M5Stack Dial - Make: DIY Projects and Ideas for Makers

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May 12th, 2025May 22nd, 2025 David Groom

Another spin on the ESP32 + 1.28″ round touchscreen formula, this time from the incredibly innovative M5Stack. What makes this one stand out is the rotary dial that surrounds the screen, providing a unique and charming user input method, which combined with an RFID reader and integrated M5StampS3 makes it great for home automation projects where temperature or light levels require convenient adjustment, as well as user identification and authorization.

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M5Stack Dial	By: M5Stack
Specs
Type:	Microcontroller
Price:	$35
Dimensions:	45mm×45mm×32.3mm (round)
Software:	Arduino, UIFlow, ESP-IDF
Clock Speed:	240MHz
Main Processor:	32-bit ESP32-S3 (dual-core Tensilica LX7)
Memory:	8MB flash, 520kB SRAM, 8MB PSRAM
WI-FI:	yes
Bluetooth:	Bluetooth Low Energy
Video:	1.28" round 240×240 display
Ethernet:	no
Input Voltage:	6V–36V
Battery Charging:	yes
Operating Voltage:	5V

David Groom

David bought his first Arduino in 2007 as part of a Roomba hacking project. Since then, he has been obsessed with writing code that you can touch. David fell in love with the original Pebble smartwatch, and even more so with its successor, which allowed him to combine the beloved wearable with his passion for hardware hacking via its smartstrap functionality. Unable to part with his smartwatch sweetheart, David wrote a love letter to the Pebble community, which blossomed into Rebble, the service that keeps Pebbles ticking today, despite the company's demise in 2016. When he's not hacking on wearables, David can probably be found building a companion bot, experimenting with machine learning, growing his ever-increasing collection of dev boards, or hacking on DOS-based palmtops from the 90s.

Find David on Mastodon at @ishotjr@chaos.social or these other places.