u/Foxconlab

I’m a truck driver based in Poland, and like a lot of you, I’ve had to deal with the constant worry about trailer curtain theft during overnight stops.

Most of the solutions out there are reactive — dash cams, GPS trackers, alarms that go off after the curtain has already been cut. They can help you figure out what happened, but by then the damage is already done.

So I decided to try a more proactive approach.

I’ve been building a LiDAR-based system that mounts to the truck’s side mirrors, monitors the area alongside the trailer, and turns on a bright, focused spotlight if someone stays there for too long.

No siren. No waking up the driver. Just a pretty clear “you’ve been seen” signal.

How it works:

▶️The LiDAR monitors a defined zone of 17.5 m alongside the trailer. Anything beyond that is outside the trailer’s monitored area and is ignored.

▶️Someone simply walking past → nothing happens.

▶️Someone stops and stays in the zone for a set number of seconds → the spotlight turns on.

That delay is pretty important. It helps filter out the normal stuff you’d see at a rest stop. People walking past the truck are obviously not a problem. Someone standing next to your trailer for more than two seconds is a different story.

The video shows exactly how it works:

I walk past → nothing happens.

I step back and stop → after the delay, the spotlight kicks on.

This is the first fully working prototype, so there’s still a lot I want to improve, but it’s pretty cool to finally see the system doing what I designed it to do.

I’d genuinely love to hear what you guys think. If you drive trucks and regularly deal with overnight parking, I’m especially interested in your feedback — what would you change, what would you add, or what do you think I’m overlooking?** **

The project is supported by Bambu Lab Let’s Make It Fund. Feel free to check out my profile if you want to see the rest of the build and how I got to this point.

In Europe trailer curtains being slashed at night is a real problem for truck drivers so I decided to build a system that tries to prevent it before the curtain gets damaged.

The system mounts to the mirror brackets, monitors the area alongside the trailer and turns on a bright, focused spotlight if someone lingers nearby.
The project has come a long way since my last update.

In my previous post I showed the first bracket for mounting the system to the truck’s mirror. Since then a lot has happened and I finally have the first fully functional prototype assembled.

Help from the Bambu Lab team

One of the benefits of the Let’s Make It Fund program wasn’t just the equipment, materials and funding. Participants also had access to technical support from the Bambu Lab engineering team.
Up to this point, I’d managed everything on my own, so I never really needed to ask for help.

When it came time to design the main enclosure, though, I realized this was one area where getting input from people who do this professionally could make a real difference.

The team offered to help with the enclosure design, and of course I said yes.
When I saw the final model it completely exceeded my expectations.

What surprised me most was the approach to the design itself. The team had considered not just the structure, mounting and appearance of the enclosure, but even its aerodynamics, since the device will be permanently mounted outside on a moving truck.

Honestly that was the moment when I really saw the difference between the way I had approached the prototype enclosure and the way professional engineers approach the same problem.

Assembly

The main enclosure itself was designed by the Bambu Lab engineering team.

When it came time to assemble the device, some of the actual components were slightly different from the ones the enclosure had originally been designed around. So I rearranged the electronics inside, designed the necessary internal mounts and also designed a separate mount for the spotlight.

Once everything was ready, it was finally time to 3D print all the parts and put together the first fully working prototype.

First installation

With everything ready I installed the complete system on my Volvo FH for the first time.
Everything fit exactly as planned.

The enclosures fit perfectly, the mounts were solid and the LiDAR, spotlight and electronics all ended up exactly where I’d intended.

Honestly this was probably one of my favorite moments of the whole project. Seeing something that had previously existed only as CAD models and separate parts on my workbench finally installed on a real truck was incredibly satisfying.

What’s next?

The prototype is now fully functional but there’s still plenty I’d like to improve.

Right now the control panel inside the cab sits in a temporary enclosure on top of the dashboard.

My next goal is to integrate it into the factory radio/equipment slot so it looks like it came with the truck.

I also want to hide all the wiring so nothing is visible either inside or outside the cab.

