Great project and practical, my only concern is, how reliable are those servos especially when they are actively running every second on the dot, they might burn out in a week or so, any ideas?
They are reasonably good quality servos and they haven’t given any trouble yet. I used them in a subsequent clock video a few weeks later. This only changes every minute, but I’m sure they will eventually burn out.
The clearance issue for the middle segment can be avoided by using a rectangular middle segment. It's more reliable that way and most commercial displays are designed that way. Making all segments rectangular would be slightly less aesthetic, but in my opinion, worth it. Commercial displays tend to use different shapes for different segments, with a 45 degree bevel in the corners and a straight-cut where two verticals meet.
Yeah a lot of the ones I looked at had rectangular middle segments - I just wanted the segments to look similar to the traditional digital watch numbering. But yes it would have made programming a lot easier.
Do you think it would be possible to control the counter with some sort of keypad? So you can press a number and it shows up, or you press some button and it starts counting?
Yes, there are a number of keypads or keyboards that people have interfaced to an Arduino so it would be fairly easy to modify the code to take the input and display the number.
@@adampuglisi5648 Literally ask ChatGPT lol. I'm pretty sure it can come up with a modified version that does it. Just give it the code and ask for these changes. Make sure the response is not too long, else it won't work properly.
It should be possible for this particular project. You could use three PWM pins to output the upright, left and right movement signals and then use relays to drive these fixed signals to each servo. It would be quite a complicated wiring exercise though. Someone on Reddit told me about an I2C control board which drives 16 PWM outputs off of just the two wires required for the I2C interface. And they’re relatively cheap. So I may try and build a clock using two of these, just need to get fourteen more servos as well!
It would definitely make the footprint a bit smaller. You’d probably still need to move the segments alongside the middle one when it moves though. The only way to get around this would be to mount the middle segment lower than the others so that it can move freely.
You could probably do something like that, I don’t know whether it would use less power though. Servos are actually quite efficient when at standstill, it’s only really their movement that consumes power. So servos use a lot of power for short periods of time, the solenoids would use less power but require power to stay in position, so may land up using more in the long run.
Hello Nice job And ??? Have you a code to command your 7 segments with keypad ???? Nice idéa no? When you push one on the keypad you have one on your 7 segments, when you push # or * or a letter you Come back to te beginning :-) i’m french and arduino beginner and i would study this project code if you are ok??? Thanks for your help
I could watch that thing go for hours
Good..
Tanks very much Master.
I'm Ciamis West Java Indonesia
This is very cool. Please make a tutorial of a clock with 4 digits .... hours and minutes.
I have done a project like this - www.the-diy-life.com/mechanical-7-segment-display-clock-using-an-arduino-28-servos/
This looks like such a fun project!
So creative 😍
Send this project journal please
Excellent project idea, I want to build one!
But you gay
Muito criativo mesmo, gostei de verdade. Parabéns
Very creative indeed, I really liked it. Congratulations
Thank you!
Such a cool idea!
Thanks!
Great project and practical, my only concern is, how reliable are those servos especially when they are actively running every second on the dot, they might burn out in a week or so, any ideas?
They are reasonably good quality servos and they haven’t given any trouble yet. I used them in a subsequent clock video a few weeks later. This only changes every minute, but I’m sure they will eventually burn out.
Very impressive 👍
The clearance issue for the middle segment can be avoided by using a rectangular middle segment. It's more reliable that way and most commercial displays are designed that way.
Making all segments rectangular would be slightly less aesthetic, but in my opinion, worth it.
Commercial displays tend to use different shapes for different segments, with a 45 degree bevel in the corners and a straight-cut where two verticals meet.
Yeah a lot of the ones I looked at had rectangular middle segments - I just wanted the segments to look similar to the traditional digital watch numbering. But yes it would have made programming a lot easier.
Expensive project!
Do you think it would be possible to control the counter with some sort of keypad? So you can press a number and it shows up, or you press some button and it starts counting?
Yes, there are a number of keypads or keyboards that people have interfaced to an Arduino so it would be fairly easy to modify the code to take the input and display the number.
@@MichaelKlements if I am a beginner what are some sources I can use to learn how to do this?
@@adampuglisi5648 Literally ask ChatGPT lol. I'm pretty sure it can come up with a modified version that does it. Just give it the code and ask for these changes. Make sure the response is not too long, else it won't work properly.
What's the blue?
Thinking how it's possible to use relays or transistors to make the mega operate a 4 digits clock
It should be possible for this particular project. You could use three PWM pins to output the upright, left and right movement signals and then use relays to drive these fixed signals to each servo. It would be quite a complicated wiring exercise though.
Someone on Reddit told me about an I2C control board which drives 16 PWM outputs off of just the two wires required for the I2C interface. And they’re relatively cheap. So I may try and build a clock using two of these, just need to get fourteen more servos as well!
Brilliant idea...fun to build
Would pivoting them from an edge instead of the middle not avoid the inter-segment interference? Might also make the overall footprint smaller.
It would definitely make the footprint a bit smaller. You’d probably still need to move the segments alongside the middle one when it moves though. The only way to get around this would be to mount the middle segment lower than the others so that it can move freely.
Nicely done!
Any thoughts on scaling this up to digits that are 12 inches high?
You'd just need to use quite large servos. I don't see any other reason why this can't be scaled up.
@@MichaelKlements Would spring-loading them to a retracted "off" position, and a solenoid to push out to "on" position consume less power?
You could probably do something like that, I don’t know whether it would use less power though. Servos are actually quite efficient when at standstill, it’s only really their movement that consumes power. So servos use a lot of power for short periods of time, the solenoids would use less power but require power to stay in position, so may land up using more in the long run.
hi, i can't download the code , someone can help me?
Super project
Hello Nice job And ???
Have you a code to command your 7 segments with keypad ???? Nice idéa no? When you push one on the keypad you have one on your 7 segments, when you push # or * or a letter you Come back to te beginning :-) i’m french and arduino beginner and i would study this project code if you are ok??? Thanks for your help
Thanks Aurelien, that is a nice suggestion. I'll have a look at how it would be best to do that.
Super knowledge
beatiful
Sir please Clearly Pic of connection
Have a look at the guide linked in the video description
Which CAD Software do you use?
This was designed in Tinkercad
Hmm.would have back lit them as well
7 Segment Display Countdown Timer & Count Up Cronometer