20 ms·
Crazy Clock
- megraf 5y agoWould be nice to include an example of it in action :)
- thih9 5y agoCould someone explain why is this project interesting? I’m not familiar with electronics or hardware programming.
- nickhalfasleep 5y agoIn an age of ubiquitous accurate time, an intentionally misbehaving clock points out the folly of watching a clock
- dylan604 5y agoThinks back to days in high school just willing that minute hand to move
- teraflop 5y agoI think the main technically interesting thing is that it adds custom functionality to cheap, mass-produced hardware. If you wanted to build a clock completely from scratch, it would be a significant amount of work to design something that works as well as a $10 wall clock from Walmart. If you just figure out the right way to interface with that hardware, you can do interesting stuff a lot more easily. It's a little bit reminiscent of how people figured out that you could use cheap USB TV tuners as software-defined radios, although obviously this project is a lot simpler than that.
- bayindirh 5y agoClocks are amazing pieces of hardware. They're surprisingly simple, but deterministic, also very monotonous because of the work they do. An arhythmic clock which looks like broken, but keeping the time correct is interesting in many fronts. First, it looks broken, but it's not. Second, if the movement is a bit noisy, monotonous tick-rocks will become irregular, hence interesting for our brain. In other ways, it's delightfully non-conventional, but working as intended at the end. As a result of this, it's kinda delicious as it's interesting. That's a good combination. Lastly, all of this is packaged as a de-facto standard wall/desk clock movement. Consider if you change your meeting room's big wall clock to this. Lazy, Whacky or Tuney would be fun. Very fun.
- pbhjpbhj 5y agoNow I'm wondering if times I couldn't sleep because of a ticking clock were due to arrhythmia in the clock - low batteries, extreme temperatures, dirt, spider mite sitting on pinion - that somehow prevented my brain from filtering out the sound. Probably more likely a lack of sync in my brain (I have very little sense of rhythm).
- alias_neo 5y agoInteresting point. I have a fairly loud ticking wall clock in my living room. When I have guests stay on the sofa I have to remove the battery, it drives them insane. I never notice it ticking at all, I just don't hear it, it's ticking right now because I'm thinking about it. What I would love is a clock with a consistent sound, mine makes a slightly different tick for some odd positions and that bugs me.
- lucideer 5y agoWith zero knowledge of electronics or hardware, the product description seems to outline why it's interesting pretty clearly (and quickly; the lede is not buried). TL;DR: > Novelty clocks: > > Whacky clock - ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second, so it's arhythmic. > Wavy clock - tick frequency is proportional to a sine wave. Sort of looks like it's "surging." > Lazy clock - picks a random interval and then ticks that number of seconds very quickly and then just stops. > Crazy clock - runs at three different speeds - slow, normal or fast. Much more subtle than it sounds. > Vetinari clock - runs slightly slow, but adds a periodic "stutter" tick to make up for it. > Warpy clock - runs 10% fast for 12 hours, then 10% slow for 12 hours. Makes the days just fly by. > Early clock - keeps time anywhere between 0 and 10 minutes fast. For those who like to set their watch ahead to avoid being late. This clock keeps you from trying to "compensate," because you never know how early it is at the moment. > Tuney clock - ticks normally most of the time, but occasionally will tick out "songs," like shave-and-a-haircut, or SOS in morse...
- Cd00d 5y agoI do wish there was more detail on the "more subtle" crazy clock. I'm having trouble imaging what it means. It may be obvious, but I missed it - do I buy one kit, but then I can load all these firmwares, or is the goal to have me buy one kit per novelty?
- bshep 5y agoFrom the hackaday link you can load alternate firmawares but its not so easy due to the coil potentially interfering with the programmer.
- IIAOPSW 5y ago>I do wish there was more detail on the "more subtle" crazy clock. I'm having trouble imaging what it means. In more subtle mode the clock just works normally. The crazy part is the shared delusion of time. Subtle isn't it?
- fossuser 5y agoI think it's more about the whimsy and fun-ness of the hack while still keeping proper time. I love these kinds of playful projects - feels like the core of 'hacker spirit'.
- adrianmonk 5y agoIt subverts your expectations about clocks.
- tantalor 5y agoClick "product description", it is collapsed by default for some strange reason
- memming 5y agoThe list of novelty clock modes are very funny! LoL
- nsayer 5y agoI'll just add that there are also non-novelty firmwares available - alternate timebase clocks. I have Martian, Sidereal, Tidal, Lunar, weekly, annual and quadrennial clocks.