Once that’s done, it’ll finally be time for real road testing and, I’m sure, another round of improvements.

A few days ago I started wondering whether a diode laser could remove only the top layer of an FDM print and reveal a contrasting layer underneath instead of relying on multicolor printing for labels.

I couldn’t find many examples of people using this approach on FDM prints so I decided to give it a try.

Honestly, the results were a lot better than I expected.

This panel is part of the control unit for one of my projects. I wanted to create crisp, factory-looking labels using only the equipment I already have: a Bambu Lab H2D with the 10 W diode laser module.

The goal was to get finer text and symbols than I can reliably achieve with conventional multicolor FDM printing using a 0.4 mm nozzle. A 0.2 mm nozzle would definitely help, but on a panel this size it adds quite a bit of print time.

The idea was pretty simple:

✅ Print a very thin black top layer.

✅ Print several light-colored layers directly underneath.

✅ Engrave away only the black layer to reveal the contrasting material below.

After quite a few test prints, this combination gave me the best results:

1 black top layer
3 gray layers underneath for contrast
All remaining layers printed in black

The contrast turned out really well and even very small text stayed surprisingly crisp. There’s still a slight halo around the engraved areas but it’s much smaller than I expected.

For anyone who’s interested, these are the settings that worked best for me so far:

Material: Bambu PETG HF
Laser: H2D 10 W diode
Mode: Fill
Power: 80%
Speed: 250 mm/s

With these settings the laser removes roughly 0.03–0.04 mm per pass, so engraving through the 0.2 mm black layer took:

6 passes for larger graphics
7 passes for small text and fine details

One thing that surprised me was that this only worked well in Fill mode. I couldn’t get comparable results with Line mode no matter what settings I tried.

I’m still experimenting.
My next tests will probably use lower power around 60%, a slower speed around 150 mm/s and more passes to see if I can make very small text and fine details even sharper.

I’m also curious whether anyone has tried this with other FDM materials like PLA, ABS, ASA, PC, PA or anything else.

A few questions for anyone with more laser experience:

Which materials have worked best for this kind of selective top-layer engraving?
Have you found any settings or techniques that help keep the edges cleaner on very small text and fine details?
Is there anything else you’d try to squeeze a bit more sharpness out of tiny text and symbols?

I’d really appreciate any advice, settings or even examples of things that didn’t work. Sometimes those end up being just as useful as the successful ones.

A few days ago I asked here whether it would be possible to use a diode laser to remove only the top layer of an FDM print and reveal a contrasting layer underneath.

I wasn’t able to find any examples of this approach being used specifically on FDM prints, so I decided to test it myself.

Honestly, the results turned out much better than I expected.

This panel is part of my truck trailer security system. I wanted to find a way to produce clean, almost factory-looking control panels for my project using only the equipment I already have: a Bambu Lab H2D and its 10 W diode laser module.
I also wanted to achieve finer text and symbols than I could get with conventional two-color FDM printing, even with a 0.2 mm nozzle.

In the comments on my previous post several people suggested that the laser would probably melt the edges and make the engraving look messy. At least in my case that didn’t happen.

I decided to start with PETG HF and I actually liked the result. The engraved edges came out surprisingly crisp with only a barely noticeable halo around the engraved areas.

After several tests the best combination turned out to be:

1 black top layer
3 gray layers underneath

The contrast was excellent, the engraving shallow enough, even the smallest details remained sharp.

For these tests, I used the 10 W diode laser module at 80% power, 250 mm/s, in Fill mode. With these settings the laser removes approximately 0.03–0.04 mm of material per pass.
To engrave through the 0.2 mm black top layer and expose the gray layer underneath, I needed 6 passes for larger graphics and 7 passes for thin lines and small text.

I also discovered that this technique only works well in Fill mode. I wasn’t able to achieve comparable results using Line mode regardless of the settings I tried.

These are still my first experiments. For very small text and symbols, my next test will probably use around 60% power, 150 mm/s and more laser passes. I think that could produce even sharper results on the finest details.

