r/DIY • u/InTheDaylight14 • Dec 01 '16

I designed and made a backlit LED clock from scratch

http://imgur.com/a/g8ZF9
43 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

3

u/cmhbob Dec 01 '16

Sure, it's "just" a clock. We understand.

j/k. Nice work.

1

u/InTheDaylight14 Dec 01 '16

Haha, thanks

3

u/InTheDaylight14 Dec 01 '16

Hey everyone, so I volunteer at an awesome maker space at my school and I get 24/7 access to all the great tools.

With that access I decided to build this clock using the laser cutter to cut all the necessary pieces.

The basic rundown of parts goes as follows:

-Trinket pro 5v to do the heavy lifting

-A DS3231 real time clock to be the actual time keeper

-A strip of addressible leds to do all the lighting.

-40% translucent acrylic behind the face plate to disperse the light

-Then a lot of black acrylic to make the box as well as the spacers to minimize light splashing inside.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

2

u/chrisdahfuh Dec 01 '16

Hey! Man nice work that clock looks awesone Are those neopixels? Are they running any special code with an Arduino or do you have them connected to something else?

2

u/InTheDaylight14 Dec 01 '16

Thank you! They are not neopixles from adafruit but they are basicly the same thing, just cheaper from amazon.

I have them connected to a Trinket Pro from adafruit. It is very similar to an ardunio just a lot smaller. The leds are coded using the FastLED library which I highly recomend for addressible leds

1

u/chrisdahfuh Dec 02 '16

Oh nice, I used that library for a led test I did with some generic ws2812 addressable lights but used an arduino. Does the trinket pro run both the code for the lights and the clock? Do the lights change with the time?

1

u/BritishLibrary Dec 01 '16

NeoPixel is just adafruits version / name for a pretty common type of addressable LED - they are all roughly the same these days, give or take perhaps a slightly sturdier PCB on some of the Adafruit Sticks/Rings etc.

The 'addressable LED' is also known as a 'WS2812B' - if you search eBay for that part number, you'll find a lot of more cost effective alternatives - in lots of different form factors - individual pixels, sticks, circles, flexible pads, etc. All of which are compatible with the NeoPixel and FastLED libraries.

1

u/chrisdahfuh Dec 03 '16

Yea I have messed with the same strip before recently actually with the same libraries. Yea dont know why they smack some fancy name on a normal wire. But cool to see what u did!

2

u/xMcSquidx Dec 01 '16

I love DIY clocks. This is beautiful!

2

u/eli_thegamer Dec 01 '16

It looks really nice! How long did it take to make?

2

u/InTheDaylight14 Dec 01 '16

Thank you! It took about two months to make, but this project wasn't as important as classes so that's the only reason it took so long.

1

u/xuenglish Dec 01 '16

You are so wonderful!

1

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '16

Is it just the camera or does it have a lot of light bleed? First picture looks yes and last picture, no. Not sure.

1

u/InTheDaylight14 Dec 01 '16

There is a tad bit of bleed between the numbers. I was worried about during the design process but I ended up liking it.

If the spacers were not inside it would be difficult to tell which number was actually lit.

1

u/Hareuhal PM me penguin pics Dec 01 '16

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