Topsy Turvy Clock

[Andy from Workshopshed]

Ok, so there's absolutely no welding in this, there was a bit of soldering...
But I thought you might like to see it anyway.
It's an old fashioned analogue mantel clock but with the numbers in a different location.

http://www.workshopshed.com/2014/09/a-working-topsy-turvy-clock.html

 

[octo0072000]

I like it

 

[Robotstar5]

I like the Cornish clock - link

 

[rich r]

I saw that the other day on Hackaday, but can't get my head around how you can read the time properly. Probably just me though. I like the concept

 

[julianf]

I like the Cornish clock - link

I dont understand why that one has a minute hand! ; )

 

[CRB]

It's an old fashioned analogue mantel clock but with the numbers in a different location.

.....except is is controlled by software, drivers and steppers......


?Does that not make it rather digital, or is that just me?

 

[julianthegypsy]

I do like that, it reminds me of some sort of spooky stories for kids from childhood days for some reason. Thirteen times widdershins and all that.

 

[Parm]

Usfull after a few sherbetssherbets

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

.....except is is controlled by software, drivers and steppers......


?Does that not make it rather digital, or is that just me?

That's a good question,

I saw that the other day on Hackaday, but can't get my head around how you can read the time properly. Probably just me though. I like the concept

Others have mentioned this, I am thinking of doing some instructions that tell people how to read the clock, "The big hand is pointing at the 5 etc" . I appreciate a lot of people were brought up in the age of sundials and are not familar with the clock concept. Others from the digital watch era are used to seeing the numbers glowing so are also not used to moving arms that point at things. And of course the kids of today probably don't use time at all, "Siri tell me when to go to the dole office" etc.

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

I do like that, it reminds me of some sort of spooky stories for kids from childhood days for some reason. Thirteen times widdershins and all that.

It was a certain "Mr" that gave me the initial inspiration. Interestingly the book simply had the numbers reversed whilst the TV version had them jumbled up.

 

[rich r]

What I mean is that I found it confusing in the videos, in that I expected the hour hand to be close to the hour (pointing at it when it was within a few minutes before or after), but the minute hand to move between just before 1 to just after 1, then jump to just before 2 etc. So for the 2.5 minutes before and after 5, 10, 15 past it'd be where it would be on a 'normal' clock. However the videos seem to have the hour hand jumping about too. For example it appears to go from ten past two straight to half past six. Or are the videos not showing the normal operation? The section near the end of the video does behave more like I expect it to though.

Like I said, it's probably just how I interpreted the description and found it didn't match up to what the video appeared to be showing. I do have an analogue watch and have been familiar with telling the time on clocks with hands for the last 40 years

 

[julianthegypsy]

I hadn't seen the video, it took me a minute or two to work out how to read it...which for me is another reason to like it. Very impressed!

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

What I mean is that I found it confusing in the videos, in that I expected the hour hand to be close to the hour (pointing at it when it was within a few minutes before or after), but the minute hand to move between just before 1 to just after 1, then jump to just before 2 etc. So for the 2.5 minutes before and after 5, 10, 15 past it'd be where it would be on a 'normal' clock. However the videos seem to have the hour hand jumping about too. For example it appears to go from ten past two straight to half past six. Or are the videos not showing the normal operation? The section near the end of the video does behave more like I expect it to though.

Like I said, it's probably just how I interpreted the description and found it didn't match up to what the video appeared to be showing. I do have an analogue watch and have been familiar with telling the time on clocks with hands for the last 40 years

Rich, did you watch the video without sound by any chance? Yes, it is doing a few other things as well as a time demo.

If you watch from 2min15s it shows normal operation from 1 o clock to about quarter past.

The hour hand moves slowly from the number till 1 minute to. Then as it rolls over the hour it moves quickly to the next hour.
The minute hand effectively does the same so at 0 minutes it's pointing at 12, 1 minute a 6 degrees past that, 2 a bit further, 3 further still, 4 nearly at the next number then at 5 past it rapidly moves around the clock to the 1 and ticks through the minutes to 9 and then at 10 it moves rapidly to the 2 etc.
There are a couple of glitches in the film, the hands were catching each other so there is one bit where the minute hand knocks the hour hand and then I think I typed 01:16 rather than 01:15 at the end when the minute hand moves around to the 3.

Your comment about 2.5 minutes is interesting. A work collegue also suggest that it should change on the 2.5 minute and on the 1/2 hour for the hour hand so you'd read "to" hours as well as "past" hours. That was going to be harder to code so I stuck with the logic described above.

Cheers,

Andy

p.s. did you all vote today? http://app.snapapp.com/simplyavrcontest

 

[rich r]

Yes, I am guilty of not having sound on when I watched it the first time Having watched it again with sound it makes far more sense! Sorry about that.

I think the 2.5 minutes before/after for the minute hand and similarly 30 minutes before/after for the hour hand would make it more intuitive, but yes, would involve a bit more work in the coding. I've been wanting a new project for my Arduino for a while and I've got a duff mantle clock so I might have a think about how I would do it. Though the mechanical bit would be my stumbling block. I can do programming and electronics, design of geartrains and things not so much...

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

The gearing is quite simple just a one to one ratio from the stepper motor to the hands. The concentric shafts did cause me a challenge, I cranked my lathe up to full speed to avoid wobble when drilling the tiny hole. If you don't mind ripping up the old clock could use the shafts from that.
Alternatively you could make a dual dial clock or have the hour hand scanning the left of the clock and the minute hand down the right. Either of those would allow you to have direct drive from the motors.

 

[Andy from Workshopshed]

FAQ and instruction video

http://www.workshopshed.com/2014/09/topsy-turvy-clock-faq.html

 

[rich r]

Hmm, I've got an old battery clock module, I could probably find a way to remove a few gears from that and add small motors to drive the hands individually. I was thinking about using servos modified for 360 degrees as I've got several of those around. If we get a cold winter so I can't do anything outside, it might just happen