A Cooking Machine - Initial Hardware Components Selection

This is the fourth in a series detailing the processes behind the research, design, material selection, assembly and programming of a cooking machine. See the column Stories of Food & Tech here.

Graph 1. Cooking Machine Initial Hardware Design Graph

Settling on the right hardware and software components for an engineering product can often take several iterations of design and re-design, components selection and components testing. This is because components need to fit the product perfectly to do their job. Therefore, the initial components I choose for the design and making of my cooking machine are likely to be change as the design is refined. 

In this post, I’ll share some initial hardware component selections and the reasons behind my choices. I'll also include possible alternatives for certain components, as I am not yet sure which will work best.

Components Selection Table

As an engineer, I have a love and hate relationship with the process of components selection and problem-solving during components testing. The truth is that I often spend way too much time seeking alternative materials / components for my design, leading to a never-ending tedious research process that frustrates me. The same thing happened during my preparation for this post as well. Half-way through writing the post, I realized that I should stop researching and just try testing a few components first. Engineering is about figuring out one of many solutions and continuing to modify this solution when things don’t work out. It’s not about constantly moving in multiple directions and feeling frustrated that I haven’t found the perfect match. I mean, how does one find  the perfect match before starting any testing?

I want to know, how do you conduct your research and components testing process when you are doing a project? Please share your thoughts with me at food.tech.stories@gmail.com.

For the upcoming posts, I plan to share my work on the initial software components as well as my thoughts on  some App features that I want to develop. Stay Tuned :)

Components List & Corresponding Hyperlinks

[1] 1.5 qt pot (amazon)

[2] 9” – 11” smart lid (amazon)

[3] Silicone spill stopper (amazon)

[4] Stir-through tempered glass pot lid (thecloseout)

[5] 5 holes lid (amazon)

[6] Customizable glass lid site (xiangxingfa)

[7] Plastic anti-splash screen (ebay)

[8] 11.5" silicone splatter screen (amazon)

[9] Stainless steel splatter screen (amazon)

[10] Pot stirrer (amazon)

[11] Formslab 3D printing site (formslab)

[12] ABC imaging 3D printing site (ABC imaging)

[13] Generic High Torque Continuous Servo Rotation Servo Motor (sparksfun)

[14] 12V DC Dosing Pump (amazon)

[15] Sprayer replacement top (amazon)

[16] Mini linear actuator (amazon)

[17] Rocker switches (amazon)

[18] Rotary switches (amazon)

[19] Inman Square Hardware purchasing site (Inman Square Hardware)

[20] Phill Hardware purchasing site (Phill Hardware)

[21] Charles Street Supply purchasing site (Charles Street Supply)

[22] Buzzer alarm (amazon)

[23] Used induction cooker (Facebook marketplace)

[24] 2.8” ILI9431 TFT touch display (Banggood)

[25] ESP32 (Banggood)

[26] 2.8” ILI9431 TFT touch display for ESP32 tutorial (YouTube)

[27] 2.8” ILI9431 TFT touch display for ESP32 source code (GitHub)

[28] 3.2” ILI9431 TFT Touch Display (AliExpress)

[29] TFT Display Mega Shield (AliExpress)

[30] Arduino MEGA 2560 With Wi-Fi Built-in & ESP8266 (robotdyn)

[31] RPI Zero (amazon)

[32] ESP-WROOM-32 (amazon)

[33] RPI Camera Video Module (amazon)

[33] (amazon)