Word Clock Project - Reloj de Palabras

The Word Clock idea is from designers Biegert and Funk.  They have named their design qlocktwo.  This is a piece of art as much as it is a clock.  I was impressed by this clock and right away knew I had to have one.  But when I took a look at the price...$1,000 dollars!  WOW!, I almost changed my mind.  But then I thought...wait a minute...I should build one!

This has become my latest hobby/project, build my own Word Clock.  Check back to see step by step progress of this project.

Here are some  pictures of qlocktwo:

UPDATE 7: ALMOST DONE! PCB is done, LEDs are all in place.

UPDATE 7: (10/19/10)

I have complete soldering all the components, LEDs and the resistors.

The connection between the PCB and the display (transparencies) is almost completed.  Almost all the words light up.

The software now is complete and it knows how to count seconds to tell time.

Now I just have to finish the visual aspect and some electrical connections.

I am trying to make it match in styles with the home phone I have from VTECH.

A very modern black with red trim look.

Here are some pictures...again, I'm not finished.

I will post better pictures when I finish assembling everything neatly.  I believe the red trim is  little to wide for my taste.  I will change that and what ever else come to mind.  

MORE PICS TO COME, when it is all done and working!  very soon!

UPDATE #6 9/13: THEY ARE HERE!

Today (9/13) I received the PCB I sent out to make with Silver Circuits (http://www.custompcb.com/).  I made several boards, only one is needed per clock.

NEXT STEPS:

1) Finish populating the rest of the components on the board.

2) Finish making the display, by soldering all the 99 LEDs and resistors.

3) Write the software that will do all the logic to keep track of time and turn on the corresponding LEDs.

4) Test, Debug and Fix

Here are the boards as the arrived

Here is one board with some of the components already in place.

Word Clock Update #4 and #5: The Display

There are two main parts for this project.  The Circuit Board, and the Display.
The Display is the part that people will see, so you have to try for this to look professional.  There are different ways that you can make a display of letters.  This is just one way:  I will use a frame from IKEA.  They have 9x9 inch frame which is almost 2 inches deep.  Plenty of space for the circuit board.  To get the letters, you can have this cut out of plexiglass or metal, but I will just print them out on transparencies for my first version, where the background is black and the letters are transparent to show the light.  You can come up with all kinds of creative ways to make the display.

IKEA frame

The letters on transparencies.  English version

Above you see the LEDs mounted on a cardboard, with dividers around each word, to avoid bleeding light from one word to another word.  There were 99 LEDs used here.  One per letter.  There are letters in the display that are never used, so these do not have LEDs.

Here you see the back of the cardboard structure, where I started soldering the resistors. One per LED.

Word Clock Update #3 9/5: Schematic Design

I have completed the schematic design and also I have layed out the board.
I will have the PCBs made at Silver Circuits (custompcb.com). 
I found that the cost per PCB square inch with shipping is low with small volume, and they are very nice to work with.  Also, they take regular Gerber files from what ever Layout software you use...Some other sites you must use their specific PCB layout software with their limitations...I did not like that so much.


As you can see in the schematic, the GPIO from the micro (S08GT8) are each going to the inputs of the ULN2003A.  And then from the ULN2003A  out puts to the LEDs.  The LEDs are not shown in the schematic, since I will have a connector there.   

Word Clock Update #2 9/2: First version

The code for the S08 is written in C, using the free IDE from Freescale CodeWarrior.  This is downloadable from their site.  First two versions will be in English and Spanish word clocks.  Then I can write for any other language that anyone may want.  A friend of mine suggested to add an alarm clock...I'll think about that.

First version will be with a black face and white LEDs for the letters.  But will see how I can make a stainless steel version!

Word Clock Update #1 8/30: Electrical design

I'am basically done with the schematic design for my word clock.  For those of you who are interested, I am using a microcontroller S08GT8 by Freescale.  This controller comes in DIP package, and has many GPIOs.  The S08 line of micros are similar to PIC by Microchip, but tend to be more powerful and the spec tend to be more robust (Temperature ratings, and debugging capabilities).  You will see many hobbiest use PIC, but most commercial applications use the S08 (and the HC08) by Freescale.  I love these micros.  All my hobby projects are done with HC08 and HCS08.  NOW you can buy micros straight from Freescale!  YES even one single unit!!!!!  Check out their page www.Freescale.com