So I want a physical notification when I get a new snail mail. I went through the local flea market and picked up a nice candle lamp for $1.
I tried fitting it with LEDs to make a visual notification, but it seemed too easy. Besides, I want the notification to be as little technology reminding as possible. So I came up with the idea that it should rotate when a new mail has arrived. It took a lot of work and hot glue, but in the end it turned out great.
To make a stepper motor, control board and a D1 Mini fit in the base, I ended up using enough hot glue to basically make the whole base water proof.
Hot glued a encoder knob inside the stem of the lamp, to have something for the motor drive to attach to.
Finally super glued the lamp stem to the motor drive. So everything above the base is rotating. See video for demo.
After some rummaging about in the dark corners of the house, and yet more experimenting, I arrived at the following design:
So a cotterpin slides in some kind of plastic tube, and when the head of the cotter pin touches the washer, the ground and RST of the Wemos D1 Mini will be shorted, hence waking it up.
Altairish
