Erich Styger's Round MetaClockClock Takes the Concept to Its Logical, Clock-Shaped Conclusion
The Round MetaClockClock takes the clock-of-clocks concept and makes it clock-shaped for the first time — while reducing the BOM.
Developer Erich Styger has updated his MetaClock project, creating an even more mind-bending alternative to traditional mechanical clocks in the Round MetaClockClock.
Styger unveiled the original MetaClock two years ago, turning a matrix of mechanical clocks into a digital clock. As time ticked away, the hands of the clocks acted like seven-segment display sections — lining up across clocks to display the current time in digital format, despite each clock being wholly mechanical and comprised of just two hands.
The MetaClock project has been through a number of iterations since, but the Round MetaClockClock is perhaps the most unusual — as it takes the shape of, and can even emulate, a traditional mechanical clock.
"I still had some remaining parts," Styger explains of the project, "and with the modular design of the ’round’ clocks I was able to build up another one, but this time with even less than the usual minimum of 24 clocks."
"Most of the animations and intermezzos of the other layouts work very well with the round arrangement. Of course no ‘text writing’ is possible, as it is not a matrix arrangement. But the circular shape allows some very nice patterns."
Each of the clock's individual clock faces are mounted in laser-cut plywood, stained for aesthetics, arranged around the outside with a single central face. The core software remains the same as other MetaClocks, built using the NXP MCUXpresso software development kit, with a new layout definition for the altered layout.
"The 'circular' or round arrangement of clocks works very nice. With the modular clock design it was really easy to have a new pattern, and the software was easy to adapt and change," Styger writes. "It is possible with that pattern to build a MetaClockClock with less clocks (1 center plus 12 outside), but for sure other arrangements and patterns could be possible. Just be free to experiment and to come up with your own arrangement and custom animations."
Full details are available on the MCU On Eclipse website, while the source code and design files have been published to GitHub under an unspecified open source license.