Arduino - UV Lightbox - Rabbit hole
This was a really fun project.
I wanted to build a UV Lightbox to cure my Resin 3D Printed pieces… (to be honest, it was more of an excuse to dive deep into Arduinos, mechanical pieces and so on).
It all started with getting an basic Arduino Kit, and playing with the tutorials.
Then I modelled my prototype in Maya in scale. I should have used Fusion or any other CAD program, but after a few trials, I was able to correct my mistakes with the Maya model.
In order to build my lightbox, I decided to buy a very simple FDM printer, which was a kit I could put together. That part itself was also super fun because it gave me more insight on how the machine operated as well.
Then I got into the mechanical aspect of the turntable, designed a few different bearings, and ended up using a microwave turntable system (kind of).
The coding in Arduino was all C++… I only had a very basic understanding of Python, but I was able to pull it off. I only needed to build a UI screen with a few options, select the timer and let the motor and uvs do their thing, and turn it off. Took me a couple of days to be able to run the code correctly but it worked.
Then I had to get into the soldering/electronics. That part is very foreign to me, so I just did the very basic and crossed my fingers.
After a month or so into this project, my lightbox was completely built and fully working.
I then 3dprinted some objects, and put the machine to use.
After 1H, the motor burned… I was probably pushing too much current there…
It was a super fun project to explore many different subjects I was not familiar with, and learn more about the makers scene as well.
