3D Printed Pedal Operated Doorbell

I myself have made lots of orders from Amazon over the past couple months. The delivery men fulfilling all these orders are at constant risk, as they ring hundreds of doorbells and knock on countless doors in a single week. To help with this, I have devised a plan to build a foot operated doorbell.

This model is compatible with any normal doorbell, excluding ring or smart doorbells. All you need is some decent soldering skills.

Going into grade 9, I finished this project myself with some initial ideas from family.

Make sure to read through all the steps before starting, to make sure you have all the supplies and resources to complete the project.

This project was built for the hands-free "Can't Touch This" family contest

One micro switch (for use inside pedal)

Wire (long enough to reach from doorbell to floor)

A 3D printer and necessary supplies

Soldering iron (and any additional supplies)

Your doorbell

Some basic tools (really just a screwdriver)

Heat shrink wrap is also handy to improve long term reliability (although not shown here, you can use it to cover any exposed contacts)

The first step to building this magnificent doorbell is 3D printing all the necessary parts for the new doorbell. The first prototype was to get a benchmark for the size of the pedal, and to test the hinges. Both halves of the pedal were printed in PLA, at 0.3mm layer height. Once both parts are printed, post processed, and painted to your desired colour, they simply need to be snapped together. No hardware required. The hinges should be loose, to accommodate for different sizes of micro switch, and so that both halves of the pedal can be snapped together with no additional resources. The grille on the top half of the pedal will print with supports inside the slots, so make sure to remove those as well. The hinges should be loose, but not enough that the top plate should fall of when flipped upside down. They're at just the right size so that they can snap in place without risking them breaking.

The micro switch should be soldered with both wires directed to the sides of the switch, to avoid being squished or damaged when the pedal is pressed.

Next you will need to unscrew your doorbell from the outside wall, and disassemble it. Most doorbells are just two contacts, making it very easy to add too. Simply solder the two wires from the micro switch in the pedal to the two contacts in the doorbell (as shown in the picture). Make sure your wire is long enough to span the gap between the pedal on the floor. As shown, the doorbell will have two contacts, the surfaces should be sanded before soldered to provide a good contact. Drill a hole big enough for the wires to fit through in the bottom of the doorbell. Make sure to route the wires through the hole before soldering. Once the wires are routed through the hole and soldered to both contacts (in no specific way), you should be able to squish the wires in and snap the circuit board back in place.

Before putting the pedal out for the world to use, you can add a small piece of double sided tape or some sort of grip to keep it from sliding. Another addition to the project coming soon is a changeable plate for the top grille, allowing easy cleaning or customization. The pedal can also be easily spray painted to any colour.

Also suggested is a small laminated or paper sign to cover the doorbell so nobody unnecessarily puts themselves at risk.

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for another model, feel free to let me know in the comments.

I will be constantly working on new models and improvements for this project, so make sure to check back often for new updates.