Thursday, June 10, 2010

Clock 3


I just cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the housing of clock 3. The back is sprayed with black paint, just enough to simulate the smoky effect but transparant enough for the red light to come through. I have to sort out the electronic part before I can fix the top of the housing to the rest. And still to do: buttons and a red led to show the alarm is on on the left of the front. The housing has already 2 holes for the switches that will double as feet allowing you to smack the clock to silence it.

There's A Clock In Here Somewhere


Clock 3 and 4 are underway. Number 3 is going to be a quite simple one, wooden casing with a plexiglass front and standard LED display from the donor clock. The only cool feauture of this one will be that the "alarm off" buttons will be placed under de housing, so if the alarm goes off you only have to slam the clock and it will turn the buzzer off!

Number 4 clock is still a mystery, all I know is that I want to use the glass jars again but have it done in less time. The number 2 clock took me in excess of 100 hours to make. The display could be as you see in the photo, LED's on a pcb. But I could also put them on a clear piece of plexiglass (like I did last time) and drill about 170 1mm holes. Hmmm.

Next time more about clock 3.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Finished Clock


It was exciting up until the last minute when finally all the digits lighted up properly. I didn't know if it was gonna work until I had all 4 hooked up, since they share power between them. A couple of lights didn't work at some point and drove me up the wall. I really wanted to finish it. And I have. Hope you like it.
This clock wwas featured on Hack A Day.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Pieces Coming Together


The longer I work on this clock the more difficult problems I face and also realise how daunting this task is. I made a housing but will it all fit? Will the clock actually work?

Final assembly is underway, I have to connect many many wires to the individual LED's to and fro the PCB. Some work fine but some seem like a puzzle and I have no clue why it doesn't work.

But soon it will be finished and I enjoyed it, to combine woodworking, aluminium, LED's and electronics into a working product. It has been one of the most difficult things I made, for the sheer amount of patience required, but it was well worth it I think.

Next time, proper photos of the finished alarm clock.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010