Word Clock Redux

[drj113] wrote back to let us know his latest version of the infamous Word Clock, now in Arduino flavor. You may remember when we originally showed you the Word Clock back in September, while much hasn’t changed, he’s added and modified a few things to make it more user-friendly. Most notably is the use of Arduino instead of PIC, while some commentators will complain this as a waste of an Arduino, it is extending the project towards those who are less technically inclined. Other changes include a new case, dedicated time changing buttons, and blue LEDs (and who doesn’t love blue).

We would also like to give [Alex], one of our commentators, a shout out with is QlockTwo. Same Word Clock concept, but used acrylic, paper sheet, and stickers to produce a much smoother look.

Update: It would appear we’ve made a slight mistake, the original creator of the QlockTwo is actually [Ruud Burger], not [Alex]. Thanks [Ruud] for clearing that up.

21 thoughts on “Word Clock Redux

  1. Maybe it’s the picture, but it seems the colours bleed alot. nice hack though!

    (Btw, Instructables keeps nagging me to death that i’ve to register.. the site has degraded too much imho..)

  2. Instructables goes to hell and dies, now plzkthx.

    I think this project could be improved a lot by manual filling of the etching and adding some walls between the words, that should reduce light bleeding. And btw, I envy you germanic-languages-people, you can arrange all possible time sentences in such a small square :)

  3. Using 0.8mm PCB for the front plate would be an easy way to significantly reduce bleed. FR4 material is also fluorescent, it may interact with the blue light to add to the bleeding effect.

    It’s interesting to know that he won the “Arduino contest” with a project that has no point at all on its own, except to use an Arduino (it’s just a remake of the clock with a new µC).

  4. I don’t understand all this scoffing at the arduino…

    why does it matter if I buy an Arduino? Do you feel threatened because previously it took a little more ingenuity to get a Microcontroller system going?

    The “club” effect hard at work…

  5. How is this original? Was this dupe posted just for the troll value?
    Posted at 1:50 pm on Dec 11th, 2009 by rd

    You know, I was going to go there, but every time anyone points out that work is sloppy, poorly done derivative copies of other peoples work, the whiners come out of the woodwork;

    You know, the ‘If you have any standards you are just an elitist’ crowd.

    My favorite is the ‘You are just a hater ‘cuz you didn’t think of it it’ crowd.

    I am actually quite glad I didn’t think of it, actually. If I had thought that a poorly implemented and badly finished copy of someone else’s work was a good idea, adding no redeeming features, purely to get my crap project on someone elses blog, I would have shot myself in the head, thank you very much.

  6. The new “improved” clock with arduino…

    Same functionality can be yours for only 30 more dollars!

    But at least the arduino will allow you to experiment with it, right? No, why would you, all of the code has already been written for you :-P

  7. @stunmonkey
    Strictly speaking I don’t disagree with you, but you set up a hell of a strawman with “purely to get my crap project on someone elses blog.” Maybe this guy made this solely to be posted on hackaday, but even the most uninteresting projects are almost always made because *the guy wanted to make/have it*. And that’s never a poor reason.

    I’d just as well hackaday passed on this, but attacking the guy who made it is just stupid.

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