- pbhjpbhj 5y agohttps://hackaday.io/project/5880-crazy-clock https://hackaday.io/project/5880-crazy-clock had better detail for me. I'm thinking "teacher mode" that goes fast for the first 45 "mins" of the hour then slows incrementally so the last 5 "mins" takes 15 minutes to pass! Evil.
- huhtenberg 5y agoIn related news there's a watch called Stop2Go made by Mondaine based on a design licensed from Swiss Railways (SBB). The second hand runs slightly faster for the first 59 seconds, then freezes for one second and then ticks together with a minute hand. Looks like this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwPOBoy3V8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJwPOBoy3V8 I was considering getting one, but apparently there are (were?) some production quality issues, so in the end decided against it.
- sonofhans 5y agoOh, I love that design. I didn’t get one for the same reason you didn’t — it doesn’t seem to be a high-quality watch. How ironic.
- gorgoiler 5y agoI have one. It is a pleasure to own and excellent quality, at least on the newest revisions (mine is 2019). The link to such a classic piece of industrial design is very pleasing. Confirmed rumour has it that entrance to a popular design museum in a prominent world city is free to anyone visibly wearing one. The movement is electronically adjustable to precisely align the second hand and minute hand positions to exactly the right spot. German railways use the same system as the Swiss ones, so be sure to wear it if you travel to the continent.
- crackercrews 5y agoAccording to the video, it's 58 seconds on, 2 seconds off. Not a big difference, but in the video it makes the pause stand out even more.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- femto 5y agoI prefer the actual SBB clock in that its second hand sweeps smoothly, where as the second hand on the Mondain watch ticks. It's the combination of the smooth sweep and the stop that make the railway clock. Each revolution is a reminder of the elegant idea of making a clock from an imprecise electric motor and and accurate stall mechanism.
- diimdeep 5y agoI found this project a while back when I was searching for information on how to drive lavet stepper motor[1] inside these kind of clocks[2]. My project is similar in a way that you have to manually drive this motor, idea is to convert existing 12-hour clock to 'week' 168-hour clock. Hour hand would make full rotation only each 168 hours, showing current day of the week and approximate part of the day. Very cool project to tinker with electronics and gears, you have to figure out timing(30ms energize, 970ms rest, repeat in reverse polarity) and how to drive motor(use half-bridge circuit or motor driver)[3], you have to deal with inductive 'kick' flyback voltage spikes and protect IC from it[4], and figure out mechanical gears[5] (typical quartz mechanism[6]) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavet-type_stepping_motor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavet-type_stepping_motor [1.1] https://resonanceswavesandfields.blogspot.com/2011/03/understanding-quarz-analog-mechanical.html https://resonanceswavesandfields.blogspot.com/2011/03/unders... [1.2] https://resonanceswavesandfields.blogspot.com/2011/03/understanding-mechanical-clock-part-ii.html https://resonanceswavesandfields.blogspot.com/2011/03/unders... [1.3] http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/quartz.htm http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/quartz.htm [1.4] https://www.tablix.org/~avian/blog/archives/2016/04/clockwork_part_2/ https://www.tablix.org/~avian/blog/archives/2016/04/clockwor... [1.5] https://www.tablix.org/~avian/blog/archives/2016/03/clockwork/ https://www.tablix.org/~avian/blog/archives/2016/03/clockwor... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz_clock https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz_clock [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-bridge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-bridge [3.1] https://www.microtype.io/h-bridge-circuit-design/ https://www.microtype.io/h-bridge-circuit-design/ [3.2] http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/circuits.html http://homepage.divms.uiowa.edu/~jones/step/circuits.html [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_diode https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flyback_diode [4.1] https://pdfserv.maximintegrated.com/en/an/AN6307.pdf https://pdfserv.maximintegrated.com/en/an/AN6307.pdf [4.2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snubber https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snubber [5] https://ciechanow.ski/gears/ https://ciechanow.ski/gears/ [6] https://geargenerator.com/#68.75,675,25,30,1,3,513926.19999999995,12,1,12,3,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,48,12,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,1,1,8,2,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,2,0,60,15,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,3,1,8,2,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,4,0,60,15,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,5,1,8,2,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,6,0,64,16,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,7,1,16,4,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,8,0,32,8,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,9,1,8,2,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,10,0,48,12,4,20,0,0,0,0,0,0,1,3,-432 https://geargenerator.com/#68.75,675,25,30,1,3,513926.199999...
