Unique Clock Displays Time in a New Way
Hans Andersson's Time Slider combines the style and elegance of an analog clock with the readability of a digital clock.
Kids who grew up with digital clocks have a hard time learning how to read analog clocks because the entire concept is different. Instead of just reading the numerical digits of the time, they have to understand the physical angular ratios between points on the clock, as well as the relative lengths of the two or three hands. But what if you could combine the elegance of an analog clock with the readability of a digital clock? Hans Andersson managed to pull that off with his unique Time Slider clock.
At first glance, Time Slider looks like a digital clock — just at a very large scale. But it doesn't actually contain a digital display at all and that becomes apparent as soon as the time changes. When it does, you will see one or more sliders moving up or down to change the digits. Each digit contains three columns and five rows of pixel-like squares. An open square in a slider allows the bright red back plate to show, mimicking an "on" pixel. A closed square only shows its own black surface, like an "off pixel."
Each of the four digits has two independent sliders, for a total of eight vertical sliders. The open squares in each slider were carefully arranged so that the two sliders can form all of the necessary numerals for each of the four digits. Its a clever solution that keeps moving part count and complexity down compared to most mechanical clock designs.
There are a total of eight moving parts. An Arduino Mega 2560 board moves those up and down with 28BYJ-48 pancake stepper motors through ULN2003 motor drivers. A DS3231 RTC module lets the Arduino keep accurate track of the time, which is necessary to avoid accumulated drift over time that would occur if it relied on onboard timekeeping.
All of the mechanical parts, aside from some fasteners and steel wire, are 3D-printable. This clock is quite large, so Andersson had to chop the design up into small parts to make them fit on the typical 3D printer bed.
This innovative design looks great and is easy to read, which makes it the ideal clock.