I use this channel to share DIY projects, electronics, possibly some coding, and whatever else takes my fancy. This often involves electronics, Raspberry Pi computers, Arduinos, 3D printing, and much more.
This doesnt look realistic, found this one, with Leds and realistic flames: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oqCXNDXzC90.htmlsi=14_ZxTLmPik2rX1D
I see your Arduino code (I believe )takes into account tangential error from using a fixed drive rod as opposed to a curved rod. Easy to do with a stepper motor! I build mine with a pivot on the top drive rod to base mount and a pivot on the bottom mount also. Removes much but not all of the tangential error. Nicely done! I have isolated the drive stepper from the rest of the rig with soft shock motor mounts and a shock shaft coupler to help reduce vibration. Seems to work well.
I cant see my comment, I think it's because I included a link to an other you tube video. How are you getting on porting this to the ESP32? I urgently need to see how you did this. I can probably work out the RFID stuff, it's mainly sending the instruction to Alexa to start the routine. I'll gladly show my project for you to steel and share, when I get it working. I'm hoping to make someone's day to day life a little easier, and have no intention of making a commercial product . If you are interested here is a little project I gave to another youtuber, jut copy this in the RU-vid search bar. WJaxzhL2Ji8 or this one jKnhx1PintY
Hey, thanks so much for this, this is one of my first projects! I got all the way to the point with the audio to the motor shield and I cannot figure out the wires. It looks like in the photos you took the Arduino and Motor Shield apart and connected the audio through the amplified and Alexa to the Arduino but then... How do you put them back together? Do I strip the wires to fit them in the holes? Because the pins do not work if I put the two back together- the plastic part is too large and if I bend them they do not fit either.
@Ben Eagan Awesome work! I would love to check out the code and set this up myself. I have an RFID reader and have configured an Arduino to read the cards before so it would be a matter of the Amazon/Alexa integration, but also have a PI 4 sitting somewhere I could use if needed.
Thanks for letting me know! Honestly it doesn't seem like there's a ton of enthusiasm for this one, but I will likely at least share my code somewhere with a couple pointers and lessons learned.
ok it seems you have the simplest and easiest barndoor i could find. my real problem is the stacking and editing afterwards. i can't even download the program for that let alone use it. any suggestions? i'm a 78 year old guy who has thought about astro photo for many years. now it seems maybe too difficult. thanks.
Hey Michael Carman, you actually don't need to do any stacking when you've got a tracker. Just adjusting the light settings with the simplest editors can get you some great shots. You should give it a try!
Oh wow - this is amazing, Ben. I'm intimidated by my kids Yoto so I should probably follow along to more of these videos and learn about coding! Well done!
That would be great if you could write it up! It always seems like doing anything Alexa-related is difficult to do in software. If you found an easier way, that would be great! Also, I love ESP-32, so if you switch to that, that would also be great! Thanks!
Love it when details are this clear. Thank you for this great production and upload. It's real fun to try for any photographer interested in the deep dark sky, especially if you are accompanied by a young sole that might find that spark here to shine in his/her future life.
Thank you for sharing this video. Here is how I integrated it into a Halloween project this year ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-3UcUyzkQOTE.html
Ben, thanks so much for the tutorial online AND this video! Quick Q, about how much beans are you using? I'm attempting the same thing and the fan running full speed sends 1/2 cup of beans right out of the chute, over agitating the beans, and making it harder to heat the chamber, I presume. More beans helps but the center of the chamber still "pops" beans up. Do I need to install a potentiometer and turn the fan speed down a bit? Install a glass tube chamber with a smaller opening to restrict flow? P.S. Artisan can communicate with your arduino over modbus! You can even install a blue tooth or wifi module and run artisan "remotely"!
Very cool about Artisan! I enjoyed solving my own temp control as a test, but always planned to figure out something with Artisan. Full disclosure- this roaster died on me about 6 months ago, the thermistor readings were just going all over the map. I’m sure one of the components is malfunctioning (likely due to heat), but I haven’t solved that yet. When it comes to quantity though, I would advise just adding more beans until there is a gentle mixing going on. As they roast they get lighter too, so the mixing gets more dramatic as the roast continues. Then I’d just make sure you can get that volume of beans up to the target temps. If adding more beans doesn’t do the trick, then looking at a potentiometer for fan speed seems like the right move!
I have just started this project and I guess I got in over my head because I cant figure out how to upload sketches to the Arduino.. I just cant find the software to use and how I would go about uploading anything if I did. I really want to do this project, I don't know if you still check your comments but I would really appreciate any response.
Hi Ben, that looks like a really elegent way modify the roaster and control the roasting profile. Can you elaborate on the connection of the max31855 to the UNO board. Is it just the three Max31855 pins (DO, CS and CL) connecting to the UNO digital pins (7, 6 and 5 repectively)? What about the 3.3 V and GND pins on the max31855 - do these need to be connected to the respective UNO pins. I couldn't make that out on the video or get clarification from your detiled instructions.
