Date: June 1, 2020

[updated June 6]

Jay printed a new 3D casing to house the switch and the button clicker as well as the Arduino Nano.

So, as long as it does the job. I will keep on using it. Hahaha

This morning, the hot items is “Birdhouse”. So, I supplied 5×30 softwoods, and 2×30 woods. It produced 30x birdhouse. And when you sell it to Timmy at the shop, he pays you 50,400 bells. So, I keep doing this while reading my daily news, drinking my morning tea.

[Original posting on June 1]

OK, why is Jay Jay so happy? Oh, because, he has completed one small Arduino project for me. And he is very happy with his invention. Well done Jay Jay!

May I introduced you the Nintendo Switch Auto button-clicker. Version 1.0.

It looks crude, but it works.

OMG! It is actually working.

The Nintendo Switch “A” button Auto button-clicker job is to continuously press the A button to build a furniture in Animal Crossing New Horizon game. Because it is kind of bored to press and make 20x Dog Houses, so, I asked Jay Jay to help me design and create this tool.

So, it is a simple request. It was discussed yesterday morning.

And he has been digging and try to create the prototypes yesterday.

The first version actually uses Arduino Uno, and a persistent button.

And the new version uses a small tiny Arduino Nano to do the job.

And he also make a proper switch for me.

Of course, he printed many copies of the housing unit using his 3D printer. And finally make one that meets his requirement.

The whole thing is that small and simple.

1x Arduino Nano,

2x Switch

1x Servo

And a portable battery.

I love it. This is what I always guide him, we are here to solve problem. Now with the electronics and the 3D printer, the way how we solve problem is unlimited now. So, this project took him about half a day to do. But is one of the project he felt so proud off.

Because this is PRACTICAL. You learn SSTduino (SST version of Arduino) in school and you put it into good use.

This is a view from the other side.

I taking video of the project also felt so excited.

It looks simple and neat. Next I am sure he is going to figure how to fit the Arduino Nano, the Switch and the servo into one housing unit. That will be the design work of the 3D artist.

Of course, I did not ask him to further improve it with a counter. I.e. how many times to run the clicker for to make X number of Dog House or other furnitures.

So, for this version 1.0, when the material runs out, it will just show that screen.

So, I can just leave it there for running without actually physically touching my Nintendo Switch, and it will automatically make the furniture for me until the material runs out.

Yeah, for this round, it has make 17 “Dog Houses”.

And Timmy will pay me 69,360 Bells for the 17 Dog Houses. Yeah.

Don’t you think I’m am very lazy person? Hahahaha

This footage is from yesterday. When he did the first prototype concept. How the servo press the button.

So, first prototypes need to fine tune the angle of servo motor. 3D printed housing unit need to be strong too.

He was so happy. And immediately dig himself into doing the design, the programming, prototyping, the printing and testing.

And the reason why he was up 3am in the morning is because he thought of something and wanted to sent it to the 3D printer. As you know printing takes time.

Just to demonstrate to you, if I don’t have this Auto Button Clicker, I would have used my index finger to continuously pressing the A button. I usually close my eyes and press the A button like hundreds to thousands of time to make the bulk of “Hot Items” to sell to Timmy Nook so to make money. He pays 1.5 times more for them than the usual price.

I am surprise that he finished the prototype so fast yesterday.

And then down to the design of the 3D STL model for the housing unit.

I got the strong feeling that he is going to “take over” my 12.9″ iPad Pro for his future 3D model design using the Shapr3D app. This Shapr3D app is so cool. Even I now know how to design a 3D model.

Very easy to do it. This is compared to last time using the Google SketchUp program on iMac. Because this one can use fingers and Apple Pencil. Rotating model, resizing model is a swift using an iPad.

In no time, he produced the model.

That is hour you clip the servo motor on to it and the whole thing latched on the Nintendo Switch.

Nice right?

In Animal Crossing New Horizon, one of the method to make money (i.e. Bells) is to harvest wood, iron, clay, stones, and make furnitures. If your furnitures happens to be the “Hot Items”, Timmy will pay 1.5 times higher the price.

So, you have a lot of woods in your inventory.

A lot of resource, some day, you going to make a lot a lot of furniture and sell it off.

So, for my example here, I calculated the rough figures of materials to make these 17 Dog Houses.

Press A for crafting.

Press A for selecting Doghouse.

Press A for crafting it.

Press A to confirm and “Let’s do it!”

Here you can press A to build faster. Keep pressing A.

And press A to confirmed that you have just make a Doghouse.

And you repeat this process again and again for the next Doghouse building.

You can see how annoying is it if you need to keep pressing the A button pointlessly, right. That is why there is a need for such Auto A-Button clicker. Hahahaha

Well done Jay Jay!