I’ve found esphome incredibly easy to set up and work with, with tons of examples of how to wire, solder, program, and flash the esp boards to do various things. However, as easy as I find it to put together a circuit around an esp-wroom-32d, I really have no idea how to make it look nice. There seem to be fewer examples of that. I’m also a lot more comfortable soldering connectors than I am selecting suitable enclosures and drilling them exactly right to make things line up, so I need to see what other people are doing for inspiration.
Are there good resources to provide inspiration for finishing off esphome projects? Ideally I’m looking for blog posts or videos that tell me the exact enclosures, connectors, push buttons, etc. that people used, so as to give me a good baseline of what to order.
With my esp32 dev boards (the devkitC), there are not even holes in the board for mounting with standoffs. So while I’ve been thinking of ordering dupont or 2.54mm JST connectors to connect to the pins, if I do so how would I fix the board in place so the usb port lines up with a hole in the box? Should I instead solder female dupont strips into a perfboard and mount the perfboard, which will now make the project much bigger if I don’t need a lot of external circuitry? Or should I be using something smaller than a devkitC?
Basically I’m really eager for examples of nice-looking DIY esp project where the parts lists are available to replicate the finished device. If I could see what other people are doing, it would give me a better idea of what to try. Thanks for any pointers.
the “nice looking” criteria is really one of the biggest issues
Right now, I am only using ONE ESP32 board in ‘production’ - and this only acts as a Bluetooth proxy for now…
I am still need to consider to design a case for it… and then, maybe a battery power supply for it.
Other projects are in planning phase - but have the same issue… a case… ok, one of the devices will (hopefully be hidden and integrated into another device)…
Generally I try to hide my stuff as much as possible.
Sometimes it has to be in the open but most can be hidden.
In the lower right corner of the TV you can see an arm sticking out from behind the TV, that is the IR transmitter.
And on the center of the TV there is a white (sadly) LED strip that I can turn on to tell my son that time is up, turn off the TV. (off course I can also turn it off but it’s better if does it himself)
Also if you peruse the show-off section of the ESPHome Discord you’ll see some slick stuff as there’s more advanced users over there. Although quite a lot of PCB stuff.
honestly - having a 3D printer here with me, I could print my cases… but… I don’t like their look… ^^
I do print some wall mounts and other stuff some time… but these cases are nothing I really want to have in my living room… :-/
I’d like to see a good solution, too. I agree that the 3D printed objects I’ve seen aren’t what I’d call attractive, but I don’t have a printer so that’s not an option for me anyway.
The best I’ve come up with are those project boxes @zenzay42 mentioned, above. The nice thing about them is you can make whatever openings you need using a drill, XActo knife or even a soldering iron.
As for the connections, I really like these expansion boards with the screw terminals:
The best part is it fits in one of those project boxes with room to spare for, in the example below, the board from an ultrasonic sensor:
I think, one of the major issues with “cases” is, that the boards we’re using are development boards.
So they aren’t really considered to be used in any kind of product… it is for prototyping purpose - so the main issue is: you can do what ever you want to do - and therefore, there are plenty of possible designs and hardware options… which will make it hard for any company to provide “nice cases” that would fit your particular case.
I would like to know, if - for example, the ESP32 S2 BOX would / could be supported with ESPHome…
That’s a nice device… comes with an microphone - and some basic Voice Control… IF it would be possible to implement this within ESPHome - and for example use the voice control / microphone with ASSIST later on… that would be great… it would be a perfect fit for using the ESP as an bluetooth proxy, while having a HMI sitting on your desk… (to show Weather information, or whatever and do voice control )
Maybe - with a printed or Wooden case - and using the ESP inside for additional stuff like bluetooth proxy - or whatever else… I think, such things have a better “family acceptance factor”
There are areas, where you can probably hide your ESP within an exsiting Hardware - or where a printed case doesn’t matter… but everywhere in your living room, kitchen or similar… I would search for ANY other option
Maybe: also consider to take cases from other hardware appart before throwing them away…
I think, then there are plenty of options on how to hide this hardware
saying this: I remembered that I still have an old (gen1) Amazon Echo here…
An ESP32 dev board seems to fit nicely - so I removed the whole inlay of the Echo… put the ESP32 in it.
Now, I can consider to create an LED “ring” which will be controlled by the ESP … and maybe use some “custom” buttons to make them also usable I will search for some inspiration
Maybe you could be lucky enough to find a ESPHome device that looks nice, is cheapish and has a few buttons/leds you like, and then you just hijack the whole thing for your project?
If the esp inside isn’t enough you could swap it I guess.
Or maybe you could find an SSD enclosure you like?
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Or a Bluetooth speaker.
AU $3.02 80%OFF | Outdoor Subwoofer MINI Portable Speaker Fm Radio Music Sound Box Aluminum Alloy Wireless Speaker https://a.aliexpress.com/_msdAhZC
Some of these might be wasteful, but perhaps you can find something with reusable parts.
Thanks for the replies. I should have mentioned that I don’t have a 3d printer. I think I would first need to make a bunch of esp devices that end up being really useful, then if that works out justify making room in my house for a 3d printer.
I think there are basically several stages:
Leave your ESP32 hanging off a wire
Put it in some kind of plastic enclosure with wires coming out of holes
Put it in an enclosure, but where you’ve fixed the board so the USB port is sticking out and maybe there are a few buttons you can press on the outside of the house.
Do custom 3d-printed boxes.
Do custom boxes that somehow look nice.
So right now I’m at stage 1, and I guess I’d at least like to find some inspiration to get to stage 3. Once I’m there for a while and my crazy esp projects prove useful, I could see getting a 3d printer and moving to stage 4 and aspiring to 5.
I have used my local library for 3d printing. Small charge, quick work, I go past the door on my way to work.
Perhaps only useful if you find a design online that you are confident will work. Protoyping and repeated prints to get something right would be tedious.
Anyway, my point is that you don’t necessarily need your own 3d printer.
I also like @Mahko_Mahko 's idea of re-using something tidy, but originally designed for something else.
These are the two button types I usually go with if it helps.
Easy to mount.
AU $2.89 30%OFF | 6Pcs PBS-33b 2Pin Mini Switch 12mm 12V 1A Waterproof momentary Push button Switch since the reset Non-locking https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKICrzg
AU $1.09 30%OFF | 12/16/19/22mm Waterproof Metal Push Button Switch LED Light Momentary Latching Car Engine Power Switch 5V 12V 24V 220V Red Blue https://a.aliexpress.com/_mteysQA
but if someone want to try it, i would be happy to help him 
)
