3D Printing

It’s about Time: 3D Printed Clock with 3D Printed Gears

At first glimpse, the new 3DP clock from Hackaday user [ekaggrat] echoes a looped rollercoaster or a Ferris Wheel, with its base and ridged circle. Upon closer inspection, the chronological nature of the print becomes clear. It is actually an ingenious design for a clock that involves a fair amount of DIY innovation and gives the user a blank canvas where the clock’s face would be. Printed in black and orange as a model, the clock makes use of a few basic battery components and lets the 3DP gears operate.

3d printed clock gears

The clock’s controller is based around an ATtiny2313 microcontroller programmed with the Arduino’s sketchpad. The ATtiny controls a Darlington driver IC, which runs the stepper motor. The ATtiny drives the stepper motor forward every minute, moving both the hour and minute hands through the 3D printed gears. The hour and minute are indicated by two orange posts inside of the large gears. By making his own PCB for the microcontroller and stepper driver, [ekaggrat] created a concise and compact build. Generously, all of the design files are on GitHub. Therefore, if in possession of a PCB (or breadboard), a few of his basic components, and time with a 3D printer, it is possible to build a personal clock.

3d printed clock gears

This design is both simple and complex and could be intimidating as a finished project, attempting to piece together where everything goes and how to engineer a solid, dependable performance. Luckily, the availability of the design and the breakdown of its components would allow even a novice 3DP enthusiast the tools and instruction to become the fashioner of a functional and interesting clock.

3d printed clock gears