around the model and admiring it, I noticed that the “flower” knob attachment was out of place. I decided to replace it with a simple pokeball model, this will be painted over once printed since multi-colour print might make it quite fragile.
• The pcb routing looks very messy, although not included, there are silkscreen pokemon characters.
• Thought the bottom was too empty so I added a rotom engraving.
• Github updated here

prob submitting after this devlog

Devlog #4

Main tasks completed

1. Casing of board almost complete
2. PCB reroute
3. PCB 3d model added

Main Points

• The first iteration model in devlog #3 didnt look like a rotom. To fix this; I imported a png image of Rotom phone and traced it in blender. Then used the model to cross reference it to Fusion 360.
• The PCB mounting method is inspired by the keyboard I currently use! ( Epomaker EP-84 )

Suffrage Points

• I tried viewing the 3d model of the PCB using KiCad’s built in 3d viewer, I only saw diodes. I had to manually import and find the 3d models for each component…
  -Ngl this Rotom kinda looks off.

Next-up…

1. Move the mounting holes to the bottom.
2. Add some graphics on the PCB
3. Maybe make eyes hot-swappable? (idk if they will allow so many prints)
4. Coding… (I don’t like coding)
5. Touch-ups in general (or maybe revisions)

DEVLOG # 3

Main tasks did:

1. Rerouting of pcb traces and schematic
2. Adding 3d models into the pcb
3. Comparing pcb 3d model with preview 3d sketch
4. Sketching out the case (ROTOM!)

Rewiring of the schematics; due to not reading online forums after I had routed. Turns out I had routed some things wrong.
The pcb tracing was not organized (used the wrong scale 😭)
Then started sketching the 3d model that resembles a rotom, this was harder then I thought ( Fusion 360 ≠ Blender).
Might do the intitail case design in fusion then do some editting in blender.

Next Devlog To do:

1. Case design
2. Make the case look like rotom

Day 2

• Today was cleaning up the schematics, then placing them into pcb editor, then wire them up. Wiring was a pain as the parts I all want are super compact.

Kinda sad that I was unable to get the click function for the knob as I ran out of pins.

While this is my first time wiring a pcb, it would be nice to get some critisism.
As I have no idea what the good and bad are on wiring a pcb, nor the most efficient ways to wire.

Anyways here’s an image of what I worked on today.

Mini Rotom keyboard

off camera (not logged)
i did a brief sketch using fusion 360 to plan out how the rotom keypad would look (attached img)

My Idea was to make a mini keyboard resembling a Rotom phone, mapped with the keys from a Gameboy, then sized as an iPad due to the components not fitting.

My hope is that the OLED display would be able to animate the mouth of the Rotom. Maybe even make the eyes detachable so the emotions/facial expressions could change.

This session I had started wiring the components, I had quickly realised that I had one too many components versus pins. I had to compromise, remove one of the rotary encoders and make them only able to spin and not click.
This way I could fit the LEDs, switches, OLED display, and a knob. (didn’t include the LEDS in fusion)