System Integration
Up to now ORDER lived as separate pieces. The ESP32 sat on the bench, the touchscreen hung off a ribbon of jumper wires, and the power lead came in from the side. ORDER is my restaurant table ordering device, so a guest picks dishes on the screen and the order goes over WiFi to the kitchen. For that to feel real it has to be one tidy object on the table, not a pile of parts. This week I brought all of it together into a single 3D printed enclosure that looks and works like a finished product.
My plan for system integration
I started by listing every part that has to live inside ORDER and what each one needs from the enclosure. The ESP32 is the brain that runs the menu and talks to the kitchen. The touchscreen is the only thing the guest touches, so it has to sit on the front face. Power comes in through a USB C lead at the back. WiFi is handled by the ESP32 antenna, which needs to face outward and stay clear of metal. The enclosure has to hold all of this and still close cleanly.
- ESP32 board, mounted flat on posts in the base so the antenna edge points out the back and stays away from any wiring.
- Touchscreen, dropped into a front cutout from behind so the glass sits flush with the face and only the active area shows.
- Power, a single USB C lead into the back wall feeding the ESP32, with no loose battery to rattle.
- WiFi, kept reliable by giving the antenna edge a clear plastic window and keeping the screen ribbon short and away from it.
- Enclosure, a two part 3D printed shell, a base that carries the electronics and a front bezel that snaps over the screen.
I sketched how these sit next to each other so the screen ribbon stays short, the power lead reaches without strain, and nothing presses on the antenna. The sketch below is the map I built everything from.
Documenting the plan with CAD
After the sketch I built the plan properly in CAD. I measured the ESP32, the touchscreen and the USB C connector with a caliper and modelled the enclosure around those real sizes so each part clicks into its own place. The base has posts that line up with the ESP32 mounting holes, a recessed shelf that the touchscreen drops into from behind, and a slot in the back wall for the USB C lead. The front bezel is modelled as a separate body that snaps onto the base and frames the screen. Building the assembly in CAD first let me check every clearance on screen, confirm the screen sits flush, and confirm the lid closes before I printed a single part.
Packaging and mounting everything inside ORDER
This is the part the assignment cares about most, so I packaged ORDER the way a real product is built. The ESP32 is screwed down on its own posts so it cannot shift. The touchscreen seats into its recessed shelf and the bezel holds it firmly against the front face. I connected the screen to the ESP32 with a proper header instead of loose jumper wires, and the USB C lead lands on a fixed point at the back wall. Every wire is cut to length and routed along its own channel so the antenna edge stays clear. Each part has a dedicated spot, so if I lift ORDER off the table and shake it, nothing rattles and nothing comes loose.
Making ORDER look like a finished product
A finished product is more than a laser cut box, so I designed the ORDER enclosure to look like something a restaurant would actually put on a table. I rounded the outer edges of the 3D print so it feels good in the hand, set the touchscreen flush with the front bezel so there is no lip around the glass, and hid the screws and the wiring inside the shell. The only things a guest sees are the screen on the front and the USB C lead at the back. Everything else is tucked away. The result is a clean object that you can pick up and use without ever seeing the electronics inside.
How this connects to my final project
Everything on this page is the real ORDER build. The enclosure, the mounting and the wiring shown here are the same ones used in the final device, and this system integration work is linked from my final project page.
What I learned
Integration is where small details decide whether ORDER feels finished or unfinished. Measuring the ESP32 and the touchscreen, fixing each part in its own place, and using a proper header instead of loose jumpers turned a loose bundle of electronics into one solid device. It also taught me to keep the antenna edge clear so WiFi stays reliable once the case is closed, and that the enclosure should be designed alongside the electronics, not bolted on at the end.