Open-Frame Digital Clock

August 26, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 13 Comments

Here’s an interesting project from several years ago. The clock design itself isn’t too noteworthy, but the construction is definitely inspired. You’ll notice that there is no breadboard or PCB, the frame actually is the circuit. The tubes he’s using are Numitron tubes, which aren’t as high voltage as Nixies or even VFDs. This means that there is only 12V maximum going through the exposed rails. He discusses some possible future upgrades such as LED or Nixie or VFD, but since this project is a few years old, who knows if he is still working with it.

[thanks Agent420]

Learn From The Ice Tube Clock

August 25, 2009 by Mike Szczys 22 Comments

Looks like they’re at it again over at Adafruit. This time they’ve produced a clock that looks more like it should be attached to a munition rather than cruising bedside. But, geek-cred aside, there’s a lot to be learned from their design. Like we’ve grown to expect, they’ve put together some good documentation on their choice of components.

Start off by taking a peek at their 5v power regulator. There is an extra diode on the output side that prevents reverse current from the 3v backup battery. The AVR ATmega168 that controls the clock is used to detect loss of power and quickly shift to the battery backup. They’ve also used the microcontroller as a boost converter for the high voltage VFD, a nice trick we’ve seen before.

[Thanks pt]

Bottled Nixie Clock

August 22, 2009 by Jakob Griffith 21 Comments

Who could not love the tender glow of a Nixie display? It isn’t a new concept for them to be used in clocks, and usually it’s how they are housed or encased for display that sets them apart. [crazy_phisic] did the near impossible by building his Nixie clock almost entirely inside of a glass bottle. The circuit boards and logic components were soldered outside, but the final combination of parts (sometimes requiring specialty homemade tools) were assembled inside. We wonder how long it took him from start to finish after learning boats in bottles can take from minutes to months. The original post is in polish, but if you want to find out more there is a Google translation.

[via Semageek]

The Wake Up Machine

August 18, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 10 Comments

Meet the Wakeup Machine. It is here to ensure that you are up and ready to go when the time comes. This machine will vibrate your bed, remove the sheets, make coffee, play music, even adjust the temperature in the room for optimal wake up experiences. We like the large heavy industrial look of it too, but after looking inside you’ll see it is only a prototype which could be made much smaller with its own pcb. This thing brings back fond memories of Rube Goldberg style alarm clocks from movies such as Pee-wee’s big adventure, Back To The Future, and even Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. You can see some videos of the device on the page as well as download complete plans in pdf format. The did forget one feature though.

[via makezine]

Intel 8008 Clock

July 7, 2009 by Gerrit Coetzee 11 Comments

Every year [Len Bales] designs and builds a new clock. His 2006 clock runs on the classic Intel 8008 microprocessor. The design is definitely not for the faint of heart, but he includes all code, diagrams and a good description on his site. The project is an interesting look into the not-so-distant past of computing. While the function of the project is a clock, it is actually a fully programmable 8008 computer running at 500khz with 16k of memory space and 4io ports. [Len] also links a lot of useful 8008 resources for anyone wanting to tackle a project of their own.

Persistence Of Vision Propeller Clock

June 13, 2009 by Gerrit Coetzee 12 Comments

[Jon Stanley] has a nice write up on a POV propellor clock powered by a PIC microcontroller. He improved on the original design by [Bob Blick]. Jon tried a few different methods of powering the spinning circuit, some of which could be handy for other projects. As a double plus good bonus, schematics and code are all linked on the site. This clock would look nice and sinister sitting on any mad scientist’s dresser.

The Bulbdial Clock Comes To Life

April 8, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 7 Comments

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories has built the bulbdial clock, an idea originated by Ironic Sans. It’s basically a high definition indoor sundial. The LEDs arranged in a circle shine a light on the peg in the middle casting a shadow, just like a sundial. There are 3 colors of rings, allowing for hour, minute, and second shadows. This isn’t the first time that Ironic Sans has seen ideas come to reality. There were the pre pixelated reality show clothes and the sneaky histogram hidden message system. While it is a cute idea, it isn’t really new. People have been patenting this idea for a while.