3D Printed LED Clock

Welcome to our project: creating a 3D printed, LED lit, digital clock! The end result is sleek, appealing, and vibrant. Not only does this project provide the perfect amount of mellow lighting, but also a useful digital clock feature.

• Digital clock kit (about 2 by 1.5 inches). Arduino is another good option.
• Soldering iron and metal
• 3D printer and filament
• Laser cutter or CNC
• white, translucent acrylic
• Hot glue gun or Gorilla glue
• Thin wood for laser cutting decorative panel
• LED light strip (6-10)

With whatever digital clock/soldering kit you choose, follow the kit's instructions for assembly and soldering. As you can see, ours had several parts (including buttons to adjust the time) that we secured with a soldering iron and sponge. This part took about 30 minutes, and you should test that everything functions as intended before moving on to the rest of the clock.

Next, CAD your clock. We used Fusion360 and created two pieces that interlock to contain the clock, and a small interlocking piece to go on top and hold the whole thing together. We also used Fusion for the CAD of the LED strip which we converted to an engineered drawing to send to the laser cutter. You could definitely duplicate this design, or take it in your own direction entirely. You have lots of creative freedom to make it your own here. Just make sure you keep a couple things in mind:

• Be precise in your measurements for the opening where the clock shows]
• If you go with interlocking pieces, leave a gap / offset of a couple mm so that pieces will fit snugly
• Leave a hole in the side for your power source if your kit contains a USB
• Make sure you leave enough room on the inside for all the mechanisms (digital clock, power, led strips, etc.).

Print the case of your clock and make sure that everything fits. Put the digital clock inside and make sure it does not move around too much, and plug it in to make sure it functions correctly. At this stage you can also go back to the CAD and make and necessary adjustments and reprint.

Once we were happy with our print, we laser cut the face of the design on wood and stained it for a sleek finish.

Now you can laser cut your acrylic on a laser cutter or CNC. You can cut it to fit directly into your design, or make simple panels to fit into the back of the clock. This is a good option if you do not have access to a laser cutter: just find a translucent material that you can fit into your design to amplify the light.

Then, fit your LED lights. I glued them to a Styrofoam plate to amplify the light within the clock for a better glow. These can be attached to an external power source, but in our case we used a 9V battery and soldered a switch on.

By now you can see your project taking full shape, and you can see in our picture how well the lighting worked!

Here is our completed project! By now you've completed all the steps to make a successful 3D printed, LED light Clock. It's perfect for lighting as well as telling the time. We would love to see your versions of this project :)

Thanks for reading,

Fiona and Emma