IoT Mechanical Weather Display - WeatherBot | 3D Printable, ESP32 & OpenWeatherMap

[@yeeyy8307]

This project is amazing. I will be so excited to know the weather everyday.

[@DIYMachines]

Thanks, I love seeing it at glance each morning.

[@furrypotato]

@diymachines The stl for 3d printer rain disc has the slots in wrong positions. Any chance you can update it to fix

[@furrypotato]

Amazing idea. I'm absolutely gonna build this. I think I may add a button that you can press to get the next hours forecast. Useful for when going out.

[@jean-marcbuhler3171]

A really mesmerizing mechatronic DIY project, that I am impatient to build; great and simple design, with even a PCB included... All the care you spent in documentation and explanations is definitely visible and appreciated. My plans are to first build one with my Prusa MK2.5 and playing on discs colors changes, then adjust code for some improvements like French transations on the eInk, making sure is stays silent during night and then will see... Thanks again for this masterpiece ;-)

[@DIYMachines]

Hi Jean-Marc, thank you for the kind words and you're welcome. 😊 I do try hard to make the instructions clear and concise. I hope that you enjoy your own WeatherBot.

[@rascalwind]

I really like this one. Super cool design!!

[@DIYMachines]

Thank you! 😊

[@HowardAlison]

Great design Lewis. Inspirational. Thanks for all your great efforts. Keep them coming.

[@DIYMachines]

Thanks Howard. I’m glad you like them. I’ll keep going for as long as I can. 🙂

[@dirkrichardson1681]

Wow, awesome work. Adding to my list of projects!!!

[@DIYMachines]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@GutsyGibbon]

Elegant, really elegant!

[@DIYMachines]

Thank you Dennis

[@relaxchris]

Beautiful project.

[@DIYMachines]

Thank you! 😊

[@rickkap8502]

Fantastic well done Lewis, I'm in the process of building this amazing design. I've ordered the PCB's and they should be here soon. A little bit upset that i had to order 5 boards when i only need one so if there is anyone in the UK that wants one for a small charge plus postage let me know.

[@kalin19bourne]

Hi Rick, I'd be interested in PCB and potentially getting the 3d prints... Let me know if you are able and willing to help 🙂. Thanks

[@rickkap8502]

​@@kalin19bourne Hi Michal Sure, send me an email from my you tube channel in about and i can help you out with the 3D prints and PCB. Rick

[@chrisdemerski1101]

Amazing work another cool project!

[@DIYMachines]

Thank you Chris 🙂

[@emmawardle8884]

Hi I’ve tried to make this project and the arduino code isn’t working - it’s not connecting to the API correctly! Any fixes?

[@leonidastsigounakis5796]

Yep I had the same issue, I think the API is not working

[@lian8446]

Same... Maybe it's the openWeather API that's not working?

[@furrypotato]

I think some people have fixed this issue on his discord so it's worth popping onto there.

[@gpTeacher]

Fantastic as always! Thanks for your creativity!

[@DIYMachines]

You're welcome. Thank you.

[@bobf3598]

Ingenious design, just was going to start making it, til saw the price of the PCB shipping. $5 for PCB, nearly $25 shipping for such light components, think 'I'll skip this for now.

[@nerys71]

is there an affordable LARGE scale eink display? think say 11x17? or at least 8x10 (inch) size? I would love to wall mount weather info by the door in eink !!!

[@DIYMachines]

They still get rather expensive as the size increases. I had considered a large display to replace the rear disc responsible for illustrating rain. The hope would be to add a subtle animation at the back but the price was more than I thought the cool effect would be worth.

[@nerys71]

@@DIYMachines oh I know I'm talking about for my own use I can even get a seven color six inch display for like $70 seven color ink or about the same price for a roughly 10 inch black and white ink I would love to be able to set up two of them one to show current weather conditions and wanted to show forecast for the next 5 days or so

[@dekipet]

14:30 Just add a cap on for that boot button.