So far I’ve only tested this with PETG HF, so I’m curious whether anyone has tried something similar with PLA, ABS or PETG from other manufacturers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions, especially if you’ve experimented with this technique yourself.

For anyone who didn’t see my previous post, here’s the link to the original discussion

A few days ago I asked here whether it would be possible to use a diode laser to remove only the top layer of an FDM print and reveal a contrasting layer underneath.

I wasn’t able to find any examples of this approach being used specifically on FDM prints, so I decided to test it myself.

Honestly, the results turned out much better than I expected.

This panel is part of my truck trailer security system which I’m developing as part of Bambu Lab Let’s Make It Fund program. I wanted to find a way to produce clean, almost factory-looking control panels for my project using only the equipment I already have: a Bambu Lab H2D and its 10 W diode laser module.

I also wanted to achieve finer text and symbols than I could get with conventional two-color FDM printing, even with a 0.2 mm nozzle.

In the comments on my previous post several people suggested that the laser would probably melt the edges and make the engraving look messy. At least in my case that didn’t happen.

I decided to start with PETG HF and I actually liked the result. The engraved edges came out surprisingly crisp with only a barely noticeable halo around the engraved areas.

After several tests the best combination turned out to be:

1 black top layer
3 gray layers underneath

The contrast was excellent, the engraving shallow enough, even the smallest details remained sharp.

For these tests, I used the 10 W diode laser module at 80% power, 250 mm/s, in Fill mode. With these settings the laser removes approximately 0.03–0.04 mm of material per pass.
To engrave through the 0.2 mm black top layer and expose the gray layer underneath, I needed 6 passes for larger graphics and 7 passes for thin lines and small text.

I also discovered that this technique only works well in Fill mode. I wasn’t able to achieve comparable results using Line mode regardless of the settings I tried.

These are still my first experiments. For very small text and symbols, my next test will probably use around 60% power, 150 mm/s and more laser passes. I think that could produce even sharper results on the finest details.

So far I’ve only tested this with PETG HF, so I’m curious whether anyone has tried something similar with PLA, ABS or PETG from other manufacturers.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or suggestions, especially if you’ve experimented with this technique yourself.

For anyone who didn’t see my previous post, here’s the link to the original discussion.

Background

I’m a truck driver in Europe, and one of the problems we constantly deal with is people cutting trailer curtains while trucks are parked overnight.

A lot of the time they’re not even stealing anything. They just slash the curtain to see what’s inside, leaving the driver with a damaged trailer, sometimes damaged cargo, a broken customs seal, and a lot of wasted time and money.

So I’ve been building a system to deal with that using a LiDAR sensor and a spotlight instead of a camera. The idea is to detect someone while they’re lingering next to the trailer and hit them with light before the curtain gets cut, instead of simply recording the damage afterwards.

The LiDAR, ESP32, and detection logic are already working together on my workshop test rig. The next challenge was figuring out how to mount everything on a real truck without drilling a single hole or permanently modifying it.

So I decided to build a clamp that uses the existing mirror bracket.

Designing the mount (scan → model → clamp)

To get the shape right, I first 3D scanned part of the mirror bracket.

The hardest part wasn’t actually scanning it. It was turning that raw scan into something I could design around.

I cleaned up the mesh, converted it into a solid body, and then designed the clamp directly around the real geometry of the bracket.

Honestly, this step ended up taking far more time than I expected.

The clamp wraps around the existing bracket and tightens with M4 bolts and brass heat-set inserts, so it grips the original part without needing to drill any holes.

First prototype

Since this was only a proof of concept, I printed the first version in Bambu Lab PETG Basic on my Bambu Lab H2D.

For the first test fit, I didn’t see much point in using a more expensive material. I mainly wanted to find out whether the mounting concept itself was strong enough.

For the final outdoor version I’ll most likely switch to ASA because it should handle long-term weather exposure better.

What do you guys think? Would you trust PETG outdoors, or would you go straight to ASA?

