![]() If you find this Instructable useful, get your own clock by supporting the project on Kickstarter while I'm setting up the store of ! Building OpenVFD: The Circuit Board & Assembly Īlso feel free to check out the commercial version of OpenVFD: Fluorescence by The VFD Collective.Adding Functionality: Everything Else & Putting It All Together.Adding Functionality: Light Up the Clock.Adding Functionality: The Real Time Clock - DS1307 Vs DS3231.Fundamentals: Interfacing the Microcontroller.Fundamentals: Gaining Control - The Integrated Solution.Fundamentals: Gaining Control - A Discrete Approach.Fundamentals: Generating the Right Voltage Levels.I'll do my very best to keep everything short and simple. It's great and easy to follow this Instructable if you have some basic electronics knowledge already, but don't worry if not. The Instructable shows you what makes my VFD tube clock work and I will take you through the process of turning some tubes, parts and a bunch of code lines into a glowing tube clock. A computer controllable, colorfully illuminated 6-digit clock utilizing vintage Soviet IV-11 vacuum tubes.Įntirely programmed in Arduino C code, OpenVFD implements a complete Arduino Uno USB connected platform to make it compatible and easy for everyone to understand, take apart, expand and improve! I'm here to share my result of creating my own dream clock with you. All new clock builds should use the CNC Shield V4 design.Introducing OpenVFD - the colorful VFD tube clock with light effects that make the clock dance, glow or turn into a rainbow. They will probably be on sale at a reduced price on Etsy until they are gone. I still have a lot of custom circuit boards for this driver design. An alternate method of building the circuit using only resistors is shown to avoid the high international shipping and customs charges added by Etsy. A kit is available for the custom motor driver. The old-style stepper motor driver circuit drives a 30-35 ohm NEMA17 stepper motor directly through binary weighted resistors. This gives the clock an accuracy of a minute or two per year as the Arduino matches the stepper motor speed with the real time clock. A DS3231 precision real time clock was added to one of the unused stepper motor sockets. The default A4988 stepper motor driver was replaced with a much better Trinamic TMC2208 driver to make it run quietly. The CNC Shield V4 board was originally designed for a CNC engraving machine with three stepper motors. Download the Assembly Notes plus the CNC Shield V4 Addendum for the complete set of instructions. The new driver has the following improvements:īoth stepper motor driver circuits are supported, although the CNC Shield V4 method should be used for new builds. An even quieter stepper motor solution was added in January 2023 that uses a CNC Shield V4 with a TMC2208 and a DS3231 precision real time clock. This was the quietest method I could find at the time. The original design used a custom circuit board to drive the stepper motor. Accuracy can be tuned to better than one second per day. All the gears are exposed, and the sweep second hand provides a great look. This is a nearly silent motorized desk clock using an Arduino Nano and a custom drive circuit to control a stepper motor.
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