I appear to have a clock habit
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Well. I'll keep this build short.
I decided that a 5'+ high alarm clock in the bedroom was not exactly practical, so I started out to make a smaller version. The frame is 3d printed in PETG. Knocked up the STL files in Tinkercad (Because it's so easy!). However, I am somewhat pushing the limits of Tinkercad these days. All the parts printed fine, and I have since 'tweaked' a few of the modules for possible future prints. The frame is held together with 8mm Anodised aluminium tube, and the control panel is an off-cut of chequer-plate ally. The metal ball at the top is a stainless steel rice cooking thing I found in the kitchen that my wife hasn't missed yet. Inside I have an Arduino Mega, linked to a JQ8400 MP3 module (by serial), a crap load of RGB leds, 2x small 5w amplifiers, and a DS3231 Real time clock module. In the base there are 6x step down buck converters, that supply the huge amount of 5v RGB leds and the processor. I had loads of them, so I used them. |
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In the base are a couple of 3d printed 'Arming pins'. These have magnets in the tips and operate a couple of hall effect switches in the engagement slots.
The very bottom of the clock houses a huge Lead acid battery. Again, because I had one. Now BY FAR the biggest pain to assemble was the clear globes in the centre chamber. They are made from 12x clear Acrylic Christmas baubles. I filled them with yellow, deep fill resin. But getting them to stack took several attempts. Behind them is a clear tube containing four strips of RGB led's. |
After several hours swearing, it became apparent that the Mega was struggling to control this many LEDs (as well as it's other duties).
So I threw in an Arduino Nano and gave that the sole job of controlling the RGB led's.
I gave it lots of different 'modes' and wrote some code so that main Mega could allocate the RGB led's as I required, with the colour and effect I required. The clock is divided into six RGB 'sections'.
Top cone has three discs (12x RGB's per disc)
Top stainless steel ball (30) RGB's
Base disc (30 RGB's)
Base Resin globes (44 RGB's)
I also added a couple of 12v car sidelight LEDS to the top stainless steel globe for the 'detonation' white light.
I added a photocell to allow it to auto-dim, and also added infra-red control, using a spare RGB remote I found.
The time. date. alarm time and countdown are displayed on some 8x Seven segment displays that have their own Max7219 controllers on board.
In an ideal world, I would buy a whole load of posh buttons and illuminated legends. But, this was a 'throw together' project, so I used some odd ones I had.
So I threw in an Arduino Nano and gave that the sole job of controlling the RGB led's.
I gave it lots of different 'modes' and wrote some code so that main Mega could allocate the RGB led's as I required, with the colour and effect I required. The clock is divided into six RGB 'sections'.
Top cone has three discs (12x RGB's per disc)
Top stainless steel ball (30) RGB's
Base disc (30 RGB's)
Base Resin globes (44 RGB's)
I also added a couple of 12v car sidelight LEDS to the top stainless steel globe for the 'detonation' white light.
I added a photocell to allow it to auto-dim, and also added infra-red control, using a spare RGB remote I found.
The time. date. alarm time and countdown are displayed on some 8x Seven segment displays that have their own Max7219 controllers on board.
In an ideal world, I would buy a whole load of posh buttons and illuminated legends. But, this was a 'throw together' project, so I used some odd ones I had.
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