- ed25519FUUU 5y ago> Whacky clock - ticks once a second, but on a random tenth-of-a-second, so it's arhythmic. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
- nsayer 5y agoOne does what one can. :D
- crackercrews 5y ago> Early clock - keeps time anywhere between 0 and 10 minutes fast. For those who like to set their watch ahead to avoid being late. This clock keeps you from trying to "compensate," because you never know how early it is at the moment. I have been wanting this for years. Wish I could do it to my watch.
- nerfhammer 5y agoget a watchy https://watchy.sqfmi.com/ https://watchy.sqfmi.com/
- FeepingCreature 5y agoor a pinetime https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/ https://www.pine64.org/pinetime/ (once they're back in stock)
- nullc 5y agoI have a clock that keeps mars time: https://files.catbox.moe/o99ods.jpg https://files.catbox.moe/o99ods.jpg I synthesize a little martian electrical grid: HP5071a atomic clock --10MHz--> HP3325a --58.394657765 Hz--> HP6827a bipolar amplifier --~100vac--> clock. Plus side I can have as many sync motor mars clocks as I want and it's only using random gear I had laying around, downside is that it's not very energy efficient, perhaps about 150W. :P
- aaron695 5y agoI'd say this is related to Amazon Prime sales with the Echo Wall Clock. I was going to buy one for the ability to fast forward time as a trick (which is just how it sets itself, no tricks) the Echo Clock is so close to electronic junk, while also so close to useful. But I did wonder if children would consider a clocks flow as immutable as older, pre cellphone generations. This is a cool project. And it'll be interesting to see how future generations see time.
- Scene_Cast2 5y agoFor a different take on clocks (ultra-high precision), there are studio clocks (with lots of synchronization machinery to make sure all all synchronized). One such example is the evertz 1275T
- nsayer 5y agoFWIW I also sell a GPS clock. It's accurate to within 200 microseconds and has a 100 ms display granularity (that is, it has a 10th of a second digit).
- annoyingnoob 5y agoBut can you sync the time with NTP?
- nsayer 5y agoAlas, there are 3 rules of (ordinary) Lavet stepper clock movements: 1. You can't make it go the opposite direction. 2. You can't change the gearing ratio between the hands. 3. You can't know where the hands are actually pointing. What you're left with is the ability to alter the timing of the second hand and everything else falls out from that.
- zaxomi 5y agoAt least radio controlled clocks know then all hands are at the 12'oclock position.
- annoyingnoob 5y agoInteresting, thanks for the reply. I think an analog clock that could set the time using NTP over wifi would be a 'killer feature'. Radio clocks just don't work that well in many places. Getting a reply from (presumably) the source is what I love about HN.
- mark-r 5y agoI thought that radio clocks were dead! The US government transmitters that make them work were supposed to be turned off in 2019, and I hadn't heard that the decision was reversed.
- annoyingnoob 5y agohttps://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-distribution/radio-station-wwvb https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division/time-di...
- JonathonW 5y agoNIST's original 2019 budget proposal would've defunded and eliminated WWVB, but the final budget didn't-- likely a direct result of the public outcry about the closure.
- spoonjim 5y agoIt's astonishing how the costs have come down in the maker electronics world. If you wanted a "clock with a custom tick pattern" twenty years ago you'd need to go and commission someone to build it for you. Today you can buy the board for $12.00
- qbasic_forever 5y agoYou could totally make this in the early 2000s. Back then PIC, Atmel (pre-arduino), 8051, and Z80 chips were super cheap and accessible. Everything, including the MCUs, were standard through-hole components. Perfboard was regularly used for quick prototyping, and etching hand drawn circuit boards was accessible (IIRC one of the first articles I remember reading in the then new Make magazine back then was about DIY circuit board etching). There was a Radioshack on almost every street corner and you could get most of the parts to build this right there.
- spoonjim 5y agoYes, but someone with none of those skills can just buy it today.
- roberto 5y agoThese mechanisms are super simple to control: just disconnect the board and use a Raspberry Pi or Arduino to send a pair of signals (+ and -) to make the second hand jump one second. I did an art project back in 2016 with a $2 IKEA clock with a Raspberry Pi and a camera. I used OpenCV to detect when someone was looking at the clock, and when that happened the hands would stop moving, freezing. When the person looked away the clock would tick at a faster race, until it caught up with the right time. One of my favorite projects!
- crackercrews 5y agoWhat a cool idea. It's like the sun from Super Mario.
- maddyboo 5y agoThat’s excellent! Do you have a video? I would love to see it in action.
- hcs 5y agoBy design it can never be seen in action ;)
- shauryamanu 5y agoxD
- fnord77 5y agois the source code for this on the web?
- tzot 5y agoSo is that the “Weeping Angel” clock?
