Gina

I agree about documenting projects pictorially. There are times in the past when I've been so busy that I've forgotten and regretted it later. Anyway, it does you good to take a break every so often. Sometimes I wish I could take my own advice!!! ?

Oh, very droll!

Weather is looking better for today. Cloud with holes letting the sun through at times here.

3 Arduino Nanos. Each Nano was in its own cardboard box, each set of PCB pins was in its own plastic bag, those 6 packaged items were inside another cardboard box which itself was vacuum wrapped in plastic. Then this was inside a padded plastic bag at least ten times the volume of the outer box!!!

Finished clock except for the motor drive unit - tested with a DC motor-gearbox. Arduino Nano arriving tomorrow. The one I had was faulty.

The layout diagram was done in LibreOffice Draw and the Arduino sketch (code) in the Arduino IDE.

Do you think that type of hinge will be strong enough? I used heavy duty galvanised shed hinges.

Working on the drive unit now. This is the layout of the stripboard and components. The RTC (Real Time Clock) is accurate to a minute or two a year. The stepper motor is a NEMA14. And the Arduino sketch // Filename :- Giant_Wall_Clock_v1_2018-11-12 // Software timing from RTC on pin 2 using polling // #include <DS3232RTC.h> //http://github.com/JChristensen/DS3232RTC #include <Time.h> //http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Code/Time #include <Wire.h> //http://arduino.cc/en/Reference/Wire (included with Arduino IDE) // String VerString = " Giant_Wall_Clock_v1_2018-11-08"; boolean lastSqWave = 0; boolean ledON = 0; int count = 0; // Used to flash LED int sqwPin = A6; int dirPin = 5; // DIRECTION pin int stepPin = 6; // STEP pin int slpPin = 7; // Sleep pin int rstPin = 8; // Reset pin int ms3Pin = 9; // Microstepping pin int ms2Pin = 10; // Microstepping pin int ms1Pin = 11; // Microstepping pin int enPin = 12; // Enable pin int ledPin = 13; // Internal LED pin // void setup() { Serial.begin (9600); // Enable Serial Monitor via USB pinMode(dirPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(stepPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(slpPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(rstPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(enPin, OUTPUT); pinMode(ms1Pin, OUTPUT); pinMode(ms2Pin, OUTPUT); pinMode(ms3Pin, OUTPUT); pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); digitalWrite(ms1Pin, 0); // full-step mode digitalWrite(ms2Pin, 0); // full-step mode digitalWrite(ms3Pin, 0); // full-step mode digitalWrite(enPin, 0); // enable digitalWrite(rstPin, 1); // not reset digitalWrite(slpPin, 1); // not sleep digitalWrite(dirPin, 1); // set on test pinMode(sqwPin,INPUT_PULLUP); // RTC timing pin Serial.println(VerString); setSyncProvider(RTC.get); // the function to get the time from the RTC if(timeStatus() != timeSet) Serial.println(" Unable to sync with the RTC"); else Serial.println(" RTC has set the system time"); RTC.squareWave(SQWAVE_1_HZ); // 1Hz square wave } // void runClock(void){ for (int i = 199; i >= 0; i--) { digitalWrite(stepPin, 1); delayMicroseconds(10); // Make STEP pulse 10μs long digitalWrite(stepPin, 0); delayMicroseconds(30); } // ledON = !ledON; digitalWrite(ledPin, ledON); } // flash LED 1s on 1s off // void loop(){ boolean sqUp = ((analogRead(sqwPin) > 500)); // read logic level of 1Hz square wave if (sqUp != lastSqWave) { lastSqWave = sqUp; if (sqUp); { runClock(); } } // Call runClock on rising edge of RTC square wave } // End

Here the latest build. The dial looked overpowering so I've streamlined it.

I think everyone who has a 3D printer should watch that video.

Good point. Though I see no reason not to have thermal runaway protecting in the firmware. One reason I like to design and build my own printers - I can ensure they are safe to leave running unattended. An yes, I am qualified to do so.

Almost ready...

Dial on wall.

I used a digital thermometer device directly on my cold finger close to the image sensor.

Good thermal insulation of the cold parts makes a lot of difference.

That is far to high an input power for the Peltier TEC. I used a 15v 2A one from Farnell Element14 (running on 12v and drawing 19W) and got the temperature down to well below freezing. OTOH, exhaustive testing on a Canon EOS 1100D showed no noise improvement below -5°C and only a little between 0 and -5. With the modern ZWO CMOS cameras the cooling is effective and I have used -10°C effectively with external cooling.

Part of clock hung on the wall.

Shortened the hour hand and thickened the number 3 to match the others.

Minute Hand.

Beginning to look very nice

Hour hand printed.

Real clock on floor. The long threaded rod with the yellow sleeve will be replaced with a bolt when I get one.

This is how the clock will look on my wall which is primrose yellow. I may yet reprint one or two parts in a different colour eg. the hour gear which is orange ATM may look better in red.

Wet and windy here!

Yes, there was about a half hour break around lunchtime so I took the opportunity to pop out. It had started raining again when I got back so left most of the shopping in the car. Got the rest in in another break mid afternoon. Raining heavily again now.