Personal Project
Choice
I have chosen to make an LED binary clock as inspired by the tutorial on the right, but I will use a protoboard to organize my components instead of just soldering them together messily as the original creator did. I will also have the actual clock's appearance be more tidy.
I also wanted to make an Amazon Alexa that is inside of a talking fish. It would function like a normal Alexa, but the talking fish would also perk up when you say, "Alexa," and its mouth would move in sync with Alexa's voice.I chose not to do this project because it would not look aesthetically pleasing in my room unless I was able to modify the appearance of the fish. However, a pro of this project is that it's super cool and almost nobody would have it, in addition to the fact that I already have an Amazon Alexa and wouldn't have to buy a new one.
Another project I considered making was a mini scrolling text display. It could say anything that I wanted it to (like something that I needed to remind myself to do) just by editing the code each time and reuploading. This project would not be extremely useful in the long run (in comparison with how useful a clock would be), so I decided not to do this project. It would be cool to have a scrolling text display and I could use it to set reminders, but the fact that I would have to reupload code every single time I wanted to change the text is not ideal.
Design Specifications
- What do you want your project to do?
I want it to tell time, date, day of the week, and temperature.
2. What is the maximum that you want to spend?
$50- right inside the budget
3. What are the dimensions of your project?
3.5 x 7 x 2 inches
4. What materials do you use?
See materials spreadsheet below
5. Will your project be inside or outside?
This project will be inside and will not be weather resistant.
6. Will your project be portable?
No. By the nature of a clock, I won't need to carry it around, so it doesn't need to be portable. However, the original tutorial does say that if a LiPoly battery is used, this can be done.
7. Will your project connect to the Internet?
No. The clock module is capable of keeping time even when not connected to an external power source. There is a switch to adjust for daylight savings and a button that will adjust the clock to the top of the hour when pressed if the time gets slightly off.
8. Will your project use Bluetooth?
No. Again, this clock can stand alone as long as it has a power source.
9. What are your project inputs?
A power source and the code
10. What are your project outputs?
Lights on the neopixel strip that indicate the time
11. How does your project different from the project that inspired you?
I soldered mine using protoboards and 3D printed the physical clock casing.
12. Are the tools you need for the project found in the FabLab?
Aside from the materials I need to buy (as indicated in the materials spreadsheet below), many of the tools I need are in the FabLab, like a soldering iron, 3D printer, etc.
Original Materials
Final Materials
Links to my materials- Just click!
Tools used
- Soldering iron
- Desoldering gun
- Drill press
- 3D printer
Project Management
I ended up spending a lot of time on Milestone 1 since I had to wire everything and familiarize myself with the materials. Though it says that I only spent 4 days on soldering (Milestone 2), I put a lot of work into soldering outside of class. I came in during free periods, lunch, and during the weekend to get the soldering finished. Instead of creating the clock (designing it on Fusion 360 and then 3D printing it) third, I actually did it simultaneously with my proof of concept on the breadboard, which is why there's overlap on the dates for Milestone 1 and 4. Finally, for Milestone 4, assembly did not take a lot of time, as most of the actual work was put into soldering. In short, I did not meet my milestone dates at all, but I did finish the whole project on time.
A summary of my project
- What it achieved
- Inspiration
- What I would improve on
Electrical Project Video.MOV
Links to things cited in the workflow - just click!
Schematic
This is the schematic that I used to wire my components. The PDF is here:
and you can download it from Google Drive.
