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Titan Clock RGB

Large, RGB, cheap and number 32534 wall clock :D

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There are many great DIY projects on the internet on how to do very large 7 digit display clocks, I've been trying to do my own for years also but always come short of good results. Now i've something decent and i think this are the advantages over other projects: cheap , large , efficient, uniform light, thin and extendable

There are many great DIY projects on the internet on how to do very large 7 digit display clocks, I've been trying to do my own for years also but always come short of good results. Now i've something decent and i think this are the advantages over other projects:

 

  • Cheap:The components of this project on worse case scenario should be very cheap, as some are recycled or very common craft materials.
  • Large:It's a wall clock, you want them as large as possible.
  • Efficient:Some of the clocks I’ve seen use 10W or above, the objective of this clock was that it will run on a smartphone charger, that means normally 5W or less (with the normal adjustments it runs between 800mW and 2.5W)
  • Uniform:I want the digits to glow in a uniform light. some of the techniques I’ve seen to create this 7 segment display create brighter and darker spots because of the nature of led light and diffusion
  • Thin:Given the last point, one of the most common techniques is use separation between the led and the front of the display, making them thick. This clock is very thin (10mm for the digit and 18 mm with casing)
  • Extendable:The current version of Titan RGB clock does simple by hour color change according to a predetermined table. However, the display can be controllable per segment with decent refresh rate, that means animations. You just need to upgrade the soft in the controller or change the controller

  • 1 × Arduino nano
  • 1 × ds3231 module for arduino
  • 1 × Foamcore board, wood or any other base material for the box of the clock
  • 1 × 4x 3 Pin jst sm connector or similar Optional to make your display modular and not soldering them to the arduino
  • 1 × 1 1000 µF, 6.3V or higher As recommended for using the rgb leds in a string

View all 12 components

  • 1
    Source code

    All the code and schematics for this project are in my github page https://github.com/jotatsu/TitanClock-RGB.

  • 2
    Preparing

    The first thing you need to do is to dissemble your LCD screen, depending on the model you have you might need to remove some screws, unclip flips, use a hammer, etc. The objective is to get to the backlight diffuser, that normally should be an acrylic sheet with dots marked in the back and some plastic sheets in the front and back. Remember the way the sheets are sandwiched (order and orientation) as you will need to use the same structure when you put them in the segments.

  • 3
    Cutting

    The objective of the cut is to generate a segment with this shape (note that the sizes are examples for my 15x28cm 7 segment display):

    Depending on the size of the acrylic diffuser and the desired size of the segments, design a cutting path for the laser to create the segments. In my case I did 48 segments, more than enough for 4 full digits. The original acrylic is 1cm thick from a 21-inch diagonal screen.

    This process can be done using a saw, but it will be a lot harder to obtain consistent shape segments and after the cut you will probably need to sand and flame polish the borders in order to make then optically clear.

    You will also need to cut the other plastic sheets in the same shape and size as your segments in order to replicate the original backlight sandwich. Also to replicate the metallic exterior of the LCD backlight cut the craft aluminium in this shape (respecting the size for your particular segments, leave some 0.5-1.0 mm extra to account for the material thickness):

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