[Project 28] Black Limba and cherry custom home automation side table

[mattbyington]

Hey team!

Hope everyone is doing well!

This one is a little more complex. It will pair my hobby of electronics with woodworking. The plan is to build a side table to go next to the couch, that looks nice. Wife helped with the design (read: she designed it.) but, with a twist.

I created a custom automation control panel that will rise out of the table 14 via a linear actuator.

When retracted, you won’t even know it’s there. But when extended, it gives control of the house including thermostats and things like “movie mode” which turns the lights off around the TV to reduce glare.

It’s mostly a gimmick - it will work perfectly but all of these things could be done easier. This was just for fun as a project.

So, here we go - I have been working on it for 2-3 weeks already.

Matt

 

[mattbyington]

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[mattbyington]

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[mattbyington]

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[mattbyington]

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[vkumar]

Matt cool project. I will be following it.

 

[RKA]

Haha, cool!  This looks fun! 

 

[mattbyington]

All done!

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Matt

 

[mattbyington]

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[rmhinden]

Looks very nice.  How does the cat like it next to it's cat tree? 

Bob

 

[waho6o9]

Outstanding work Matt!

 

[mattbyington]

[member=66813]rmhinden[/member] thanks Bob! They are both VERY interested when it goes up and down haha.

[member=7659]waho6o9[/member] thank you!!

Matt

 

[VirTERM]

Interesting project and a very nice execution. Just curious, what are you using to communicate with HVAC and lights? Wires? or some wireless protocol(s).

 

[mattbyington]

Hey [member=69343]VirTERM[/member]! Thanks!

It's mostly all custom software written by me. I am a software engineer by trade so that part was relatively easy for me. The harder parts are woodworking (new to me about 2 years ago but I am loving it) and small electronics - I'm not new to the electronics, I'm just terrible at it

There are 2 arduino microchips embedded inside the table. The first is plugged in to power at all times and is not connected wirelessly to anything.

It is "listening" for the key switch. Once the key is switched, it powers on the second Arduino and also powers the 12v linear actuator to extend up.

Once the second arduino boots up, it connects to my home wifi network and makes RESTful HTTPs API calls to my home automation main-frame in the house that controls things like lights and HVAC.

Matt

 

[VirTERM]

Hey [member=69343]VirTERM[/member]! Thanks!

It's mostly all custom software written by me. I am a software engineer by trade so that part was relatively easy for me. The harder parts are woodworking (new to me about 2 years ago but I am loving it) and small electronics - I'm not new to the electronics, I'm just terrible at it

There are 2 arduino microchips embedded inside the table. The first is plugged in to power at all times and is not connected wirelessly to anything.

It is "listening" for the key switch. Once the key is switched, it powers on the second Arduino and also powers the 12v linear actuator to extend up.

Once the second arduino boots up, it connects to my home wifi network and makes RESTful HTTPs API calls to my home automation main-frame in the house that controls things like lights and HVAC.

Matt

Sounds familiar I am also in high tech (software/hardware) and relatively new to woodworking (2 years). So far, I created LoraWan based sensor monitoring PM2.5/Pm10/ temp/ humidity and some other stuff for my workshop, and I am always open to creative ideas..

 

[jdm5]

Why doesn’t the grain pattern match on the mobile part vs the rest of the top?  Or am I missing something?

 

[Tinker]

If the pattern matched the rest of the top, he might forget where to put the key.

 

[RKA]

Why doesn’t the grain pattern match on the mobile part vs the rest of the top?  Or am I missing something?

Matt, this is a good time to blame the cat.  [big grin]