It's Instruct'O Clock: Automatic Backlit Instructables Clock - Art and Function Combined.

The Project:

Welcome reader. More than a picture, more than a clock, I wanted to create a clock that was more than just a way to tell time, but a piece of art representing the projects we make and how time is a big part of that. Whether it's the timing of a circuit or mechanism to do something, a deadline to complete a project, or the time it takes to complete a task or step- wrapped up in an Instructables themed clock which is where we publish/read about these projects. Whimsical yet functional, this combines the function of a working clock along with the joy of the animated robot telling us the time in it's own way.

Inspired by the creativity of Instructables, I replaced the numbers with the letters spelling out the name turning the face itself into a visual tribute to the maker spirit that we are all apart of. At the center stands our friendly robot proudly using the clock hands as its own... a symbol of invention and imagination at work. With its soft automatic backlight and the ability to sit on a desk or shelf, or hang on a wall, this clock isn't just functional, it's a celebration of creativity, design, and the art of making.

I played about with the name 'The Dancing Robot Clock' because when the little dude points to certain times, it looks like it's striking a pose (5:55 looks like it's 'Staying Alive', or 10 past 10 it looks like it's starting the 'YMCA' dance), but I went with Instruct'O Clock, a follow on from my Instruct'o Instructables robot toolbox ,

The Inspiration:

Apart from what I mentioned above about the creativity of the Instructables community, this is part of a small number of projects I'm making for 2025 Christmas gifts for family and close friends, and there is one good friend's son who is an Instructables fan although they he's not really a maker, yet, he just enjoy seeing the cool stuff people make and the different approaches to how they are made.

The Making:

An enjoyable to make and a fun way to check the time using only a few cheap and easily accessible materials and using only a few simple tools, this 'Build in a Day' project is, well, more like a build in an afternoon or evening. A mixture of fun artwork and every day functionality which is more pleasing than a plain ol' clock or picture, and because of the subtle cartoon animated effect, you will sometimes find yourself looking at the clock, not to check the time, but to see where the little robot is pointing.

This is one of those projects I wanted to keep simple yet still be aesthetically pleasing and functional using foam core for the frame, an analog clock mechanism, a light sensor and LED strip and draw the clock face myself following the Instructables robot mascot image. This took an afternoon to make, but depending on your experiences and abilities, this could take a little more or a little less time, but it's a fun project to make none the less. I made the attached video to accompany this Instructable that also shows how I made this clock.

I actually have grown fond of this clock, because the way it looks with the hands, it gives the impression that out little robot friend is actually communicating with you... "Hey dude, it's 1 o'clock", "Look look, it's 3:30". Because of this, I now want to make one for myself (more on this in Step 14, Final Thoughts).

The clock is ticking, so lets get to it...

Tools:

1. Pencil
2. Metal (or metal edged) ruler for measuring and for a cutting edge
3. Marker pen
4. A Drill with an acrylic drill bit (a step bit is ideal for this)
5. X-acto knife or similar with a new blade and a cutting board
6. Pair of scissors
7. Wire cutters/strippers
8. Hot glue gun and good quality glue stick (you could use a PVA glue - although a longer set time)
9. Electrical screwdriver for tightening wire terminals
10. Computer/printer to make the clock face images (or you could hand-draw/colour them)
11. Jigsaw and fine toothed blade for cutting acrylic. You can also use other saws like a table saw along with an acrylic cutting blade. You can also buy 'cut to size' sheet, of which you would want 297mm x 297mm.

Materials:

1. 2 x sheets of good quality White 5mm foam core/foam board, A3 size (42cm x 29.7cm)
2. 2 x sheet clear acrylic sheet, 3mm A3 size
3. Analog wall clock mechanism
4. A small roll of self-adhesive clear vinyl film
5. A 5 volt photosensitive light sensor module
6. Double sided tape
7. A short length of electrical wire
8. USB power-only cord (plug on one end, two wires, red + and black - on the other). The length of the wire is up to you as it depends on where you are going to locate the clock relative to your power source.

The links I have listed above are U.K links, as that's where I'm located, and are not affiliated, just a helpful reference so you can purchase the same or similar items in your location.

Build Time:

1. 4 to 5 hours give or take

List of Following Steps:

1. Step 1: Design Aspects.
2. Step 2: Cutting the acrylic sheets.
3. Step 3: Making the outer frame.
4. Step 4: Front Holding Lips.
5. Step 5: Front Acrylic Cover.
6. Step 6: Inner Holding Lips.
7. Step 7: Back Acrylic Panel.
8. Step 8: Fitting the Clock Mechanism.
9. Step 9: Assembling the clock hands.
10. Step 10: Fitting the clock face.
11. Step 11: Wiring and fitting the light sensor.
12. Step 12: Installing the LED strip.
13. Step 13: Finishing off, Making the back panel.
14. Step 14: Final Thoughts:

I normally paint or vinyl wrap my projects, but in this case I have left it bare because the white foam core I used already had a nice finish to it, like a silky smooth texture. And the using the white coloured board gave the clock the monochrome design I know my friends son likes.

