Prototyping the Bulbdial clock
posted Aug 28th 2010 12:00pm by Mike Szczysfiled under: classic hacks, clock hacks
Evil Mad Scientist posted a story about what went into developing the Bulbdial clock. We think the Bulbdial is one of the best pieces of kit out there for many reasons; using colored shadows for each hand is a brilliant idea, the design is clever and uses a low parts count, and the concentric rings that make it work also add to the aesthetic. But after seeing the original wood prototype it had crossed our minds that developing those circular PCBs isn’t the easiest thing to pull off. To save on board cost, the first run didn’t have the center routed out, but rather used almost-touching holes drilled during manufacture and finished by hand during assembly. They also go on to discuss the use of Charlieplexing to reduce part count and the search for a suitable diffuser for the clock face.
Cool project, and interesting way of dealing with a hollow circular board and Sunstone software. They are a pain when making circular boards, so I’ll be copying that solution.