First test on the truck

This was the part I was most curious about.

I printed the parts, walked over to the truck, and mounted the clamp on the mirror bracket for the first time.
It fit perfectly.

The mount feels solid, doesn’t wobble, and honestly worked better than I expected.

At least now I know the mounting concept itself works.

Since it’ll be sitting outside on a moving truck, there are still a few things I need to test properly.

It clamps tightly around the bracket, but I still want to see how it handles vibration over time.
It doesn’t block the mirror or get in the driver’s way.
The next version will focus on making it robust enough for everyday use and rough European weather.

What’s next?

The next step is designing the enclosure that will hold the LiDAR, ESP32, and wiring.

One thing I completely ignored while designing the mount was aerodynamics.

It’ll be sitting outside on the mirror, and I didn’t think about airflow at all.

So here’s my real question.

Could something like this start whistling or making noise at highway speeds, around 90 km/h?

If you’ve mounted anything on the outside of a vehicle, have you ever run into wind noise or whistling? If so, what caused it, and how did you fix it?

Background

I’m a truck driver in Europe, and one of the problems we constantly deal with is people cutting trailer curtains while trucks are parked overnight.

A lot of the time they’re not even stealing anything. They just slash the curtain to see what’s inside, leaving the driver with a damaged trailer, sometimes damaged cargo, a broken customs seal, and a lot of wasted time and money.

So I’ve been building a system to deal with that using a LiDAR sensor and a spotlight instead of a camera. The idea is to detect someone while they’re lingering next to the trailer and hit them with light before the curtain gets cut, instead of simply recording the damage afterwards.

The LiDAR, ESP32, and detection logic are already working together on my workshop test rig. The next challenge was figuring out how to mount everything on a real truck without drilling a single hole or permanently modifying it.

So I decided to build a clamp that uses the existing mirror bracket.

Designing the mount (scan → model → clamp)

To get the shape right, I first 3D scanned part of the mirror bracket.

The hardest part wasn’t actually scanning it. It was turning that raw scan into something I could design around.

I cleaned up the mesh, converted it into a solid body, and then designed the clamp directly around the real geometry of the bracket.

Honestly, this step ended up taking far more time than I expected.

The clamp wraps around the existing bracket and tightens with M4 bolts and brass heat-set inserts, so it grips the original part without needing to drill any holes.

First prototype

Since this was only a proof of concept, I printed the first version in Bambu Lab PETG Basic on my Bambu Lab H2D.

For the first test fit, I didn’t see much point in using a more expensive material. I mainly wanted to find out whether the mounting concept itself was strong enough.

For the final outdoor version I’ll most likely switch to ASA because it should handle long-term weather exposure better.

What do you guys think? Would you trust PETG outdoors, or would you go straight to ASA?

First test on the truck

This was the part I was most curious about.
I printed the parts, walked over to the truck, and mounted the clamp on the mirror bracket for the first time.
It fit perfectly.

The mount feels solid, doesn’t wobble, and honestly worked better than I expected.

At least now I know the mounting concept itself works.
Since it’ll be sitting outside on a moving truck, there are still a few things I need to test properly.

It clamps tightly around the bracket, but I still want to see how it handles vibration over time.
It doesn’t block the mirror or get in the driver’s way.
The next version will focus on making it robust enough for everyday use and rough European weather.

What’s next?

The next step is designing the enclosure that will hold the LiDAR, ESP32, and wiring.

One thing I completely ignored while designing the mount was aerodynamics.

It’ll be sitting outside on the mirror, and I didn’t think about airflow at all.

So here’s my real question.

Could something like this start whistling or making noise at highway speeds, around 90 km/h?

If you’ve mounted anything on the outside of a vehicle, have you ever run into wind noise or whistling? If so, what caused it, and how did you fix it?

Quick recap

I’m building a LiDAR-based system designed to detect people cutting truck trailer curtains during overnight parking.

This update is where the project finally started coming alive: the electronics, software, and detection logic all working together for the first time.

