I Built a Minimalistic Kinetic Clock Project with my 3D Printer and Arduino 

It was truly surreal, as the designer, to see everything come together for you. I'm really glad that you were able to make it work despite the challenges along the way. Thank you for picking this up and documenting your journey.

Great project but I’ve got a few things to add. Arduinos on their own are not good at driving servos, especially not a large number of them, the servo library sends the signal using software which means that the timing can be off due to interrupts or just the arduino being busy with other code, this can create jitter in the servos. Using a servo driver board or an MCU with hardware timers is better. With a servo driver board like the PCA9685 you can drive 16 servos with hardware timers and you can change the address of the boards to use multiple boards, you would only need two boards to drive all the servos. You shouldn’t need that much power for all the servos, you could reduce power use by switching the servos off when they aren’t needed, they stay in position when switched off but can be easily moved, since your clock segments won’t have any force on them they shouldn’t move, hence you can switch all the servos off after they are in position and only switch on the ones you need to move. Which should save a lot of power. Then to reduce peak power you could set it to only change one digit at a time so fewer servos are moving at once, this would change the effect though to more of a rolling effect rather than a sharp movement so is more of a stylistic choice. Also with the servo driver boards I mentioned you can stagger the signals, this is useful because the servos draw the most current when just starting moving so if you can offset the start point of the signals (just within the servo signal period, so the maximum offset would be 20 ms) then you can reduce the peak current draw too. As for the servo noise, this mechanism would maybe be more suited to solenoids, which move straight in and out and for cheap ones you don’t control the position but the endpoints should be the same. Solenoids can be loud but they can also be very quiet, they have no noisy gears and with some damping at the ends they should be quiet. Solenoids are also easy to drive, you can gets ones with spring return but I wouldn’t recommend those for your project as they need to stay powered to keep it out but are simpler to drive. Instead you could use solenoids without a spring and then just a H-bridge to extend or retract the solenoid, since they aren’t spring return then after extended or retracted they would stay in position.

Probably way too expensive, but I’d love to see what this looks like made out of metal with the segments cut out using wire EDM so that when they’re retracted they seamlessly blend into the flat surface.

I would seriously consider buying a finished product version of this. It would be so cool with a light above it to accentuate the shadows. A metal or wood version could be awesome too, but there is something mysterious about it being white and causing more reliance on the shadows.

Ideas for version 2: Use a magnetic approach like flip dot displays this should be almost silent, for this a perfect fit would be good with polished surfaces so it does not get stuck when sliding.

Nice build! One thing I learned making my own kinetic sculptures is that the servos will start to burn out within a week if they’re on all the time. I’d recommend a relay that turns them all off when they’re not moving to reduce the duty cycle and extend their life.

It was a pleasure to watch, please don't stop making them :)

Amazing project! Keep up the awesome work and incredible video documenting!

Amazing project! Your perseverance and tenacity paid off. It's amazing.

Awesome stuff bro! Can’t wait to see what is next!

Fantastic idea and realisation!

Great build, presentation and video edit! 😊

This is the content that I miss on RU-vid! Thx!

Great build! Will be waiting for your documentation. This is one of my favorite 3D printing types, clocks. Steve Peterson has quite a few

Great for the bedroom! with these calming motor noises every minute you will have a perfect sleep.

That's an awesome looking clock! Keep it up dude :)

Thumbs up for liking to organize cables. I'm right there with you. Feels so good when it's done and all the cables are neat and tidy.

Silly me. I would have used solenoids.

Would be interesting to try reducing servo count by using multiple segments per servo and mechanical cams

Mate this is amazing

Good job on tapping the back of the spatula to release the 3d print, so, so many people don't know this trick and stab the print like a maniac.

well the Completeness of this project is wonderful. It totally looks like a product in boutique store.

Very cool build! Great explanation. Thanks for sharing :)

nice video & worth the effort, gl man

Love it! Great work!

Wow insane! And looks elegant AF

You are a clever man. Good job.

Great video, this looks like a really fun project. Thank you for making the video

Very nice project! I like your attempts to modify it your own.

So cool! Enjoyed watching your creativity. Seeing you develop your various interests over the last decade or so is inspiring. I still miss the plant stand that you built for me years ago (it was stolen with all my stuff when I moved up here.). Keep up the cool projects. I look forward to following along.

already a hit bro 🔥👍🏻 what a great project 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Just brilliant. Thanks for sharing!

It looks great, thanks for the inspiration!

That thing really is beautiful; I like the white on white aesthetic, and the mechanism of movement. I find the movement much more appealing than other clocks where the segements are flat and rotate 90 degrees away from view. No wonder you had issues along the way; that looks like a MONSTER of a project.

Great work!

Brilliantly executed

I wish I were patient enough to succeed such a project. Awesome job..! Thanks for sharing.

Very nice! I would suggest a stop to each segment, so it naturally ends flush when retracted (or extended). This should also work well with the electromagnet concept others have mentioned. Also in reference to power: the servos move for one second of each minutes. So it may be possible to use a capacitor to provide the extra power required during that short window. You would need some sort of current limiting on the charge circuit (which may be as simple as a resistor).

Awesome job! You got me motivated to do a similar build.

wow this looks soo cool!

This is really cool, I actually thought about creating something similar but also light up the segments so you can see it in the dark.

I love the look and that you polished it. I've seen clocks on RU-vid that were based on mechanical counters, only requiring a single motor. They had a different look of course, but I am sure that one could tweak this design with this knowledge to drastically reduce the amount of servos needed, which would drastically decrease the cost of the whole project. Edit: I just looked it up, how those single servo clocks work and thought about how to adapt it to this clock. Every segment of a clock has a certain pattern it repeats to be shown or not shown. Each segment would need its unique cog that has teeth corresponding to this pattern. The cog needs to translate its movement to retracting the segment or not. Now when we run a cog with a servo which connects to each segment cog, we can run our clock with only one servo. Or two if we want to give reduce the complexity by building the cogs per segment.

