Self-reflection
I am an individual enthusiastic about areas that span from AI and high-tech, through economics and business, to art and sports.
Motto
Lean into each moment expecting magic.
7-segment LED Clock
Modern Making Project
Design & Fabrication
The 7-segment LED clock is a solo project I undertook in my Intro to Modern Making Class. The process of fabricating exposed me to new areas of making I have never explored, and left me with an amazing-looking programmable clock.
The clock has in-built LED stripes, segments of which from digits. These specific segments then light up based on what hour it is.
In terms of the control of LED strips as well as timing, the clock has an Arduino Uno and an RTC module that I connected to a USB charging cube.
It has different color schemes, light brightness, as well as hour formats - 12/24h - all of which are controlled by pushbuttons.
It is power by plugging it into an electric outlet or connecting its USB to a laptop or power bank.
Overall, I am really satisfied with how the clock works in such an ingenuine way and is a completely self-made tool that now serves me very well.
Working Clock
In thinking about this project, I found a significant motivation to use an Arduino and 3D printing, and play around with electronics because I was never extensively exposed to them.
I really wanted my project to be something useful and browsing Thingiverse, I was really inspired by this a DIY project called the Retro 7 segment clock.
It looks absolutely amazing, particularly under dim lighting, and gives me a way to have fun with the clock's code.
In the time-lapse on the right side, the clock is in an automatic color change mode and exhibits the features of an actual clock - changes the hour.
CAD Model
Drawing considerable inspiration from the project I have found, I modelled all physical parts of the clock that were to be 3D printed.
In doing so, I had to take into account the large size of Arduino Uno as well as the physical constraints of Dremel 3D40 printers, which I used in my project.
Casing
The casing is 3D printed PLA plastic, whereas the diffusers (bright areas through which LED lights are visible) is resin cured with the SLA technology.
It was a great experience to play around with different printing settings to see how that affects the quality and speed of the print.
I reckon there still are areas for improvement in terms of the fit and the edges of the prints, but am regardless happy with the final product.
Internal Structure & Electronics
In terms of the electronics, they included an Arduino Unom an RTC (real-time clock) module with a battery, a resistor, and a lot of wires.
The most difficult task proved to be soldering all the electronics with LEDs for the reason there is not a lot of space in-between the digit segments and LEDs.
Regardless, I found it really interesting and fulfilling to combine all these pieces together before uploading the code into the Arduino.
Costs
The table on the right side includes the bill of materials used in the project and outlines costs incurred.
Overall, bar the 3D printing materials, the sum adds up to a reasonable $40.
However, the printing jobs significantly raise the estimated resources needed to produce such a clock.
In my case, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to use CMU's printers and to charge the school with any costs.
In future, I hope to do a spin-off of the clock using different, hopefully cheaper, material for the casing.
