[Ranger Bob] crafted this great looking Reverse Geocache box. Our favorite feature is the black piece of acrylic on top. It’s laser cut (not sure if the letters are engraved or not) and gives a great finished look while hiding a couple of things at the same time.
The orange box is a metal cash box, and there’s a smooth indentation in the lid where the handle resides when not being carried. [Bob] removed the handle and mounted the GPS module in that void. But there’s also an OLED display mounted next to it. As you can see in the demo video after the break, the screen is bright enough to be seen clearly through the smoky acrylic covering that depression.
This project gave [Bob] the chance to order his first professionally made circuit board. He did the design in Eagle, managing to keep within the 5cmx5cm limits of Seeed Studio’s least expensive Fusion PCB option. The board hosts the PICÂ 18F87J50 responsible for handing the screen, GPS module, input button, and USB port. Power comes from an internal Lithium battery.
We’ve featured a lot of Reverse Geocache boxes and they’re still one of our favorite projects because so much love goes into the design and build process. Here’s another one that we chose randomly for your amusement.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF96i4Vor_4]
Hi there! To confirm – Yes, the lettering was raster laser engraved at the same time as the cutting. Thanks for showing my hard work!
Hey RangerBob, are you the same RangerBob I met on DigitalDIY? Been looking for you!! I have a ton of ESP8266 questions, and some stuff to share. Thank you for your contribution!! – Hop
i have built a rev geocache aswell.. but with less of the neat looks.. this one is really epic, and i think the oled display brings way more potential then a “normal” 16×2 display
cheers
I see what you did there! Portal quotes FTW.
Nice build!
Anyone got some recommendations for laser cutting places? Just for things like this – plastic face plate work.
I’d like to be taught how to do such nice enclosures… the project looks gorgeous! TSA probably won’t be too amused if you take it on a plane to meet your “target”, though!
that is a superb project!
here is much cheaper version: http://hackaday.com/2011/01/09/reverse-geocache-features-ui-and-is-reprogrammable/
:-)
@MattQ The place I used for the laser cutting/engraving is the online Ponoko service. Cost was pretty cheap I think. You pay for cost of material + laser time. A simple design costs less than a complex one. They have some very good tutorials too.
@Bigdeal Yes, it does have that I.E.D. look too. Will not be going on a plane. Plus that’s why I labeled it!