The ESP32 decided to fight me

While working on the LiDAR software, the ESP32 kept randomly refusing firmware uploads.
Sometimes it flashed perfectly fine, then suddenly just wouldn’t upload.

I checked wiring, swapped cables, changed settings, rebooted everything more times than I can count and never actually figured out why.
Then, just as randomly, it started working again.

If you’ve worked with ESP32s before, you probably know this exact pain.

I just wonder what actually causes this?

Getting usable data from the LiDAR

At the same time, I was working on the LiDAR side of the project.

At first, the ESP32 only saw a stream of raw bytes coming from the sensor.

After figuring out the packet structure and parsing the data correctly, I could finally turn that stream into actual distance measurements.

Once I had usable distance data, I put together the first version of the detection logic.

The current approach is simple:

On startup, the system scans the surroundings for a few seconds, stores a baseline distance, and switches into monitoring mode.

If the measured distance changes and an object remains in roughly the same position for several seconds, the alarm is triggered.

Status LEDs

To make testing easier, I added a few status LEDs:

🟡 Calibration
🟢 Monitoring active
🔴 Object detected
⚪ Alarm triggered

These mainly make debugging easier, so I can see the system state at a glance.

Making the prototype portable

The bench power supply wasn’t practical for demonstrations, so I used a spare 2S 18650 battery pack and a DC-DC converter to make the prototype portable.

I printed a small bracket on my Bambu Lab H2D through the Let’s Make It Fund program to mount the converter, turning the whole thing into a self-contained battery-powered unit.

My boss immediately got the idea

I showed the prototype to the owner of the transport company where I work.
He immediately got the idea.

What really clicked for him was the spotlight. Instead of recording theft after the damage is already done, the goal is to make someone think twice before cutting the curtain in the first place.

That feedback meant a lot because he deals with overnight truck parking risks and trailer curtain cuts on a regular basis.

First successful end-to-end test

The most satisfying moment so far was seeing the entire chain work together for the first time:

LiDAR measures distance → ESP32 processes the data → software compares it against the baseline → system decides whether to trigger the alarm.

The logic is still very simple, but I now have a working foundation that I can continue testing and improving.

What’s next?

The next step is long-term testing and seeing how reliable the system remains outside controlled workshop conditions.

One thing I’m still curious about is how reliable the LiDAR will be at around 18 meters outdoors.

If you’ve worked with outdoor LiDAR systems, how much do rain, fog, and snow affect real-world performance?

Have you seen false readings, dropouts, or noticeable range loss at that kind of distance?

Quick recap

I’m building a LiDAR-based system designed to detect people cutting truck trailer curtains during overnight parking.

This update is where the project finally started coming alive: the electronics, software, and detection logic all working together for the first time.

The ESP32 decided to fight me

While working on the LiDAR software, the ESP32 kept randomly refusing firmware uploads.
Sometimes it flashed perfectly fine, then suddenly just wouldn’t upload.

I checked wiring, swapped cables, changed settings, rebooted everything more times than I can count and never actually figured out why.
Then, just as randomly, it started working again.

If you’ve worked with ESP32s before, you probably know this exact pain.

Does anyone know what actually causes this?

Getting usable data from the LiDAR

At the same time, I was working on the LiDAR side of the project.
At first, the ESP32 only saw a stream of raw bytes coming from the sensor.

After figuring out the packet structure and parsing the data correctly, I could finally turn that stream into actual distance measurements.

Once I had usable distance data, I put together the first version of the detection logic.

The current approach is simple:

On startup, the system scans the surroundings for a few seconds, stores a baseline distance, and switches into monitoring mode.

If the measured distance changes and an object remains in roughly the same position for several seconds, the alarm is triggered.

Status LEDs

To make testing easier, I added a few status LEDs:

🟡 Calibration
🟢 Monitoring active
🔴 Object detected
⚪ Alarm triggered

These mainly make debugging easier, so I can see the system state at a glance.

