End of Days Clock
Introduction: End of Days Clock
The days got shorter here in Alaska until it felt like the murky light was only a short interruption of a long sleep so I built a clock to display the seasonal diminishment (and expansion) of time. It also displays when it snows and how the tide is doing out there in the inky ice-choked sea. The neat display is another variation on wrangling the power of programmable LED's to make them suitable for human eye consumption. In this case I am using a hemicircle of aluminum to reflect a moving mini tableaux that is a perfect accompaniment for the FASTLED framework of palettes.
The minimal hardware of a ESP32 jumps onto to your WIFI and gets information from both the NOAA website for tides and time information and also joins the Open Weather Map API for advice about the snow conditions. The device also displays an animated graphic of the current temperature that's easily read from a distance and can be built into really any size device that you want. The end of days animation is a growing dark blue shadow that moves over a rainbow mapped to the limited daylight that it calculates every hour. The slow triumph of the rainbow over the shadow has just starting last week! The tidal animations show a murky moving blue sea underlaying a moving sky palette that changes depending on the time of day. Anyway, its something for you and your cat to look at for the next couple months.
Step 1: Gather Your Materials
This project is easy to build with minimal materials but provides big impact for its size and animations. There is no correct size for the projection surface. Where before I utilized a closed tube with a hanging section of LEDs mounted on a rigid strip this new design is made possible by the availability of side mount led strip that can now be suspended by its own silicon shell from the ends of the tube section. The tube section itself can be made out of any material...plastic from the big box plumbing store but I built mine from aluminum for the look.
1. Section of 60 inch aluminum speed rail tube (ID 2") cut with a saber saw into a 2 inch wide section. With testing, this reflective curvature from a suspension distance of about two inches, enabled the best graphics.
2. One-meter of Adafruit NeoPixel LED Side Light Strip - Black 60 LED $18
3. D1 mini ESP32 ESP-32 WiFi+Bluetooth
4. Waterproof DC Power Cable Set - 5.5/2.1mm
5. Power block 4A 5V--$10
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LuckIn 20-Pack 1/2 x 1 Inch Stainless Steel Standoff Screws, Mounting Glass Hardware Sign $2
Step 2: Build It
The tube section is easily cut with a metal saber saw blade after carefully outlining its shape on the speed tube. The cut may be fairly ragged and uneven but some moderate sanding with a table top sanding belt and a hand sander will bring it into true rather easily. The edge should be sanded until it has a flat profile and won't cut your hand when handling it. The mounts at the top and bottom are for the stainless support posts from amazon and you can adjust their position and size depending on how large the mounting holes are and the length of your LED strip. The other side of the mounts that connect your instrument to the wall are made of excess curved sections of aluminum tube --the curve allows bolting the mounts into the curve that keeps it off of the wall. The surface treatment of the outside of the aluminum can be done with either fine wet dry sandpaper or can be sandblasted for delicate flat natural surface that can be painted with flat poly. The inside reflective surface has to be painted with a flat white paint with multiple coats to give it projective surface.
Step 3: 3D Print It
The 3D parts are all designed on Fusion 360. They form the support structure for the silicon sleeve and hold it in a taught vertical position. The slot on the bottom of the top and bottom holders accommodate the screw mounts for the stainless standoff supports. The separate bottom curved pieces enable the support structures to fit well onto the curved projection wing. Two connector structures are printed without support in PLA. Two covers and two curved underpieces are also printed. The case for the computer and power stud are also printed without support in PLA. The case has a screw cover that can be made more water resistant with an application of silicon grease.
Step 4: Wire It
The wiring for this project is very easy. Attach the power plug to the +5 V and ground on the ESP32. The data line from the LED's is connected to 17. The power and ground from the LED's are also connected to the power plug. It is best to connect a large capacitor between ground and power in these Neopixel LED set ups and connect a small resistor to the data control line. 996