#tix clock

It has been a bit longer than I wanted since I last updated you on the Tix clock but I am happy to report that the I completed the build last week but didn't have time to write up some posts.

After getting the glass for the case, and building the grid to hold the LEDs and circuit I was a bit stuck on how to build the outer case.

After some google searches and wandering around the craft and hardware store searching, I came up with a plan that I would give a try.

I was truly not expecting it to work at all so I didn't do a very thorough job documenting it. However the basic plan was to take a strip of trim or molding (it is about a 1/4" thick by a 1/2" wide with a little bevel to it) and cut the strips to length with 45 degree angles to make up the front frame.

Then I grabbed a two inch by 1/4" inch piece of wood to make up the sides, top and bottom of the frame. I used some super strong wood glue and just glued the whole thing together.

It worked and looked a bit better than expected for sure.

A few coats of black spray paint I had sitting around and it was starting to look like a real frame.

Here is the back side of the frame with some spacers I used to keep the glass in the correct spot. They were later glued in with a few additional pieces that also act as a way to keep the glass in place. Here you can really see how the front trim part of the frame over laps letting the glass have some where to sit.

Next I literally taped the grid to the back side of the glass. Using black electrical tape helped closed up a few small gaps in between the frame and the poster board. If I made another clock i would do a bunch of things differently, and making the poster board grid exactly the correct dimensions is definitely one of them. If I made another I would start by building the case. Then I would cut the glass to fit the case and make the poster board grid the correct dimension to fit the inside of the case. The front of the case actually hangs over the glass so making the poster board slightly larger than what will be seen would have made it less necessary to get everything lined up so perfectly.

And here is what it looks like from the front:

Then I drilled two holes in the top. One for the photo resistor and one for the temperature sensor. In retrospect I should have placed the temp sensor on the side of the case. Currently it is mounted on top directly above the Spark Core and I think some heat is rising up and affecting the temperature.

And the final product:

Other than adding a bit of code which I haven't found time to do (for the other features that are strictly code based) the clock is done and functioning.

I have learned a ton on this project, adding some skills to my tool belt and I am very happy with the end result.

The only progress I have made for the case is in finding a piece of glass for the front.

The frame section at the craft store quoted me a price of over $70 for a 3 x 10 inch piece of "museum quality" glass.

This was a bit pricey so I passed. Today I went to the big box hardware store in town and found that they sell 10 x 12 inch plates of glass for around $2.50.

They even cut it to size. I got 2 pieces that were around 10 1/4 x 3 1/4 and one that was 10 1/2 x 3 1/2.

This will cover the faceplate with a bit of glass left on each side that will fit into the cases edge, like a picture frame.

I fired up my clock this morning, happy that there wasn't much work to be done. I was going to let it sit on my desk and be a clock while I work when I noticed a problem right away.

The time was 9:59. It was fortunate that it wasn't past 10 yet because the first whole row of lights (the hour's ten digit) was off.

This means that from 12 AM (0:00) all the way until 9:59 the first digit would be completely dark. This doesn't work well if I plan to use the digit as a temp alarm as I had previously planned.

This also means that the other digits won't make good indicators at least some of the time. The second digit is off for the entire hours of midnight, ten and 20 (8pm) o'clock. The minutes digits are off for ten minutes at the beginning of each hour or for a minute every ten minutes respectively.

This needs to be worked out.

I could add a few more pixels to the top of the case as indicators since I have two left. Or I could simply use regular LEDs. Another options is to light up a digit and have it blink even if there should be no digits lit if there is an alarm.

I am not sure I am crazy about either of those ideas.

The other choice is to have the entire clock always be the same color.

The color alone will indicate what type of alarm. I plan on having the indoor temp, and email indicator (0, 1-9 or >10 emails unread), and a weather beacon. 

I would like to leave the colors for the weather beacon true to the inspiration of the Old John Hancock tower in Boston. That means red, flashing red, blue, and flashing blue are already used.

Steady blue, clear view.

Flashing blue, clouds due.

Steady red, rain ahead.

Flashing red, snow instead.

If the clock is any blue or red color that will indicate that there are no unread emails, and the temp is fine.

The first new feature I have added is a photo-resistor.

A photo-resistor is a resistor that has a variable amount of resistance depending on how much light it is exposed to. I am using it to dim the brightness of the clock when it is dark or make it full on when it is bright in the room.

The connection is super simple and you can see how it is done on the arduino playground. 

With this feature done I can move on to the next feature which will be a temperature alarm.

If they temperature inside falls outside of a certain range one digit worth of pixels will turn a different color. This seems sort of useless because if you can see the clock you would probably know that it is very hot or cold inside. However, the nice thing about the spark core is that it is connected to the internet at all times.

This means I can log the temperature if I want and have it send me a text message if the temperature leaves the comfort zone indicating a heating or a/c failure, or worse, a fire. 

Pictures of the brightness feature won't be very exciting but here is an updated Fritzing diagram.