The Profan-O-Matic 455 Is a Four-Letter Split-Flap Display

Automated swearing at the touch of a button! This ESP32-based clock shows the time and random (potentially NSFW) words.

Jeremy Cook
4 years agoDisplays

According to creator GuzziGuy, “A split-flap display is arguably the only thing cooler than giant Nixie tubes." Naturally, he'd always wanted to make something with one, and late last year he discovered a project by Scott Bezek. This design meant that — with quite a bit of work — he could use such a display method without having to actually shell out the cash for a unit. Using Bezek's as a framework, he came up with is a four-character display dubbed "the Profan-O-Matic 455" that can act as a clock or show four-letter words of varying offensiveness.

As perhaps with most electromechanical projects, the bulk of the build process seems to have been spent constructing the structure and physical bits. The design is heavily influenced by Bezek’s, but was modified so that it could be fabricated on GuzziGuy’s CNC machine instead of a laser cutter. Electronics-wise, he decided to use an ESP32 controller than an Arduino board, giving it vastly greater functionality.

Four buttons on the front dictate the type of content, from blue for clock mode, to green, yellow, and red for general vocabulary, innuendo-laden, and even "downright rude" settings. Eight-letter words can also be revealed progressively as needed. In clock mode, the Profan-O-Matic 455 shows random words on time changes, and can be set up to display from once every minute to every few hours — potentially a great trick for those who aren’t suspecting it!

Want one of your own? You're in luck. Due to the popularity of his Imgur post, GuzziGuy is now selling them on Etsy.

UPDATE: GuzziGuy has made a few more units and added Wi-Fi connectivity, enabling remote control, text upload, and changing of settings and firmware.

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
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