The light sensor is located on the top of the frame, but you could mount it on either side. I didn't mount it on the bottom so the clock can be placed onto a shelf or table etc.

I gave the clock an opening panel to replace the clock battery, set the time, and adjust the light sensor The light sensor module has a 'pot' adjuster so you can adjust the sensitivity of the photosensor to how light or dark it is in the room before the LED backlight comes on and turns off. Also the white foam core panel would help reflect the LED light to help evenly distribute the back lighting.

I used two clear acrylic sheets so the robots hands where behind it's body because when designing the clock face, I didn't like the look of having the hands in front, it just looked wrong. The robot body is attached to the acrylic using a clear window film because I didn't want any glue or tape visible.

I used a USB power cable and a 5 volt LED strip and light sensor for the low voltage and power consumption. The cable can be neatly hidden using a thin length of cable trunking, or use a USB cable a similar colour as the wall you intend to put it on. You could use a rechargeable power bank that could sit inside of the clock, but obviously it would need to be recharge on a regular basis. Having the clock on a shelf or desk makes it easier to hide the cable. Having the clock mechanism running off it's own battery means the back lighting can be unplugged, yet the clock still keeps time. If you intend to display the clock in a well lit area during the day, another power option you could add is a solar panel on the top with a rechargeable battery like the cheap solar garden LED lights which generally run off a 3 to 5 volt rechargeable battery.

As this is an art piece, you cold always make your own images for the clock face and hands, but being an Instructables artwork clock is mainly what this build was about because this site has had a profound effect on my life which you can read about by clicking here and scrolling down to the last step.

On to the build.

The clear acrylic sheets should have a protective film covering them. Keep these on for now. If you purchased 'cut to size' sheets, skip to Step 3.

1. The shortest width of the acrylic sheets are 297mm. With the sheets on your work surface, measure the longer length of each sheet to 297mm. Mark this out with a marker pen.
2. With a fine toothed blade fitted, cut the sheets with the jigsaw. Don't push the jigsaw along too much, let the saw do the work to avoid cracking the sheet. If you jigsaw has a smooth removable plastic cutting plate, use this to avoid scratching the sheet. If it doesn't have this plate, apply some masking tape on to the acrylic for the saw to run along.
3. If needed, lightly sand the cut edges.

1. Measure and mark out four lengths of foam core, two lengths measuring 297mm x 90mm, and two lengths at 307mm x 90mm (the extra 10mm accounts for the thickness of two 5mm thick foam core strips).
2. Place the foam core onto a cutting board, then using a metal edge ruler or one of the sheets of acrylic, cut out the four lengths with your knife. Don't try to cut a length out in one pass, instead make a light score cut first, then make three or four more cut passes until you're through. Do this with all foam core cuts.
3. Place one of the acrylic sheet onto the work surface to use as a straight edge guide, then lay out the strips around the edge, the 307mm lengths top and bottom, and the two 297mm lengths along the sides.
4. Apply hot glue along one 9mm 'edge' of a 297mm strip and attach it to one 'end' of a307mm strip. When attaching the two pieces, use the acrylic as a square guide, resting both strips along the acrylic edges ensuring you get a 90 degree foam core attachment.
5. Do the same as stage 4 to attach the rest of the strips together.

If any hot glue spills out, wipe off the excess before it sets, and remove the frame from the acrylic straight away so any overspill doesn't set them together,

1. Measure and cut out four 5mm strips of foam core, two at 297mm and two at 287mm
2. Apply a thin layer of hot glue along one edge of a 297mm strip and attach it the the inner edge of the clock frame.
3. Do the same as stage 2, attaching the other 297mm strip, then the two 287mm strips.
4. Drop an acrylic sheet into the clock frame for a test fit, then remove it for the next step.

To make the robot images (the body and the arms/hands), I took on the challenge to draw my own robot using a paint program on my laptop, copying the image of the Instructables mascot to get it looking as identical as I could (which took a while but glad I made the effort), but without the robots arms, just the body. If drawing is not your thing, I guess you could take a screen grab (if the Instructables team are cool with that) and enlarge the image. Then I drew the arms/hands separately making them longer so they wont be hidden behind the body. One are is longer than the other for the minute and hour hands. Being a personal piece of artwork as well as a functioning clock, you could also hand-draw and colour the images if you prefer.

For size, you will want the body just less than half the size of the clock face which is 297mm square, so around 140mm for the body, and the arms slightly longer/wider than the clock mechanism hands. The last attached image above is formatted to A4 so hopefully downloading it from here will come out the correct size.

1. With the robot images drawn out, cut them out with a pair of scissors and/or your knife. Because there are some small areas such as the ears and track marks, I didn't cut around the black outline, but instead left a small white outline which is barely noticeable against the white background.
2. With one of the acrylic sheets, remove the protective backing film from both sides and lay it on your clean work surface.
3. Cut out a square of clear vinyl window film, just a bit larger that the acrylic.
4. Now place the robot body image in the middle of the acrylic sheet. Peel of a small section of backing paper and start to attach the vinyl film to the acrylic. Use a vinyl squeegee or a flat plastic edge like a credit card (or a piece of foam core) to smooth down the vinyl film, pushing out any air bubbles.
5. When you get to the middle, double check to make sure the robot image is still centered. Carry on applying the filmmaking contact with the image to help hold it in place.
6. When the film is fully attached, double check for any air bubbles, using a pin to pierce any then smooth out if necessary.
7. Then insert the acrylic into the clock frame, where it will now stay.

