Flip.Clock

Nothing I like more than getting my packages delivered in the morning... actually not true, among other things I like making devices more!

Alright, I've got here my laser cut acrylics, ready to enclose those PCBs I built earlier.

And so.. Three, two, one..

The problem now is that there's just no way to describe how amazing those clicky switches feel, a shame really.. To add to that, they don't do anything yet, but that functionality is yet to come!

Alright, so my 3D prints arrived, printed from clear acryllic, these don't look completely clear though..

Now onto the fun part - snipping those sprues!

Having all those tiny prints I couldn't help but want to paint them, one problem though - I don't have any spray paint but I do have some epoxy resin and a bit of blue acrylic paint. OK so what if I did a recast of those buttons caps in a different color, took some general use silicone mold putty and made a mold.. And that's just What I did:

They definitely not the work of art but judging from the lack of a vacuum pump during this process I think these will be OK for a prototype. As for the setting time, it was about 8 hours. It was a slow setting epoxy, and the parts were tiny.. 

Threw the molds out right away, need to up the game the next time I try this sorta thing :D

OK so I ordered the pcbs quite a while back from seeedstudio and upon receiving them I'm quite surprised - pretty good quality overall. The silkscreen is a bit off but that's not a huge issue.

Considering what the service used to be some years ago, its definitely a step up!

And so I assembled three prototype boards, programmed them all worked pretty well so far except for the ambient light sensor.. I'm having this feeling that the sensors are being affected the LED blinking, gosh darn it! :D It appears that now I'm going to be fixing that in code..

So I'm a bit late on putting this project on the interwebs since its way past its first prototype stage, in fact I've sold my first prototype :D I designed the clock, built the first prototype from scrap parts and so my friend brought me here. 

Nonetheless I'll do my best to document the stuff I've done and make it not look weird :D

OK, here's what I've done:

• Designed the whole thing in 3D.
• Designed the PCB.
• Adapted the Nordic Semi nRF52832 UART example to do the stuff I want.
• Built the device from scrap materials.
• Update the Github page with code-specific to-dos and fixes needed, schematics and the rest.

I'm gonna post on the things I wrote in the list above.

Here's what the clock does now:

• Connects to a mobile device through Bluetooth Low Energy
• Works through the Nordic Toolbox app and communicates with UART commands.
• Shows time of the day in two digit sequences (both 12 and 24-hour mode).
• Shows time of the day in dots (all dots light up when the whole day has passed).
• Disables the display when its dark (uses ambient light sensor).
• Disables the display on a specific time span.
• Uses RTC offset calibration.
• Uses six show slots to program what to display and for how long.
• Has draw mode that overrides the six show slots so you can draw your own images by UART commands.

And here's what's on the higher-level to-do list:

• Sell and then make a couple more (proper ones) of these devices.
• Fix some code problems and add new features (long-term).
• Make a kit so that people could build it themselves.