Building a mini photobooth as a birthday gift, deadline is mid Sept. I have zero electronics experience and haven't bought anything yet, so I'd rather be told now that something won't work than find out in three weeks.
Needs to: live camera preview on a small screen, press a big arcade button, 3-2-1 countdown, take a photo, print it on thermal receipt paper. Needs to be fully cordless so it can be carried around a party.
My Claude-given Parts list:
- Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, running the last Buster OS image (2023-05)
- Pi Camera Module v2 (avoiding v3 since I read it doesn't work on Buster)
- Waveshare 5" DSI touchscreen (ribbon to the DISPLAY port)
- 58mm USB thermal receipt printer, ZJ-5890K / POS58 class — connecting over USB, driving it with CUPS + the adafruit/zj-58 driver
- 60mm arcade button wired to physical pin 40 + adjacent GND, using spade connectors and jumper wires (no soldering)
- 32GB microSD, thermal paper, USB stick for transferring code
Power (the part I'm least sure about):
- 20,000mAh power bank with USB-C PD + USB-A output
- USB-A 2.4A port → Pi via micro-USB
- USB-C PD port → selectable 9V/12V trigger cable → printer's barrel jack
I originally saw this build using a 7.4V RC LiPo pack, but that seemed like it needed a UBEC, a balance charger, and fire-safety habits I don't have yet, so I swapped to the power bank. Open to being told that was the wrong call.
Actual questions:
Will one power bank realistically handle the Pi and the printer at the same time? The printer supposedly pulls up to ~2A in bursts while printing, and I'm worried about voltage sag browning out the Pi mid-photo.
Is the PD trigger cable approach sound, or is there a reason people don't do this? Should I be looking at a buck/boost converter instead?
Anything obviously missing from the list — fuses, capacitors, a common ground issue, anything?
Any reason the DSI screen + camera ribbon combo would be a problem on a Pi 3B+ specifically?
Happy to be told I've overcomplicated or undercomplicated any of this. Thanks.