Word clocks – time pieces that spell out the current time with words – are awesome. They’re usually entirely electronic, illuminating LEDs to display the time. Not this one. It’s a mechanical masterpiece that shows the current time in words using motors and 35mm film leader.
The mechanics of this clock are fairly simple: text is transferred onto 35mm film leaders with water slide decals, which are then rolled onto film reels. These film reels are mounted on stepper motors attached to a frame with Meccano. There are four film strips, making this a surprisingly similar a word clock but using motors instead of LEDs.
Because this clock was originally built in 2008, the electronics are a bit… strange through the lens of a post-Arduino skill set. [David] is using a homebrew BASIC Stamp with eight Step Genie ICs and MOSFETs for each motor. Calibration of the clock is handled by an IR detector and a mark on each piece of film leader.
It’s an impressive example of mashing up spare and surplus parts to make something cool, but unfortunately we can’t find a video of this clock in action. If you manage to find one, put a link in the comments and we’ll add it below.
Just brilliant!
Here’s a video clip :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p790mUfspv0
Very nice. Always good to see a different interpretation of something familiar.
I’ve got an even more awesome word clock planned out in my head, although someone will probably beat me to it before I actually get round to making it a reality.
N1! what’s the name of the tune?
I forget the name of the track, but it’s Medeski, Martin & Wood.
Medeski, Martin & Wood – Big Time
tricky
Very cool. I wonder how different the day feels using this as a clock compared to how it feels when getting the time through digital numbers digital on a phone or computer screen.
Hi, I’m the artist who created this piece. It was also covered in Make magazine (http://dhenshaw.com/Art/ReelTime/images/ReelTime%20Make%20Magazine.jpg) and I presented it at the Bay Area Maker Faire in ’08. You can see how it was built, step-by-step, at http://dhenshaw.com/art/reeltime/index.html. It’s true that this is antiquated now, and I’ve since moved to Arduino!
That’s clever but it would have been easier to just take to take a picture of a clock every 5 minutes on a film reel.
Where do you get 35 mm film like that? I’m looking for vinyl to make a dry erase computer.
I bought it from eBay – it’s called leader film, and it’s still available from many sellers. I have hundreds of feet of it left – I’d be happy to sell it to you if you’re interested.