[@DIYMachines]

Great idea. 💡

[@reinoud6377]

I expected more 'snap' change of tools ie a lot faster but it's a great machine

[@DIYMachines]

It is cool machine. A snap change would be awesome, but know I've done it a few times it doesn't take too long at all.

[@bradsmith182]

Great job! I love doing your projects! I was wondering you would be interested in tackling the Phoniebox? Looks like a fun project that I’m too afraid to do without your guidance!

[@Buzzrust1]

Do you make a town scene that isn't a city? Maybe a farm or mountains.

[@j.r.cooper3836]

This project has me motivated to buy a 3d printer. I am trying to determine what size printer I would need to do this project. Does any know the size of the frame and/or disks?

[@DIYMachines]

Hi J.R Cooper, I'm sure you won't regret getting a 3D printer. I didn't. 😁 The discs have a diameter of 160mm. The largest part to print is the main part of the body which has require a print volume of at least 156 x 172 x 151mm. (DxWxH)

[@Randomperson0467]

J.R. Cooper I just got a printer and I do not regret it

[@huilinghuang4074]

Wow that's so fab!

[@DIYMachines]

Thanks. 😊

[@جوادعباسی-ر5د]

Could you make an arduino giga project?

[@mickeborgholm]

Thank you for one more fantastic project! I have a little problem when i print the temp disc. The outline around the tree-part is weak, or missing (i print it in two-color). The other part of the disc come out great.

[@DIYMachines]

You're welcome Mikael. 😊 In PrusaSlicer I need to check the box to enable 'Detect Thin Walls' (Under 'Print Settings' tab) for the slicer to correctly slice the details for the tree and other embellishments.

[@richardcapstick5825]

outstanding

[@wilhardw]

Thank you for this amazing project. I'm in the process of building it. One hint: Unfortunately you PCB's at PCBWay are not made for your linked ESP32-board by AZ-Delivery (they have more pins and another pinout. So i'm searching in my storage and found an "old" version of ESP32, wich fits to your PCB.

[@matixvision]

WoW! is good job.

[@StefanXp23]

Awesome Project! No wonder, that it took you that long since the last Video 😉 that Snapmaker Maschine is awesome! What Do you think how tedious is it to change the function from Printing to lasercut or milling? I'm also curious how did you Design the Maschine? The pcb is more Nice to have (if you build more Maschines) i think in total you could save time by creating a perfboard. Luckily the schematic should Not be Very complicated 😉 funny to See non Red SPACERS 😂

[@DIYMachines]

Thanks Stefan, the project always take me longer than I expect. 😌 Aha. Yes, I'm loving the Snapmaker. The tool changes seemed tedious at first but now it only takes me a couple of minutes once you know what need to be done from memory. The design is drawn up using Fusion 360. The PCB's do keep the wiring tidy - but for those who don't want to use the PCB I have uploaded a non-pub schematic on my website: www.diymachines.co.uk/weatherbot-3d-printable-weather-forecasting-theatre

[@lisboris4479]

Как всегда на высшем уровне. Видел тебя в журнале HackSpace. Ты как туда попал?

[@DIYMachines]

Спасибо. Очень здорово, что вы меня увидели в журнале! Они написали мне и спросили, не возражаю ли я взять интервью для журнала - конечно, я сказал, что да. 😊

[@taranagnew436]

is there a 3 in 1 cnc, laser, 3d printing machine (with swappable tool heads)?

[@ericcarabetta1161]

Super cool!

[@gyorgybalassy]

Great project, congratulations! Instead of the full round shaft why didn't you choose to design a D-shape shaft with D-shape holes on the disks? The servos allow you to precisely control the rotation of the disks, that might have let you to eliminate the limit switches and the complex homing sequence, or do I miss something?