Making the prototype portable

The bench power supply wasn’t practical for demonstrations, so I used a spare 2S 18650 battery pack and a DC-DC converter to make the prototype portable.

I printed a small bracket on my Bambu Lab H2D through the Let’s Make It Fund program to mount the converter, turning the whole thing into a self-contained battery-powered unit.

My boss immediately got the idea

I showed the prototype to the owner of the transport company where I work.
He immediately got the idea!

What really clicked for him was the spotlight. Instead of recording theft after the damage is already done, the goal is to make someone think twice before cutting the curtain in the first place.

That feedback meant a lot because he deals with overnight truck parking risks and trailer curtain cuts on a regular basis.

First successful end-to-end test

The most satisfying moment so far was seeing the entire chain work together for the first time:

LiDAR measures distance → ESP32 processes the data → software compares it against the baseline → system decides whether to trigger the alarm.

The logic is still very simple, but I now have a working foundation that I can continue testing and improving.

What’s next?

The next step is long-term testing and seeing how reliable the system remains outside controlled workshop conditions.
One thing I’m still curious about is how reliable the LiDAR will be at around 18 meters outdoors.

If you’ve worked with outdoor LiDAR systems, how much do rain, fog, and snow affect real-world performance?

Have you seen false readings, dropouts, or noticeable range loss at that kind of distance?

Quick context: I’m working on a system designed to detect people messing with truck trailer curtains during overnight parking, using LiDAR + a spotlight instead of cameras.

I’ve now built the first workshop test setup. At this stage, the goal is simple: get the LiDAR, ESP32, enclosure, and wiring working together in controlled conditions before putting anything on the truck.

Designing the enclosure

I designed the enclosure in Fusion 360 to hold both the LiDAR and the ESP32.

From the beginning, I designed it specifically for 3D printing. I wanted something practical and easy to manufacture, so all parts were designed to print without supports, avoiding large overhangs and bridges.

I also added:

✅an adjustable LiDAR mount, so I can fine-tune the beam angle
✅a removable ESP32 mount with magnets, making it easier to access the board during testing

All parts were printed in PETG Basic from Bambu Lab on the engineering plate, and it worked really well for this kind of functional enclosure and early assembly testing.

During assembly, I also used brass heat-set inserts in a few areas where repeated adjustments are expected.

Electronics and wiring

I added a few LEDs for system monitoring.
Later they’ll help visualize how the system reacts in different situations. The white LED is currently meant to simulate the main output, the spotlight that will eventually act as the deterrent in the real setup.

The LiDAR was wired according to the datasheet.
It supports 5–24V input, but at 5V it can draw up to 150 mA, so I decided not to power it directly from the ESP32 or USB.

For power distribution, I used WAGO-style lever connectors (one for +5V and one for GND) and distributed power from there to all components.

Communication between the LiDAR and ESP32 is done over UART: VCC, GND, TX, and RX.
I removed the original connector, insulated the unused CAN lines, and soldered Dupont jumper wires to make prototyping faster and cleaner.

TX and RX are connected crosswise, as expected.
The LEDs share a common ground, and each one is controlled from separate GPIO pins on the ESP32.

Current stage

At this point, the entire workshop setup is assembled and ready for its first real power-on test.

The next step is bringing the system online, validating LiDAR readings, establishing stable communication with the ESP32, and starting software development.

If you’ve built similar LiDAR + ESP32 setups before, what usually shows up once you power everything on?
Noise? Voltage issues? UART communication problems?

I’d genuinely love to hear what usually needs fixing after the first real test.

Quick context: I’m working on a system designed to detect people messing with truck trailer curtains during overnight parking, using LiDAR + a spotlight instead of cameras.

I’ve now built the first workshop test setup. At this stage, the goal is simple: get the LiDAR, ESP32, enclosure, and wiring working together in controlled conditions before putting anything on the truck.

Designing the enclosure

I designed the enclosure in Fusion 360 to hold both the LiDAR and the ESP32.

