Inspiration
This project was inspired by this video I saw on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2DopvpNF7J4 Knowing that I didn´t have the practical woodworking skills needed to replicate the device in the video, I decided to print most of the parts on my new Prusa Mini +. As I wasn’t quite as adept with Python back then, I concluded that it’d be better to use the LAMP Stack instead.
Within the next two days, I taught myself how to use Fusion360, practised my soldering skills and immersed myself in the art of 3D-Printing.
The journey
At first, I struggled quite a lot with Fusion360. Frustratingly enough, when I finally had the design figured out, it became apparent that it wouldn’t be possible to print it in one go, which is why I had to cut it up to make it work.
Deciding that I wanted to complete the project as time-efficiently as possible, I started with the software, building a PHP/HTML/CSS Web app while the parts were still being printed.
Technical Details
The “App” I created to control Shotland v1 is in fact a website that can be viewed on a phone using the Fully Kiosk Browser. The data for the drinks is stored in a MySQL Database.
The apparatus is controlled via a Raspberry Raspberry PI Zero W microcomputer. The Pumps are switched on and off by a Relay Board, the amount of liquid they pump being solely controlled by how long they are active. Each pump was painstakingly calibrated for the computer to know how long to pump for a given amount of volume.
Caps
Once everything was screwed and glued together and working, I designed and printed some caps for the spaces still left open.
In conclusion
I was pretty happy with my result. It seemed to work fine but there were some inherent flaws to the design nonetheless – which is why I eventually designed Shotland v2. Stay tuned for the next article where I am going to present Shotland v2 and my plans for Shotland v3.
Cheers,
Martin
PS: I published the current version of the WebApp for you to try out on shotlanddemo.mpp.one. If you are interested about the details, let me know in the comments then I´ll write an article about that.