Hardware

3 posts

The assembled HC-01 humidor controller in its birch plywood case, lid engraved with the byitl cigar mark, beside its printed bead drawer full of humidity gel and the jar the gel came from

It works. It is also too big.

Part five. HC-01 is running in a real humidor: 522 logged samples, agreement with an independent hygrometer, and one closed control loop.

October 6, 2026 · 6 min read

#enclosure-design
#esp32
#hardware
#hc-01
#prototyping

An ESP32-S3 board inside an enclosure wall, with the 2.4 GHz antenna keep-out zone shaded and a screw boss sitting inside it marked with an X.

ESP32-S3 enclosure design: give the antenna its 15 mm

Espressif asks for at least 15 mm of clearance around an ESP32-S3's PCB antenna inside the housing. What that means for a 3D-printed case, with sources.

August 15, 2026 · 6 min read

#3d-printing
#enclosure-design
#esp32
#hardware
#rf

Cost breakdown of one 3D-printed prototype enclosure: $1,589 total, of which about 99% is design and labor (18 hours of CAD plus finishing at $75/hr) and just $2.64 is filament.

What a 3D-printed prototype enclosure actually costs in 2026

Filament is under half a percent of the bill. Here's the itemized total for a palm-sized ESP32 enclosure, design time included.

July 31, 2026 · 10 min read

#3d-printing
#cost
#enclosure-design
#hardware
#prototyping