This Raspberry Pi DIY temperature gun makes for the perfect project for beginner tinkerers

Raspberry Pi enthusiasts have a common mantra: “Why buy what you can make?” After all, if you have the means to create your own gadgets, you can benefit from cheaper prices, open-source software, and the ability to repair it should it break down the line. Buying expensive, closed-source hardware that refuses to let you fix them can really get on someone’s nerves.

Well, there’s one thing that I like more than a device that you can build yourself, and it’s one you can make easily. When a Raspberry Pi project hits that perfect trifecta of usefulness, cost-effectiveness, and ease of build, you have a real winner on your hands. That’s why I wanted to shine a light on the GY-906 temperature gun, a simple Raspberry Pi project that’s easy to make, low on cost, and really useful to have around.

The GY-906 temperature gun is a DIY Raspberry Pi project that’s easy to make

On Hackster.io, tinkerer Arnov Sharma posted their newest project: a DIY temperature gun that’s easy to build. Their name was familiar to me, so I did some digging through the XDA archives, and what do you know; the last time we saw him, he was making a cool Pokemon-themed console.

This time, his project requires a far more forgiving bill of materials:

• PICO 2
• GY-906 Infrared Temperature sensor
• OLED DISPLAY 124×32
• Jumper wires
• Push Switch
• Breadboard
• Prototype PCB
• Female header pins for PICO 2
• Connecting wires
• HOT & COLD Medium for Testing

You can spot where the project gets its GY-906 suffix in the above list; it’s what the temperature sensor uses. Arnov claims that this same sensor was a key component when creating temperature guns during the height of COVID, which makes it a pretty solid choice for this project if you ask me.

Once you’ve assembled all the parts (which Arnov gives advice on where to purchase them), he then details how to make the infrared thermometer in the Hackster post. He also divulges the source code that keeps everything ticking over; all you need to do is put the pieces together and make sure everything is wired up correctly.

The resulting product is a cool contactless thermometer you can use to measure temperatures between “-70°C to +380°C for objects and -40°C to +125°C for the sensor.” That’s good enough for anything you’d want to measure in and around the home. And if you liked the simplicity of this project, check out these Raspberry Pi gadgets you can create in a weekend.