Some projects take great care to tuck away wire hookups, but not [Roberto Alsina]’s Reloj V2 clock. This desktop clock makes a point of exposing all components and wiring as part of its aesthetic. There are no hidden elements, everything that makes it work is open to view. Well, almost.
The exception is the four MAX7219 LED matrices whose faces are hidden behind a featureless red panel, and for good reason. As soon as the clock powers up, the LEDs shine through the thin red plastic in a clean glow that complements the rest of the clock nicely.
[Roberto]’s first version was a unit that worked similarly, but sealed everything away in a wedge-shaped enclosure that was just a little too sterile, featureless, and ugly for his liking. Hence this new version that takes the opposite approach. Clocks have long showcased their inner workings, and electronic clocks — like this circuit-sculpture design — are no exception.
The only components, besides the Raspberry Pi Zero W and the LED matrices, are the 3D-printed enclosure with a few hex screws and double-sided tape. Design files and code (including the FreeCAD project file) are available should you want to put your own spin on [Roberto]’s design.
hmm, raspberry pi zero seems a little hefty for the needs of this project. i built a similar clock (in homage to Ahmed Mohammed, the Texas clock kid) using his pen box, those same LED drivers, and an Arduino Leonardo — and it even has a query language accessible by serial and a comprehensive on-LED-matrix configuration system:
https://github.com/judasgutenberg/ultimate_alarm_clock
You’re a legend…. amazing project for an amazing cause. You’re like king of the nerds, respectfully 💜
Well, I have a bunch of these zeros and they can use NTP to set the right time automatically :-)
Using what you have at hand is a big part of making. Now if his goal was efficiency, that would be a different story. But his goals aren’t your goals, and no doubt the other way around is also true. If everything were designed for maximum efficiency, we’d miss out on a lot.
Looks great, but not really practical if: you have a small toddler running around pulling the wires loose or a cat (all ages) pulling the wires loose. It a dust collector, so be prepared to take an hour to clean it carefully, otherwise its easy to pull a wire loose. And as long as you don’t trip or get caught on the dangling USB cord powering it the PCB part of the USB connector might stay put for a long time.
Cases have a function… embrace it. The wedge shape of the original project may not be perfect (according to the webpage of the one who made it), it has a much greater chance of surviving time, which is a good thing for a clock and besides that it is an interesting shape.
No toddler around, the cable dangles all of 20 centimeters before entering the cable management tray below my desk. It cleans up in 10 seconds with compressed air :-)
This perfectly shows the standard of today´s hacker.
Choosing a ridicolously overpowered controller because “they are good”, python of course, everything is a bought module but only IC names are mentioned to sound fancy, also you need to use a library to control them via SPI, using a enclosure but also not really, at least 3d printed, using pin connectors as the final solution and calling it “the barebones aestethic” (even tho its just a glorified breadboard setup). Only thing missing on my bingo card is something with AI.
Or maybe its just me finally getting old and bitter. The other day someone told me using AVR-controllers is stupid because they are “technologically ten years behind” and it made me angry.
It’s a pretty simple project using stuff I had in a drawer. Sorry your feefees are so injured by it!
nah AVR controllers are still getting updates and are faster/way more efficient for this stuff. THe other person clearly did not know anything.
imo circuitpython is the epitome of wrong tool for the job. Lets use the worst of all languages (meassured by performance, even PHP is faster then Python) for bare metal programming.
You can’t do “this stuff” with a microcontroller because “this stuff” involves using NTP to keep time :-)
ESP has entered the chat.
There are even libraries for that and you stay in Arduino space. Heck you could even use a wifi module … (even tho it would be pretty impressive to pull that one off) … also like RTC´s and radio clocks exist …. so no… you can absolutely do “this stuff” without overkill controllers.
I just see this trend of this way of building stuff. Its stuff that looks good for people not in the hobby (eg. for Insta reels). If i think its overpraised for what it is, im sorry to “hurt your feefees” with it.
A zero w is cheaper than a ESP32 that can use NTP AFAICS
No worries about my feefees, they are safe and sound, I am just surprised that people are ANGRY that I made a clock in a way they would not.
I will clarify myself: I could have spend $5 in buying a ESP32 with wifi I could use instead of the zero w already had.
LOL you don’t need a full on linux computer to do NTP time. I have a project that is a 16×32 pixel HUB75 panel “Tetris Clock” that runs on an ESP32 and pulls the current time off an NTP server after connecting to wifi. It drives the HUB75 panel by bit banging the raw pixel data that the display panel expects to drive that matrix of LEDs. The clock digits are built from Tetris pieces that drop down like the game of Tetris every time a digit changes.
Sure, but I have six pi zeros and Zero esp32 :-)
Just to make the commenters happy, I ordered a ESP32 with wifi so you are not so offended that I used a pi zero I had gathering dust. The negativity of some people is really awful.
I will make sure to turn that pi zero into e-waste and ship the ESP32 directly from China to Argentina to maximize your fun.
(that was a joke, BTW)
Roberto – I like the project. You made something you like that brings you joy and it got some Hackaday press too. I think the haters were probably just taking a break from doing their tax returns.
Hahaha thanks
+1 to this. I love the look!
Love the project, keep up with the great work. Haters gonna hate……..
Makers gonna make!
What’s wrong with people these days? Is a nice fun project with components we have on hand ,come on guys! it like saying ho ! won’t use the americam toilet because I can use a fancy hi-tech japanese one.
I can use this instead of use that… it is better to use a case…Arduino/RPie sicks… really? … just relax and enjot life as it comes.
People need to relax more.
I like it. Fun and easy use of the bits at hand.