In 1983, a 14-year-old [Will] saw an LED clock in The Sharper Image store. At $250, it stayed in the store. That was a lot of money back then, especially for most teenagers. But [Will] didn’t forget. After high school, he and a friend planned to build one from scratch. They worked out how they would do it and did a little prototyping, but never really finished. Well, they never really finished at the time. Because 33 years later, [Will] decided to finally put it together. Check it out in the video below.
[Will’s] learned a lot since his original design, plus we have tech today that would have seemed like magic in the late 1980s. But he wanted to stay true to the original design, so there’s no microcontroller or smart LEDs. Just binary counters and a lot of LEDs. There’s even a 555 doing duty as a reset timer.
The original design used the 60 Hz signal from the AC power supply. [Will] made that one concession to modern times and powered the clock from USB-C. That meant adding a reference oscillator, which is a good thing, anyway, as he explains in the post.
The result looks good and we don’t envy him soldering 275 SMD parts! He even graciously made a few and sent one to his old friend.
We don’t know why we were surprised [Will] soldered all those parts. He’s a key member of the people who put on the SMD soldering challenge each year at Supercon. Most LED clock projects from those days used 7-segment displays.
Dutch magazine elektor made a decently good, nice looking design published december 1994
Quasi analog clockwork Janur 1995 Seite 52
My friend and me we built two clocks, these clocks lasted till today, lost just a few now dead LED.
There was an decently prized alternative available for poor students.
Hand rubbed walnut frame?
B^)
Do you still have the document ？I am very interested
https://www.elektormagazine.com/magazine-archive
And the kit is still dor sale!
https://www.elektor.nl/products/elektor-quasi-analog-clockwork-kit?srsltid=AfmBOorRQtzq_CrjS0d942jYE3BouqX6n3M9K9QTSjxJLx_TW_gTXPi7
The 2021 remake is not what I have built.
to me it looks uggly.
Look eleltor analogue digital clockwork.
Th inital publicaion was on the dutch language issue in 1994.
The following issue was on the German by January 1995
Probapbly english language magazin followed on Ireland or India issue if at all.
Have in mind the pulse clock generation is based up on 50Hz grid.
Of course I do have documents.
You can find them on the net somewhre.
Search the internet.
Unfortunaly the dumb IP holder shit removed the elektor magazine from Wayback onlane archive an WordRadioHistorie collection.
I will not up the files here to the public.
Drop me a line.
I could send you a link to a neutral file hoster website then.
PLS look for some old IC first.
BOM
Riesen analog Uhr elektor 12 1994 1/1995
2 * CD 4024 Zähler
2 * CD 4060 Zähler
2 * CD 4067BE
2 * CD 4082 4fach ODER
2 * CD 4093 Trigger
R6-R19 10k (bei Vcc 12Volt
390k
4 82k
680 Ohm
820 Ohm
1,5 k
22 k
Taster
144 LED 5mm rechteck
11 * 100n Kerko / Vielschicht
im Netzteil
Dioden 1N4001
Z-Diode 12Volt 1Watt
10 Ohm 1Watt
Trafo 9volt
2 * 1000uF 25Volt
1 LED 5mm
2,2k
My friend and analog genius, Jim Williams, author and writer for EDN, designed a similar clock around 1970!! He gave it to me while I was at MIT. I kept if for many years. I saw where he was a speaker at a large electronics conference in California, years ago. I tool the clock to give it back to him; got to the conference late, but as fate would have it, I ran across him in the parking lot where I handed it back to him after many, many years had passed. We chatted a bit but we were both late for the conference. We never had the opportunity to talk again.
Jim Williams,? Al Williams ?
That’s not the only modern concession he made – the hour ticks appear to be marked off with white LEDs, which most certainly did not exist in 1983!
Nice job. Worth the wait, and class move sending one to his HS buddy.
I hope Will is going to make the design available so others can work with it and make their own iteration.
Insert all the usual “I have some cleanup to do, first” disclaimer here :^)
I think if you have the correct subscription level to Elector Magazine the past issues are available online. They also have a complete set of back issues on a USB stick but a bit spendy
The Elector kit looks tempting – might get one when I get a bit caught up – looks real cool and all through hole
One has be be/becom a Gold level member.
Pretty much expensive.
They elektor suckers squeezing money out of that old stuff.It should belonge to the heritage of mankind, out it to the PublicDomain..
Thy want to sell a DVD with many old issues at around 90Euro or so.
Millions of readers like me paid subscription in the past (I did from 1900 up to 2010).
Got the printed magazine in my P.O. box each month, eccept in the summer time when they do the big 7/8 issue.
They already made MUCH money.
Othwerwise they had shut down the business, right?