[@DIYMachines]

I did want to connect them directly similar to how you mentioned. But this would require a servo which can turn at least 240 degrees (can be found but trickier). The continues servos do not know their location - just speed and direction. Then you also need to be able to connect all four down the shafts, this is what required the gear arrangement, this also allowed me the opportunity to increase the torque and decrease the speed. It certainly would be ideal to eliminate the switches and homing sequence - simplicity is always desired. 🙂

[@gyorgybalassy]

@@DIYMachines Thanks for the detailed explanation, I did not know that about continuous servos. Now I learned one more thing from your project, thank you! :)

[@DIYMachines]

@@gyorgybalassy 👍🏼

[@laceyphillips5733]

Very cool! Did you use the Snapmaker A250 or A350? How do you find it’s printing compared to the Prusa Mk3?

[@DIYMachines]

Thanks Lacey. I used the A350. It's print quality was not far from the Prusa but it is slower (and noisier). Though I think they have made improvements to both speed and noise with their newer A350T models.

[@GCO-C42]

Did you have a 10w laser with the Snapmaker or did they provide you the 1.6w laser?

[@DIYMachines]

I did this with the 1.6w laser. I'm hoping to have the 10w laser someday - love using the laser. To work with the 3mm ply wood I used these settings (you might need to tweak them for your own materials): Cutting through: 110mm/min, 8 passes, 0.37mm steps, 100% power Etching outlines: 600mm/min, 1 pass, 100% Etching infills: Interval 0.15mm, Work speed 1100mm/min, Power 100% I hope that helps.

[@GCO-C42]

@@DIYMachines thanks for that much appreciated. Love your project and never knew about your channel. You most certainly have a new subscriber....

[@DIYMachines]

@@GCO-C42 That's great to hear. Thank you 😁

[@soimhossen3023]

Nice 👌

[@DIYMachines]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@jean-marcbuhler3171]

Hi Lewis, while building the 4th bottom rain disc (3d printed) I noticed that it was not "aligned" with corresponding rear switch. I mean with corresponding switch into disc notch, the rain disc is not propely horinzontal like the 3 other ones. Is it intentional? I cannot yet test using code (my PCB should be delivered by EOW) so was just wondering... Thanks for your feedback, otherwise all 3d pieces perfectly fit ;-)

[@andycart99]

Fantastic project I've already ordered the PCB. I have a laser cutter that I use via Lightburn. Do you have dxf or svg files for the weather discs? I've tried some online converters but I can only get the cut outline from the stl not the details E.G the windows on the buildings.

[@DIYMachines]

Hello Andy, thank you. I have just uploaded some SVG files to the Prusa page for this project (alongside all the 3D printable models). Hopefully that will help you in Lightburn.

[@chadwickjones2824]

Gorgeous project and, as always, great attention to detail and lay-speak for us newer-comers to hybrid electro-print projects! Is there a possibility of using an ESP8622 (if so, what setup for a buck converter for unit and servo powering, I presume) so that the data can be wireless?

[@DIYMachines]

Thank you Chadwick. I love the term electro-print projects. :). The code for the project divides the responsibilities for wifi and fetching the weather forecast to one of the cores on the ESP32 and the scene disc manipulation and display updates to the second core. The ESP8622 has just one core so the code would not work as written on an ESP8622. (It only has one slower core).

[@TheUnofficialMaker]

cool

[@HerrHafiz]

wow..superb..its not easy to build this one..haha

[@carlhayes2422]

does anybody know how often this updates? is it just once a day or at set intervals throughout the day? or can this be changed in the code before uploading? really cool project i fancy giving a try

[@furrypotato]

Looking at the code you can set the interval. I think by default it's every hour.

[@makewithmegma]

💕👌👍

[@furrypotato]

Worth noting that openweather have changed their api so the code wont work now. You now need to subscribe to the service that be has 1000 free api calls per day(But needs a payment method registered). Looks like the data structure also is a little different. I have some test api code working as im going to build one once parts arrive. Mine will have a pudh button also that will switch temporsrily to show next 2 hours forecast.

[@optroncordian7863]

There is plenty of room for improvement. Both hardware and software. And, you can add an analog temperature display.

[@DIYMachines]

Always room for improvement, I could have spent months more on this (and I wanted to) but eventually I need to share a project so I can move onto the next idea - I share everything so that others can make their own improvements and hopefully share those with others. 🙂