Let’s say you want to build a Nixie clock. You could go out and find some tubes, source a good power supply design, start whipping up a PCB, and working on a custom enclosure. Or, you could skip all that, and just follow [Simon]’s example instead. The trick to building a Nixie clock fast is […]
Ferrofluid is fun. You’ve probably seen all kinds of demos with it bouncing around in response to magnetic fields, or dancing near a speaker. [beastie417] decided to turn the entertaining fluid into a display. The basic concept of the ferrofluid display. Note the header image of this article shows the electromagnet array without the ferrofluid […]
Frequency! It’s an important thing to measure, which is why [Jacques Pelletier] built a frequency counter some time ago. The four-function unit is humble, capable, and also an entry into our 2025 One Hertz Challenge! The build began “a long while ago when electronic parts were still available in local stores,” notes Jacques, dating the […]
Sometimes, there are too many choices in this world. My benchtop function generator can output a sine, square, or saw wave anywhere from 0.01 Hz up to 60 MHz? Way too many choices. At least, that’s what we suspect [Phil Weasel] was thinking when he built this Analog 1 Hz Sinewave Generator. A KiCad rendering […]
We’ve been loving the variety of entries to the 2025 One-Hertz Challenge. Many a clock has been entered, to be sure, but also some projects that step well outside simple timekeeping. Case in point, this AM transmitter from [oldradiofixer.] The software-only transmitter uses an ATTiny85 processor to output an AM radio signal in the broadcast […]
The HP 115BR is not one of the most well-known products from Hewlett-Packard. And yet, it was remarkably important nonetheless. This hardware once synced time around the world. Now, for our 2025 One-Hertz Challenge, [curiousmarc] has taken on the job of restoring it. The HP 115BR itself was not used alone, but in concert with […]
Wall clocks! Are they very accurate? Well, sometimes they are, and sometimes they lose minutes a day. If you’ve got one that needs calibrating, you might like this device from [Lauri Pirttiaho]. Most cheap wall clocks use very similar mechanisms based around the Lavet-type stepper motor. These are usually driven by a chip-on-board oscillator that […]
This eye-catching entry to the One Hertz Challenge pairs vintage LED indicators with a modern RPi board to create a one-of-a-kind clock. The RPI TinynumberHat9 by [Andrew] brings back the beautiful interface from high end electronics of the past. This project is centered around the red AL304 and green ALS314V 7-segment display chips. These 7-segment […]
You can buy all kinds of conventional clocks that have hands and numbers for easy reading. Or, like [Fabio Ricci], you could build yourself something a little more esoteric, like this neat shadow clock. The heart of the build is an ESP8266 microcontroller, which gets the current time via Wi-Fi by querying an NTP time […]
Just about every electronic device has some silicon semiconductors inside these days—from transistors to diodes to integrated circuits. [Charles] is trying to build a “No-Silicon digital clock” that used none of these parts. It looks like [Charles] is on the way to success, but one might like to point out an amusing technicality. Let’s dive […]