Wordclock - No Special Tools Required! Easy to Build
Introduction: Wordclock - No Special Tools Required! Easy to Build
Hi makers, do you want to own a wordclock?
There are a lot of nice instructions all over the web, but
* You've no access to a 3D printer and cnc machines to cut, laser or mill
* You don't want to waste time and nerves fiddling with itsy-bitsy parts
* You don't want to waste money, if there is an inexpensive solution doing the same
This Instructable is written for makers regardless of which experience level as long as you are familiar with
* A soldering iron
* Arduino IDE with Nodemcu / ESP8266 extension
* Basic wood working
What's new in this Instructable
* How to make a multilayer wood / paper circuit
* How to build a 25x25cm wordclock for less than 40€
* How to make it within 3-4 hours from scratch
* The choice of English or German front panel
* Clock shows IP address at startup
What's not new but cool, anyway
* Wifi connection accesspoint / station
* Getting time from a NTP server
* HTML interface to set display color and time offset for summer/winter
Here we go
Making a wordclock is cool! I've made some in the past using special machines like 3D printer, cnc mill and Silhouette cutting plotter. Each of them took a lot of time to build. Mostly weeding the text mask after cutting was a nightmare!
Reducing to the essential was the order of the day - especially due to Xmas and birthdays came up and I wanted to build 5 more clocks.
Is there a simple solution possible?
I've not reinvented the wheel, but this Instructable shows a cool approach to build electronic gadgets.
The answer is YES!
Design goals
* Easy and quick to make and use
* Using standard tools and parts
* Assembly without fiddling
* No need for a PCB
* Should be awesome
Summary for the impatient experienced maker
Hi, brothers in mind! Here comes your fast lane - fasten your seat belts, please.
1. print the 4 sheets (one of the text masks, separator, electronics and stripes)
2. take one MDF board and stick stripes sheet top left orientated on it
3. flip the board and stick electronics sheet top right orientated on it
this is called "mainboard" from now on
4. take second MDF board and stick separator template top left oriented on it
drill 12mm holes now or later
5. stick copper tape snippets on mainboard stripes
5V, Gnd and data wrap around to electronics
6. flip mainboard and stick copper tape snippets in this order:
bottom layer (brown), isolation pads (red) and toplayer (green)
7. cut from LED stripe 1x6, 9x10 and 1x4 LED snippets in an order, to not hit the solder joints
8. stick the LEDs on mainboard stripes side
follow the orientation arrows on template and LED stripe
9. connect with unisolated thin wire LEDs to copper tape
10. flip mainboard and stick modules with double sided tape on electronics
fix USB breakout with tiny screws
11. 98
connect with unisolated thin copper wire modules to copper tape
12. solder copper tape overlappings on both sides of mainboard, if not already done
13. drill separator (12mm), if not already done
14. compile software and upload it. Libraries used:
NTPClient by <PERSON>, NeoPixelBus by Makuna and Time by <PERSON>
15. see manual for setup and configuration.
16. mount the whole Enchilada into an IKEA Ribba (23x23 cm / 9x9 inch)
1. acrylic screen with mirror foil sticked on it
2. separator with text mask (en/de) sticked on
3. mainboard
Fix it with some (hot-) glue
17. find a nice place for it and enjoy!
End of fast lane
How to do it in normal speed
First of all, oder the required parts as shown in the Supplies section if they are not in your grab bag.
To make a wordclock we need some electronics, some housing and last but important: the text mask.
What the heck is new in this Instructable?
As a maker I like to move off the beaten tracks and so I designed a multilayer paper/wood circuit to make things easier. The outcome was: making a wordclock is no longer rocket science.
We will start with the electronics to have fun in the beginning. The light separator will be made from a MDF panel with 100 holes. 832