Clock Knock Block Full Of Puns

clock_knock_block

This Clock Knock Block has a bit of everything; milling, Arduino, sensing, solenoids, and plenty of dirty puns. Just knock on the box or on the table right next to it and the time of day will be played back to you in a series of crisp, clean knocks. A big part of the fun here is that the box is a musical instrument.

If you take a look inside you’ll find an Arduino, a piezo sensor, a solenoid, and a nine-volt battery. The piezo sensor detects your knocking as an input. It can even listen to and repeat back a series of your knocks. The Arduino actuates the solenoid, which strikes the wooden enclosure, producing the knocking sound.

We’ve embedded a video of this useless machine after the break (that’s where all the puns are). One note for your own build; this box is made out of mahogany and because it is used as a resonance chamber, this may not work as well if it isn’t milled from a piece of quality lumber.

[vimeo=http://www.vimeo.com/6713094]

17 thoughts on “Clock Knock Block Full Of Puns

  1. im interested in the portion of code that records a sequence of knocks and replays them… looking at the instructable site i dont see that mode in the code. could someone clue me in on how this is done?

  2. silly steve, starting sound signifies alliteration.

    constant consonants correctly classifies alliteration.

    seriously, ‘someone’ should seek supplementary study of sentence structures soon…

    but it ain’t no crime to mix-up alteration and syllabic rhyme.

  3. @adam wolf

    Thanks for chiming in. I have an idea for this functionality, but being new to coding it takes me a bit to catch on. I saw your metronome a while back and wanted to know how that was done… very cool. Thanks for the link — I’ll spend some time reading up….

  4. i like it !
    it is very cool.
    the only thing i would change would be rather than haveing one knock for every hour and one knock for every quarter hour.

    i would have one knock for every hour, one for every 10min block and one for every single minute

    but a fantastic idea and you guys pulled it off !

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