Making a Mini Air Quality Sensor

I’ve got the large, “full fat” Air Quality sensor just about working. But the hardware cost of the device is a bit on the high side. So today I’ve spent the day grappling with FreeCAD to try a design a much smaller, WiFi only, device. This uses a cheap Wemos D1 Mini and a five pound air quality sensor and a pixel ring. The cost of this hardware is only around ten pounds, which makes it much cheaper to build.

I’m using a new construction technique where the components are mounted on a tray which is then fitted into the box. This removes the need to connect things together inside the box, which helps. To make this work I’ve created a design for a Wemos D1 mini “blank” which can be cut out of the tray. This seems to work quite well. I’ve made another blank for the pixel ring.

I’ve used random numbers to design the vent holes in the back panel. I love using software to create physical objects. Tomorrow I’ll print the components and start building up the circuit.