Designer + Maker + Team Player = Engineer
BINARY CLOCK
Overview
As soon as I arrived at MIT, I decided that I wanted to learn how to use machines and develop my maker skills. This is why I made this little project in the Fall of my Freshman Year. I really needed a clock in my room but I also wanted it to look "cool" (because duh, who doesn't want their dorm room to look amazing). After some research, I found out that there are so many different ways to display time and one of the most striking for me was using binary to show time and this is how my little wooden binary clock house was born.
Building Process
I had to learn how to use Arduino, Adobe Illustrator (to design the house) and to laser cut in the Epilog Zing 24 (I am incredibly grateful for studying at a university that allows its students to use it whenever they want). After watching 15+ YouTube tutorials I finally started planning the design –see below– and buying the materials. I used LED's for the lights and waxed paper for the “window glass” using it as a light defuser –being a broke college student requires creative solutions.
Finally, I googled a code used for binary clocks, modified it a little bit so that it worked with my set up, made the electric circuit, put things together and I was finally done!
What did I learn?
This project taught me PATIENCE. It was hard to learn so many different new tools in such a short amount of time (and with homework piling up as the semester moved forward) but in the end it was all worth it. I also learned that it is much better to spend more time planning, sketching and getting the exact measurements. By doing so, I ensured myself that every laser cut piece would fit perfectly into each other (I started by just laser cutting pieces and using a trial and error method but thankfully I soon realized that that was a big mistake).
Get a more accurate time. The Arduino is not very accurate and loses 1 minute each day so I will add a DS3231 to my circuit to improve the accuracy. I will also remove the battery so that I can plug it to my dorm’s outlet (to spend less money on batteries and be more ecofriendly)
Improvements :
Sketches done in
Adobe Illustrator:
