“I developed a new clock mechanism to address the issues present in existing mechanical clocks. Famous split-flap displays exhibit undesirable parting lines in the text, and their display surfaces cannot be tilted as they rely on gravity. Numechron-type clocks feature a relatively small display area compared to the body size, necessitated by the large wheel inside. This “Non-Split Flap Digital Clock” offers numerous advantages, which include:
- The flip rotating mechanism reduces the number of flaps, making it possible to decrease the size of the wheel while ensuring the display area is sufficiently large compared to the body size.
- The display surface is tilted at 15 degrees for better visibility.
- The motor is installed inside the wheel of the tens place for minutes, ensuring there are no protruding parts on either side or the back.
- A one-way hook (ratchet) mechanism enables the automatic alignment of the ones place for minutes. This alignment is performed every minute.
- Time adjustment is made easy by manually rotating the wheels. Both the hour and 10-minute wheels can be rotated in both directions.
- All essential parts can be printed out with relatively small 3D printers (180x180mm). It does not need support structure at all. Filament change during print enables to give multiple colors for flap parts.
Supplies
Material
- 28BYJ-48 geared stepper motor and driver board comes with (around 3USD per unit)
- Assortment of 2mm tapping screws.
- Any microcontroller (Raspberry Pi Pico, Arduino nano, ESP32, etc.) All microcontrollers shown above can be programmed using Arduino IDE, and program is compatible except port connection.
- Lubricant (silicone grease)
Tool
- Screw driver
- Soldering iron (if you use microcontroller without pin headers)
- Knife, scraper and/or file to remove debris, smoothen surfaces and chamfer corners of printed matter
- Drill bit set. I used diameter = 1.5, 2.0 and 3.5mm bits for this project”