From the beginning, I designed it specifically for 3D printing. I wanted something practical and easy to manufacture, so all parts were designed to print without supports, avoiding large overhangs and bridges.

I also added:

✅an adjustable LiDAR mount, so I can fine-tune the beam angle
✅a removable ESP32 mount with magnets, making it easier to access the board during testing

All parts were printed in PETG Basic from Bambu Lab on the engineering plate, and it worked really well for this kind of functional enclosure and early assembly testing.

During assembly, I also used brass heat-set inserts in a few areas where repeated adjustments are expected.

Electronics and wiring

I added a few LEDs for system monitoring.
Later they’ll help visualize how the system reacts in different situations. The white LED is currently meant to simulate the main output, the spotlight that will eventually act as the deterrent in the real setup.

The LiDAR was wired according to the datasheet.
It supports 5–24V input, but at 5V it can draw up to 150 mA, so I decided not to power it directly from the ESP32 or USB.

For power distribution, I used WAGO-style lever connectors (one for +5V and one for GND) and distributed power from there to all components.

Communication between the LiDAR and ESP32 is done over UART: VCC, GND, TX, and RX.
I removed the original connector, insulated the unused CAN lines, and soldered Dupont jumper wires to make prototyping faster and cleaner.

TX and RX are connected crosswise, as expected.
The LEDs share a common ground, and each one is controlled from separate GPIO pins on the ESP32.

Current stage

At this point, the entire workshop setup is assembled and ready for its first real power-on test.

The next step is bringing the system online, validating LiDAR readings, establishing stable communication with the ESP32, and starting software development.

If you’ve built similar LiDAR + ESP32 setups before, what usually shows up once you power everything on?
Noise? Voltage issues? UART communication problems?

I’d genuinely love to hear what usually needs fixing after the first real test.

Quick context: I’m working on a system designed to detect people messing with truck trailer curtains during overnight parking, using LiDAR + a spotlight instead of cameras.

I’ve now built the first workshop test setup. At this stage, the goal is simple: get the LiDAR, ESP32, enclosure, and wiring working together in controlled conditions before putting anything on the truck.

Designing the enclosure

I designed the enclosure in Fusion 360 to hold both the LiDAR and the ESP32.
From the beginning, I designed it specifically for 3D printing. I wanted something practical and easy to manufacture, so all parts were designed to print without supports, avoiding large overhangs and bridges.

I also added:

✅an adjustable LiDAR mount, so I can fine-tune the beam angle
✅a removable ESP32 mount with magnets, making it easier to access the board during testing

All parts were printed in PETG Basic from Bambu Lab on the engineering plate, and it worked really well for this kind of functional enclosure and early assembly testing.

During assembly, I also used brass heat-set inserts in a few areas where repeated adjustments are expected.

Electronics and wiring

I added a few LEDs for system monitoring.

Later they’ll help visualize how the system reacts in different situations. The white LED is currently meant to simulate the main output, the spotlight that will eventually act as the deterrent in the real setup.
The LiDAR was wired according to the datasheet.

It supports 5–24V input, but at 5V it can draw up to 150 mA, so I decided not to power it directly from the ESP32 or USB.
For power distribution, I used WAGO-style lever connectors (one for +5V and one for GND) and distributed power from there to all components.

Communication between the LiDAR and ESP32 is done over UART: VCC, GND, TX, and RX.
I removed the original connector, insulated the unused CAN lines, and soldered Dupont jumper wires to make prototyping faster and cleaner.
TX and RX are connected crosswise, as expected.
The LEDs share a common ground, and each one is controlled from separate GPIO pins on the ESP32.

Current stage

At this point, the entire workshop setup is assembled and ready for its first real power-on test.
The next step is bringing the system online, validating LiDAR readings, establishing stable communication with the ESP32, and starting software development.

If you’ve built similar LiDAR + ESP32 setups before, what usually shows up once you power everything on?
Noise? Voltage issues? UART communication problems?

I’d genuinely love to hear what usually needs fixing after the first real test.