Awesome video. I have to make this. Thanks for sharing.

Love it. Will definitely take a look at it.

Congratulations dude, nice work

Excellent work, and great video. Im excited to see what you have in store! Subbed!

Well done!

Really cool!

GREAT BUILD

This might be my favorite thing I've ever seen 3D printed! I would love to do one of my own

This is a great looking clock, love the smooth transition. I think better servos are worth it

I love this idea and wanted to see more of the transitions.

Mate absolutely awesome

That is so very cool! 👍👍

Cool clock!

Great job!

awesome project, i love it.

awesome job!

Well Done!

I LOVE THIS.

Wow this is this most aesthetic clock I’ve ever seen 😍 my husband loves 3D printing and having functional projects. He’s been asking me what I want him to make - sending him this 😍🎉 also any tips on wire management I would greatly appreciate 🙏 looking forward to more content from you!

Great job Lukas!! Keep going plsss

Great Project Lukas!! New to your channel and I loved it

Really cool!!!

Great job, amazing!!

This is the first video I've seen of you and based on the production quality of the video, I really assumed you were a "big" RU-vidr. So I was all the more surprised when I found out that you only have 500 subscribers. I'm definitely one of them now.

Complimenti 😊

Awesome work! You just got a new sub!

Nice project. Subscribed

Great work, thank you for sharing you advise and challenges with us.

This is such a cool concept. Being a watch enthusiast (I know this is a clock, but still), and an engineer, combining both into an electronics project is just awesome. As some additions and improvements, the way this was done is a bit chaotic. Normally, a regular clock with 7 segment displays would just have a binary to 7 segment converter circuit, or since Arduino was used, just make the conversion in software and power the corresponding segment via a multiplexing circuit. Hence, with just some tweaks, a regular 7 segment display clock can be used and the multiplexing routine can carry the PWM signal to activate the corresponding servos. Of course, instead of multiplexing hella fast as with a normal display, it would be extremely slow but in order to move one segment at a time and using a servo driver instead of the Arduino itself. That way, a bunch of the wiring can be ditched and power consumption would also be lower. Regarding noise, there's really not much that can be done, except not using servos or isolating the back of the clock really well to damp the noise a bit. In the end, this definitely is a really cool way of displaying time.

it looks cool. i think you did a great job. Congratulations

This is awesome!!!! You could maybe also try to use solenoids instead of servos. Maybe it wont be as cool as with the slow motion of the sevos and maybe more loud

Make more videos like this and your channel will blow up! Ps. Love the lo fi music in the background, matches your vibe perfectly

keep up the videos man!

Neato, I like it! 😎

Great build, it looks awesome. I would say 2 things to improve this build: you can use one power supply that has vurrent for the entire project by having a common earth between everything and using a step down/buck converter for lower voltage parts (like an LM2596). And grab yourself a flexible bed for your printer - they're very cheap and will save you damaging the bes uaing a hammer and chisel. Flexible PEI plates are awesome.

Awesome!

super cool!

Now using this as a base for a large Pin Art board, having the time get pushed out in the pins. Or if you want to take it to a more surreal/paranormal look a very think sheet of latex over it so the numbers are pushed out of a seamless block

Interesting project 👍👍👍

I think it would look amazing with a piece of thin taut fabric stretched over it, which could really sell the morphing effect, great build!

I have a habit of collecting power supplies. I pull them out of anything that's being junked and I put them to use in other projects. Out of a Da Vinci 1.0 3D printer (purchased for $25) I pulled many good parts but the power supply is awesome. +3.3v 12a, +5v 14a, +12v 14a, -12v 0.3a, +5v 2a. One of these would work for this clock. Use the 5v2a for the Arduino, use the 12v 15a for the servos. You also have the 3.3 for LED lighting. The supply has the standard 3 prong power cord socket and a power switch on it. 200 watt max on this supply. Look around for a cheap Da Vinci printer.

Wow - Super!

Most impressive

Why did you use servos instead of solenoids? You wouldn't have to make the gear transformations, and you could probably get it quieter.

Wow! I was working on something like this 5 years ago but school unfortunately got in the way and I never finished it. I probably still have all the servos and code somewhere. Mine was definitely not going to look as good as this one tho. Is nice to see this come to life after I failed to make it. Makes me want to continue it.

Putting a stretchy cloth over the front face could look really cool as well.

Awesome.

Magnifique 😁 j'adore

Totally freakin' awesome! Nothing wrong with a tidy wiring job. Nerds Rule The World!

It is easy. Only switch power to the servos when you want to move them. And only switch on the servos you need to move. If you want them more quiet, reduce the supply voltage, it is possible in a range depending on the servo.

Really cool, I like using threaded inserts to connect things together instead of hot glue

Nice clock, bro. Really girthy and no bend in it

How cool!!

Thanks!

There are so many ways to make a 7-segment display. This is a very creative and attractive way 👍 PS - I still have my old clock from the 1970s. This has large red LED digits about 1 inch high. The clock itself is actually a module with the 4 digit LED display and the chip covered in black epoxy, all mounted on a fiberglass circuit board. There are connections for 5Vdc and push-buttons to set the time. Cheers from Canada :-)

Wow! It looks nice and clean! I terrified about a brunch of servos… Thinking about solenoid with magnets in frame and segment that forms bistable structure…

For the power supply - think about maybe using a USB C PD drop-in board, along with DC to DC power supplies internally to convert voltages.

Looks great. This got me the idea to use electro magnets instead of servos. The segments would be pushed out by a spring and pulled back in if the magnet turns on.