OK scratch that - I have connected the Vin and GND pins of the max31855 to the 3.3V and GND pins of the UNO R3 board....and adjusted to the correct baud (115200) so now I'm getting actual text out via the seriel monitor. Unfortunately that text is something like: stat: 0 internal: 0.000 temperature: 0.000 ....endlessly! I have checked all connections (many times) and can't see a problem. Any ideas? Any idea where to seek additional help?
That is frustrating, which thermocouple are you using? I wonder if trying a few different Arduino max31855 libraries might do the trick. Are you trying boiling and ice water to get some swing? Are you sure the connections are all good?
@@BenjaminEagan Hi again Ben, thanks for your response. I have tried different arduino max31855 libraries (e.g., serielthermocouple - from Adafruit Thermocouple Sensor w/MAX31855K) but have the same consistent 0 C temp readings. I've checked and confirmed electrical continuity (with multimeter) between arduino UNO R3 and max31855K breakout board - so that's OK. Power supply to breakout board confirmed at 3.3 V DC. I've moved the TC between ice/water and hot water baths -and can observe voltage change between the TC terminals (-0.5 V for ice water and +0.9 V for hot water)...so that seems functional. I have no idea how to confirm that there is a correct functional output from the max31855 board (from the DO pin i would assume). I'm getting (or is that past tense?) out of my depth
thanks .... is this done with your motorised barn door tracker? I am better at math than physical engineering, so to program a motor with a raspberry pi to compensate for the barn door approximations is my expected route.
This is actually to help calibrate no matter what tech you use. So if you go your motorized math strong route, you can check if it works by photographing this video without waiting for a clear night to debug!
Can you tell me how much power is roughly used in the warm up phase and through the drying phase? Is it anything below 50% total power of the popcorn maker?
Warmup is 100% but I don’t have numbers of a % when chasing a temp target. My gut says something like 30-60%. You trying to match a dimmer to these profiles?
Hey man! Great video! When i lived in Ottawa, Equator was one of my go to roasters :) Coffee mods and what not are always in need on youtube so keep it up!
@@BenjaminEagan honestly, i could've sat through way more haha. I've been wanting to do something similar with my own air popper at home tbh but just didn't really know where to you start (don't have much of an electrical background sadly, but wanting to learn). Was thinking i could do a voltage regulator via light dimming switch to regulate heat and have a separate on off switch for the fan. Then just have a probe from the drum direct to my laptop into artisan to track the profile. Thoughts?
I appreciate that a lot! If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the electronics aspect, I honestly think a dimmer switch and a handheld IR thermometer would be a great first step. Then you can hold a roast profile while keeping it old school with a stopwatch and dial. If that’s feeling good and you want to get more control, then you can dive into the thermistor and Artisan hookup. It’s honestly a fairly tricky first electronics project too, so you might want to get an RPi or Arduino and try some low voltage blinky light type projects simultaneously! Good luck!
Great! This is what I have in mind to build -- ideally adding PID either to a gradual rise over time in the formula, or several stages like you have. I don't like the idea of having to cart a computer to roast my coffee (ie Artisan), and you proved it works. I suppose you could add some manual over-ride with a screen for temp and a push button. First things first :)
I'm sure you've been asked this before but I can't find it. I hate laying Vinyl and Film, what are you using in the bottle ? Dish soap and water or a purpose made solution ?
Just dish soap and water. I actually burned a whole role trying to get the technique right, but found in the end the best strategy was : 1. Clean surface with alcohol 2. Spray generously everywhere 3. Lay down the film and get it lined up 4. Pin one corner with your finger and thumb, and squeegee firmly so you only pass each area one 5. Wait a few hours before you decide if it's any good! Letting the film dry completely improved the quality a little. It's definitely a bit of an art though, so using some scrap pieces to practice is probably worth it.
Ben, i have a weird issue with my project... I did everything just as you did, however i didnt tear down my Echo dot because i wanted to keep it as is and just wired the audio cable accordingly. Otherwise everything is the same. When i power everything up, the fish just starts jittering and spazzing out (looks like a weird seizure) any advice? im so close to the end! audio works well, which is why im stumped..
Hey Hunter, probably just an issue of fine tuning the thresholds for "animation" actions. If the sound is clean, then this is almost definitely something you can fix in code! I don't have it handy so can't share the exact line, but the logic is basically that if the audio signal is above a certain level for long enough, sing or dance.... If your signal comes through different than mine (very plausible), our thresholds will be different.
Hi, thanks for the video. I saw you mentioned that it can only be done via PI 3, I have 4 and it doesn't work from the early stage of testing the pump, can you please explain why only pi 3 should be used?...
Hi Ben, this depends on GPIO so makes some strong assumptions about the purpose of the pins. It’s very likely the GPIO pin layout between 3 and 4 has changed.
It doesn’t change the rate of rotation, but since you use your hand to update it’s position, the wider the lens, the bigger the update intervals can be. For example rotating 1/3 (120 degrees) every 20s works with fisheye but wouldn’t work for a 50mm.
