#Diy digital clock 3d printed series

Then, at the two ends, i added space for the wires to connect the positive of one end and the negative of the other end, so i can run them to power the rest of the project.

#Diy digital clock 3d printed series

I line three of the batteries in series and added walls around them. I have a battery template that i used to know how big the double a batteries are. Next, i had allocate space for batteries. I also wanted to round the edges instead of giving it a sharp point to make it look more elegant. I gave extra padding above and below the numbers for the arduino wiring and batteries. This is always the easy step and one of the most fun steps when creating the enclosure, because its what people get to see so its important to make it visually appealing. The next step was to create the sides and the front and back panels.

I used my digital caliper to measure the size of the led bulb and create a cutout of the a and the p and put holes in them for the bulb to sit snug in there. The width of the project already was almost 200 millimeters, so we had no extra room to spare. The print bed is 220 millimeters by 220 millimeters. Second, it would make this project small enough, where i could fit all of the components on the 3d printer print bed. I also wanted to use regular led bulbs instead of ws2812b leds, to make it more fun and unique.

I also wanted to incorporate the am and pm on a clock to signify if it was daytime or night time for this. I measured the width of the ws 2812b five volt leds and used that as a width of each spot on the digit, i had to create three eights one colon and a single one digit for the tens place for the hour mark. Inside of i tried to make this shape proportional, so its not too distorted on one side, i made it an outline in which the led will sit inside of i tried to scale it where the leds were small enough, so the clock doesnt have to be so Large and can sit on a desk and fit well for this. I first started by creating the digital characters that i will be putting the leds. I first wanted to start out with the design process. I plan to create a few more for my family to display at their work now lets get right into the build. It’s not only an enabler but also a source of inspiration for budding designers and engineers who want to take a whack at this more democratic way of creating things.The clock runs off of three double a batteries and would look perfect as decoration in a modern environment after showing off this project. Beyond being an enjoyable pastime for hobbyists and makers, it is also a demonstration of how far we’ve come in enabling such creations without being at the mercy of large companies and production plants. That part is actually what makes the entire endeavor rather impressive, given how it can use motion (technically an accelerometer) to control the “movement” of the sand, and the lights adjust accordingly as if they were actually movable solid objects.ĭIY projects like these often make people raise their eyebrows, especially after seeing all the components and work involved in making them. There is also a bit of coding involved, especially in animating how the LEDs light up to mimic falling sand. The Digital Sand Clock isn’t just a hardware project, though. Fortunately, the engineer behind the project provides the pattern that you can feed into any 3D printer or send to a printing service. All those parts can be bought online or even off-shelf, though you still need access to a 3D printer to craft the parts. This project will require a bit more familiarity with electronics, though, as it involves multiple parts that need to be soldered and put together properly.