Figurine – Pokemon Blastoise Humidifier

So i saw this video on Youtube on how they turned an old humidifier into a figurine humidifier and i thought i can make that too since the mechanism is fairly simple and the electronics needs to be waterproof from the rest of the figurine..

I chose the pokemon blastoise because he has a big stomach that can be the water reservoir for the humidifier.. it seems simple to have air flow from his open mouth and the humidifier mist comes out his cannons.. to add some effects i’m gonna add some LEDs to make his eyes glows and make the mist visible with the glow from LEDs.. and also add a water gauge on his stomach so we can see the water level when we need to refill..

I also got some new magnetic pogo pins connector that i wanted to try on for the X-wing automata so i can add lights to the cockpit and thrusters but didnt get a chance to.. so im adding it to the blastoise by having a removable head to refill water..

So let’s get started..

There are 7 parts that needs to be 3d printed.. im currently using my resin printer for this project since i need the parts to be water-tight since we will be making a water reservoir for the humidifier. Im printing everything using my anycubic mono x for this project since its going to be 17cm tall..

There is 2 pieces of the model that will be printed in clear resin.. the head and the water gauge on the stomach of blastoise..

I spray primer all the parts including the head that is printed in clear resin.. before spraying the head i mask the eyes so that we can get lights to glow from them..

I made blastoise head removable so we can access the internal body for wiring and installing the the humidifier.. and at the same time use it to fill water into the blastoise water reservoir..

In order to make the water vapor to shoot out of Blastoise cannon.. we will install a small 30mm DC12v fan into blastoise head that will blow air into the body and out through the cannons.. i had several spare motor fans from my 3d printer so i just use one of them..

Although its rated power is DC12v, it should also work with 5v.. it will make the fan blow slower and not full blast air into the blastoise body.. if we use 12v for the fan.. the high speed air coming into the blastoise body will turn the water vapor from the humidifier back into water droplets.. and you wont have the effects of smoke coming out of blastoise cannons.. I tried it and you can see the mistakes i made from my wiring..

I made 2 positive wiring with one 5v and the other 12v thinking the fan should be full blast in the beginning.. but after testing i found out that 12v fan speed was to fast and rewired it to the 5v.. all the electronics are wired parallel..

The other 5v we will wire a 100mm flexible filament into the head as an indicator to make blastoise eyes glow when powered on..

The power will be connected using magnetic pogo pins.. i’ve brought these pogo pins a while back for the X-wing automata so that we can add LED lights to the x-wing cockpit and thrusters but i didnt have time to add on to the project.. but we will use it for blastoise head so we can remove and attached the head without worry of wires getting in the way..

the wiring is simple.. the magnetic pogo pins have 3 prongs.. we only need 2 of them.. one 5v positive and one negative..

Cut the 12v fan wiring short so it can fit into the cavity on the back of blastoise head.. make sure the LED filament also have a short wire for easing soldering and installation later.. and make sure the fan air is pointing outwards from the head into the body

here’s a trick i used to connect the pogo pins to the LED and fan.. cause if you’re bad at soldering as i am.. use this method..

1. take 2 female dupont connectors that hasnt been crimped yet
2. crimped both positive lead LED filament wire and fan onto the female dupont
3. do the same for the negative wires of the LED and fan
4. the female dupont connectors should fit into the prongs of the magnetic pogo pins
5. now you can solder them together.. make sure that the prongs dont touch each other
6. label which is the positive side so you wont forget and get confuse when we wire the pogo pins on the body side

Test out the 5v power connections to make sure the LED lights up and the fan spinning..

Now all you have to do is fit LED filament and the wires into the head and place the fan and magnetic pogo pins into its place at the back of blastoise head

Firstly we need to install the transparent clear stomach piece that will let us see the water level.. its pretty much straight forward.. insert the piece into the gap in blastoise stomach.. carefull not to push it all the way in.. im currently using fast curing clear UV resin as glue to hold it together since we need the piece to be transparent.. make sure to clean the excess resin before curing.. once finish add some water and make sure its water tight and no leaking from the gap..

Now you need to make the tube that will hold the misting sponge stick that will absorb water from the reservoir into the tube and to the misting sheet nebulizer.. the tube is 16mm diameter and has to be 90mm long while the sponge stick around 95mm long..

The humidifier comes in 2 parts.. the nebulizer and its board that controls and power the humidifier.. im currentl using a 5v humidifier so it can be powered by a 5v powerbank or a lithium battery.. When you have yours please test it out and see which side of the nebulizer is absorbing the water and which is turning it into mist..

First you’ll need to install the nebulizer to the tube.. the nebulizer sheet is being held by a silicone sleeve and we’ll attach the tube to it.. make sure you’re attaching it to the correct side of the nebulizer sheet.. im currently using silicone glue to attach it to the nebulizer sleeve.. use as much as possible to get a water seal tight.. once glued test it out upside down.. that way you can test the water seal as well as the right side of the nebulizer misting..

If you look into blastoise body.. i made a holder that will keep the tube upright.. so all you need to do is install the tube attached nebulizer and the sponge into the holder upright of blastoise body.. make sure the nebulizer wires point to the hole i made to blastoise’s shell.. that will be the hole all the wiring will go into..

There should be 2 loops right behind the nebulizer tube and that is where you’ll start inserting the 300mm flexible LED.. use a twizzer for easy maneuvering.. both ends of the LED will go to a small hole on each side of the shell.. add positive and negative wires to the LED and you can seal the holes with silicone glue making the flexible LED lock in place and water sealed.. as always test the connection before continueing.. Pull the LED evenly out the cannon on both side.. the LED will light up the cannon and make the mist visible..

Now we will wire the other half of the pogo pins connector.. add the positive and negative of the pins and make sure its the right positve negative matching from the head connections.. once done silicone glue it into place aligning with the head.. you need to water seal the wire connection so use as much silicone glue as needed.. pull the wire into the center hole where we inserted the nebulizer wiring and seal the hole with silicone glue.. make it water sealed..

Test the connections to the LEDs and fan in blastoise head..

First we need to prep the humidifier board.. we need to solder 2 sets of wires for the 5v power supply and a set for the tactile button that should be at least 12mm long to reach the hole of the shell to turn on off the nebulizer.. i made a diagram for you to understand the wiring

Next we’ll prep the battery and the USB charger module.. the shell has slots for both the charger module hole and the battery placement.. connect the battery to the USB charger module where it says B+ and B-.. since there’s no room for the battery holder i just soldered the wires directly to the battery and charger module.. now for the power output i run the positive wire to the rocker switch first and then connect it to a block connector since we will be serial wire all the LEDs, fan and humidifier together.. now silicone glue all parts into the back of the shell..

Next we will be wiring all the 5v power for the LEDs, fans and humidifier to the connector block.. connect the wiring of the nebulizer to the humidifier board.. the tactile button should be inserted into the hole on the back of the shell.. test all connection and make sure all electronics powered on.. test the nebulizer..

If you’re using the same board humidifier than the tactile push button has 3 mode.. off mode.. on always mode.. and idle mode.. where it turns on for 10sec and turns off for 5sec and repeats..

In order to lock the shell on the back of blastoise.. i glued a M3 brass theaded insert so you can screw the shell into blastoise.. since 3d printed resin is brittle when you screw on them..

Now whats left is to paint the blastoise.. you might want to put several layers of paint on some parts that the LED lights shine through that the primer spray missed..