Art Deco Analog Thermometer

Dear friends welcome back. Today we are going to build an Art Deco Analog Thermometer using Arduino. Let’s start!

Intro to Art Deco Analog Thermometer Tutorial

Hello guys, I am Nick and welcome to educ8s.tv, a channel that is all about DIY electronics projects with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, ESP8266 and other popular boards. Subscribe to the channel now if you don’t want miss any future video. In this video, we are going to build this Art Deco Analog thermometer!

The design of this thermometer is fantastic in my opinion. It is based on the design of a commercial thermometer that was designed 100 years ago. I made some changes to the design in order to fit inside modern electronics, a photoresistor to detect darkness, some LEDs to illuminate at night, and of course an Arduino as the brains of the thermometer. I 3D printed the enclosure using wood filament. As you can see, the project is reporting the temperature, and in my opinion, it looks great.

I love vintage objects and I very excited now that I can make my own using my 3D printer! Let’s see how to build this project!

Parts needed for the Art Deco Analog Thermometer

The parts needed in order to build this Arduino Interrupts Tutorial are the following:

——————–
WHERE TO BUY
——————–

Arduino Nano: https://educ8s.tv/part/ArduinoNano

Analog Voltmeter: https://educ8s.tv/part/AnalogVoltmeter

DS18B20 Sensor: https://educ8s.tv/part/DS18B20

Resistors: https://educ8s.tv/part/Resistors

Photoresistors: https://educ8s.tv/part/Photoresistors

Diffused LEDs: http://bit.ly/DiffusedLEDs

Plexiglass Sheet: http://bit.ly/PlexiglassSheet

Small Breadboard: https://educ8s.tv/part/SmallBreadboard

Wires: https://educ8s.tv/part/Wires

Power Bank: https://educ8s.tv/part/Powerbank

Full disclosure: All of the links above are affiliate links. I get a small percentage of each sale they generate. Thank you for your support!

[adsense]

Also, you are going to need some filament. The enclosure needs 220gr of material in order to print. I used Form Futura’s EasyWood Birch filament in this project which costs 35$ per 500gr roll. So the cost of the enclosure is around 16$ if you print it at home. So the total cost of the project is around 26$!

——————–

WOOD FILAMENT
——————–

http://bit.ly/WoodFilamentBirch

A few weeks ago I published a video where I used an analog voltmeter like this one, and I converted it into a thermometer. I encourage you to watch the video by clicking on the card here. You will understand exactly how this project works. The idea is that by using a PWM pin of the Arduino we can output an analog value from 0 to 5V and then display this value on the Voltmeter. In other words, we can control the needle of the voltmeter at will. Now, if we convert the temperature we read from the sensor into voltage we can display it on the Voltmeter! We only need to print a new face for the display, and we have converted the Voltmeter into a thermometer!

Now that the circuit is ready, we can move on to the enclosure. I designed the enclosure in Fusion 360. Despite the fact that this enclosure is the most complicated object I have ever designed, it took me only 2 hours in Fusion 360! This software is really fantastic! The enclosure consists of three parts that they have to be glued together afterwards. I have uploaded the enclosure files on Thingiverse so you can download them from this website for free.

——————–
Enclosure Files
——————–

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2180890

Post Processing the Parts

At first, I sanded everything with fine sand paper. This procedure took more than 2 hours because I needed the parts to have a smooth surface. I could have sanded the parts even more but I was really excited to see the project completed so I stopped when I achieved this result. Then I used wood putty to make the parts I couldn’t sand smooth. After letting the putty to dry I sanded the parts once more and then it was time to apply the oak wood varnish. I tried to apply the varnish with a paintbrush but it didn’t work out well. So I used a napkin to apply the varnish at first, and another clean one to get an even distribution of the color. After 10 minutes, all the parts were ready and I let them dry for 24 hours.

Then I cut a small piece of Plexiglas using my dremel tool. It was the first time I was using the dremel tool so the result is far from perfect but it will work just fine. I glued it place and it was time to prepare the electronics. I glued the LEDs in place and then I soldered everything together according to the schematic diagram. As you can see, I created a giant mess. I placed the photoresistor in its opening, and then it was time connect the voltmeter. Using the dremel tool again I removed these two plastic screw holes in order to be able to glue the new bigger voltmeter face.

I printed the new face using thick photographic paper, which does not deform easily and it looks better than plain print paper. I designed the face in Photoshop using an Art Deco font. You can find the file for the new face in the description of the video below. Then it was time to put the voltmeter inside the enclosure. I used some clay to place the voltmeter in the exact position I wanted it to be. I also used a lot of hot glue to keep everything in place and it was time to glue the enclosure parts. First the back of the enclosure, and then the base. That’s it, the project is ready and it looks so cool!

——————–

LIBRARIES
——————–

? DS18B20 Sensor: https://github.com/milesburton/Arduino-Temperature-Control-Library