- dariferrari 5y agoSounds super cool! I’m also interested in how exactly you did it
- airhead969 5y agoHas HN become Engadget? Why is a for-profit link a story?
- nsayer 5y agoI'm the guy behind the project, and I'd like to thank cbsks for posting it. If anyone has questions, please feel free to hit me up on Twitter (@nwsayer) or post on the hackaday.io project page (https://hackaday.io/project/5880-crazy-clock https://hackaday.io/project/5880-crazy-clock)
- IIAOPSW 5y agoAll those different novelty options, yet you didn't implement metric time. For shame. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_time
- nsayer 5y agoThat would necessitate changing the gearing ratio between the hands, which is beyond the scope of this project.
- jojohohanon 5y agoI'm assuming you need to unplug the battery to set the "true" time? Else you might be adjusting the "I'm in my +10 minutes phase" (for early clock, f.ex), turning it into late clock. (?)
- JoeDaDude 5y agoFantastic! I've been thinking about tinkering with clocks lately, Here's why: I recently saw this video [0] about controlling clocks and it made me want to do it too. [0]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdnXLv5za-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdnXLv5za-k At one time I had a backwards clock [1]. It turns out it was the only analog clock in the house so after a while I got used to it. Then I would be jolted back to reality when going outside and seeing a "normal clock. [1]. https://www.walmart.com/ip/9-quot-BACKWARDS-CLOCK/35002444 https://www.walmart.com/ip/9-quot-BACKWARDS-CLOCK/35002444 And how about these one-handed watches [2]. Ostensibly, they "fundamentally change the way you look at your watch and ... give you a much better consciousness about the progression of your day". True? After my experience with the backwards clock, I'd like to find out. But I don't want to buy an expensive watch, I'd rather make my own one-handed clock. [2]. https://www.slow-watches.com/24-hour-one-hand-watch/ https://www.slow-watches.com/24-hour-one-hand-watch/ edits: fixed link and typos
- mark-r 5y agoFor decades I've wanted to build a clock that would speed up and slow down at various times of the day. For example to give you a longer lunch by speeding up just before lunchtime and slowing down when it's time to get back to work. The firmware would be trivial, but putting together the whole project was too much for me to get started.
- ghostly_s 5y agono video?
- aidenn0 5y agoClicking through a link let me eventually find this: https://www.klockit.com/all-departments/quartz-clock-movements/quartex-continuous-sweep-quartz-clock-movement.html?ref=name https://www.klockit.com/all-departments/quartz-clock-movemen... I am replacing all the movements in my house with this. Ticking clocks are the bane of my existence.
- jiofih 5y agoWhat is it? I can only see a broken page with “ Klockit.com is currently unavailable in most European countries.” (why can’t we even look at it? Looks like GDPR fear)
- yyx 5y agoThe ultra-quiet Quartex® Continuous Sweep Mini Clock Movement is a quartz clock movement that moves the second hand in a smooth, continuous motion. This continuous motion eliminates the ticking sound traditional clock motors make.
- samizdis 5y agoTry this: https://archive.is/Rpgjm https://archive.is/Rpgjm
- floxy 5y agoAnyone know how the battery life compares to a ticking clock movement?
- nsayer 5y agoThose are almost the exact same thing - Lavet stepper clock movements. The difference is that they're geared for the coil to be driven at 8 Hz instead of 1 Hz. That gives them the appearance of being smoother. Of course, the battery will be used up 8 times as fast (though they last a long time already). You have very limited opportunities to "crazy up" those style of movements, as the coil can only be stepped so quickly.
- sam_goody 5y agoHow difficult would it be for my to convert my own songs to midi and use them instead?
- PaulAJ 5y agoFor those who don't know, the "Vetinari" clock is a reference to Lord Vetinari, patrician of Ankh-Morpork in the Diskworld books of Terry Pratchett. He had a mechanical clock that behaved like this in his waiting room so that people waiting to see him would be slowly driven crazy by the irregular tick.
- car 5y agoAfter a recent purge of Amazon spy devices in my home, I'm left with a non-functional Echo Wall clock. It seems rather sophisticated, since the time can be set remote (it does eat batteries though). I like the design a lot and would like to keep it around. Has anyone been able to hack the firmware? Could the motor be 'hacked' with the Crazy Clock PCB?
- jojohohanon 5y agoThis is super neat. I identified a desire for the tolerance clock (*) many years ago, but never thought I'd see it implemented. (*) The tolerance clock always displays time that is within some tolerance of true time, but that is all it guarantees. I never worked out formal specs, so either crazy clock or early clock would suffice I think. neat!