The concept behind this clock has been seen before, but [Dieter] tried to combine the best aspects of several projects into his HDD POV clock (translated). The basic principle of the design is to cut a slot into the top platter of the hard drive. This will let the light from some LEDs shine through. By carefully synchronizing the LED with the spinning platter a set of differently colored hands can be shown to mark time. We’ve been looking at the project for several minutes now and we’re not quite sure if the lines marking the 5-minute segments on the clock are generated in the same way as the hands, or if they’re marks on a faceplate on top of the platters. Check out the clip after the break and let us know what you think.
Past HDD clock project include this one, or this other one. Some of the design improvements include a better motor driver (which [Dieter] pulled from an old VCR) and the inclusion of an RTC chip to keep accurate time without the need to be connected to a computer. We also think it’s a nice touch to sandwich the hardware between two picture frames for a nice finished look.
Isn’t it quite obvious after 1:56 that the 5 minute lines are produced the same way as the hands?
I like NUMBERS, but this is reall NICE!!!
You don’t have to cut through platters, old IBM’s DTLA series have platters made out of glass so you only need to scrape off thin layer of silverish coating :)
The biggest problem is to get constant angular velocity from BLDC motors used in HDD.
Hey Geeks ^^
Thx a lot for ya comments and feedback! I used there an old Maxtor Diamond Max HDD. I cut a slot in the platter with an hacksaw (iron saw) hope thats correct :D . The 5 minute segments are generated at the same way as the hands are. The speed is regulated with an TDA5140A Brushless Motor Driver in combination of an LM317 voltage regulator and a potentiometer. The Motor Driver helps to get 4000 rpm whats enough to suppress glitches and to have a quite clock. cause 5400 and 7200rpm are to loud and will bring the hole thing in vibration because the cut makes an imbalance, which has already been compensated by a screw.
Have a nice day folk ;-)
Now to tackle the noise problem…