Wicked Makers

"Alexa, turn on the shop!" (Patreon)

Published:

2018-06-29 16:57:37

Imported:

2026-06

Tags:

alexa electronics shop woodworking

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Content

We recently picked up an Amazon Echo for the first time and it's been pretty fun to learn what Alexa can do. There's obviously a lot of different voice activated apps and assistants out there these days (Siri, Bixby, Google, etc.) but we hadn't really dived in to check things out yet so this was our first romp.

We immediately had the idea to use it in the shop to sort out some inconvenient things we have to do like turning our dust collector on and off! It worked perfectly and in this video we show you how we made it.

As usual, tons of stuff went wrong and we had some big design fails, but in the end it worked really well! We want to expand it into something greater on the next round to control more things and be a lot safer. For now, it's working well and we'll upgrade it soon.

Enjoy the video? Let us know!

Files

Previews only

Voice Control your Workshop with Alexa: The Dust Collector!

We can now voice control our dust collector and other tools in the shop! Jaimie and Jay used an ESP8266/NodeMCU (similar to an Arduino) to build a 220v smart outlet that can be used with Alexa! SUBSCRIBE! Help us get to 1000 subs! ► http://bit.ly/2EypcHI We're on Patreon! ►http://www.patreon.com/wickedmakers FOLLOW US! 👇 http://instagram.com/jaygrenier http://twitter.com/wickedmakers DISCLAIMER: This is a prototype build and the electronics and wiring are far from code compliant. Be aware that some of the things in this video are dangerous and should only be viewed as reference and not copied directly! We're new to making videos so we'd love to hear your feedback in the comments! Have any questions about the build? Let us know below! We also have a lot of other videos you might like! A dust collector is a great thing to have in the shop for woodworking, even if you're just using a low-cost shop vac. Saw dust is very dangerous to inhale so doing whatever you can to minimize dust in your shop will keep things clean, make it easy to work, and keep you healthy! Our Jet dust collector is fantastic but the way we have it oriented in the shop puts the on/off switch behind it, making it tricky to turn on and off easily. We wanted a more automated solution, so we decided it would be a lot of fun to build a voice-controlled solution. This was when the idea of the "Wicked Smart Shop" was born. We intend to add a lot more functionality to this and add smart-functionality to everything in the shop! Materials Used: - Amazon Echo Dot - NodeMCU Microcontroller (ESP8266) (Similar to an Arduino!) - 220v/30amp Relay - 220v/30amp Power Outlet - 220v/30amp Plug - Metal Conduit Box - PCB Board - Nylon Screws and Spacers - (2) LEDs - Jumpers - Wires - Solder We used a lot of fun tools in this video but you can definitely get by with less to make the exact same thing. Here's the list of what we used. Tools Used: - Soldering Iron - Screwdriver - Saw - Clamps - Inventables X-Carve CNC Machine (OPTIONAL) - 3D Printer (OPTIONAL) - Pliers LINKS: - Sinric GitHub Repo: https://github.com/kakopappa/sinric - Amazon Developer Portal - https://developer.amazon.com/ Please remember that working with electricity in ANY capacity is DANGEROUS! Do not attempt to build this at home unless you're confident in your abilities and understand the dangers of working with high voltage and relays.