1. Measure the length of the clock mechanisms shaft (what the hands attach to). The one I have was 20mm long.
2. Cut out four lengths of foam core, two at 297mm and two at 287mm. For the width of these four pieces, they need to be slightly wider than the shaft. In my case the shaft was 20mm, minus the thickness of the 3mm acrylic, leaving 17mm. But I cut the foam core pieces to the full 20mm width because a little space is needed between the end of the shaft/the seconds hand and the back of the front acrylic sheet. If the shaft was to touch the front acrylic sheet, it could easily stop the seconds hand from rotating and end up damaging the mechanism.
3. Apply glue to one flat side of a 297mm foam core length and attach it to the bottom inside of the clock frame, tight against the front acrylic sheet.
4. Follow the same process for the fitting the other pieces, the longer top one first, then the two side pieces.

The front acrylic panel is now fixed in place and fully secure.

Your left over acrylic panel should still have the protective film on it. You will need a drill with a 'Step' drill bit for drilling into acrylic. Instead of puncturing through the acrylic, a step drill piece scrapes pieces of acrylic away to make the hole that stops the acrylic from cracking. You could always use a soldering iron and melt a hole.

1. Measure corner to corner to locate dead center of the acrylic sheet and make a mark with a marker pen.
2. Place the sheet onto a scrap piece of wood, and drill the hole for the clock mechanism shaft. Start small, test fit, make a little bigger, test fit, and so on until the shaft fits perfectly into the hole.
3. Now you can remove all of the acrylic protective film.

There are two ways you can proceed from here, both equally effective.

The Way I Did This Clock:

I drew the clock face on my laptop with the black outer edge, the inner white square, then the lettering. With 'Instructables' being thirteen letters I could have left the last 'S' off, but decided to use all thirteen letters (as it is the proper name for the website, as appose to "writing an..."), and used the first two letters 'I N' to indicate the number '12'.

Because of the maximum size of paper I can use in my printer is A4, I had to make two sections. Setting my computers draw program canvas to A4 size (3508 x 2480 pixels), I drew the complete face, selected and resized the image so it covered the whole canvas which meant only the bottom part was visible. I printed off this section, used the 'Undo' tool to get back to the full image, them resized and printed off the top section (the shortest width of A3 is 297mm which is the same as the longest length of A4).

1. Cut of any white borders of the print outs, the apply double sided tape to the back of the bottom clock face print.
2. Remove the tapes backing paper then line up and attach the print to the acrylic. Use a length of foam core to smooth out the image when applying it.
3. Offer up the top print of the clock face and mark where it needs to be cut so it exactly matches the bottom section. Then cut off the unwanted section. Use a metal edge ruler and knife for a clean straight cut.
4. Finally, apply double sided tape and attach it the the acrylic, marrying up the two edges... 1 :so there is no gap... and 2: so it doesn't overlap as this will be visible when the backlighting is on.

The Other Way To Do The Clock Face:

The other technique you can use in...

1. Rub one side of the acrylic with a fine grade sandpaper to make it opaque.
2. Apply some white vinyl lettering (3cm tall) around the edge to mark out the number positions on the sanded side.
3. Apply 4 to 5 coats of black spray primer/paint mix for plastic over the sanded side/letters.
4. When the paint is dry, carefully remove all of the lettering using your knife to peel the edges off.
5. Apply some white window film to the smooth side of the acrylic to really make the white lettering pop.

In the last step I talk about making a second clock, so I may actually use this technique. If you're lucky enough to own or have access to a vinyl cutter like a CRICUT, then this would be a good option.

1. Back to the paper covered clock face. Locate the center hole in the acrylic, then punch a hole through the paper (paper side).
2. Insert the clock mechanism shaft through the hole, place the included washer over the shaft then attach the included fixing nut. Be careful not to tighten it too much as this could effect the operation of the clock.

1. If you haven't already done so, cut the hands out the same way as we did with the body
2. Apply some double sided tape along the back of the hand images., Remove the backing paper and lay the hand image upside down on your work surface.
3. Place the top side of the clock hand onto the tape, pick it up and smooth it down.
4. The fingers are longer than the clock hands. This was to make sure the hands wouldn't be hidden behind the body as I mentioned in Step 5, and the fact the fingers are narrower than the clock hand. Carefully apply a tiny amount of hot glue to the back of the finger and to cover the tip of the clock hand.
5. Smooth the glue over with a piece of card or plastic to flatten the glue out. Then leave for the glue to dry. I did this because paper, especially printed on paper tends to curl slightly and this could effect the clock operation. The dried glue will make the finger solid to it won't bend or curl.
6. Finally, attach the hands to the clock shaft. They are normally press fit. Do the hour hand first, then the minute hand, then the seconds hand if you choose to use it.

1. Lay the clock frame face down on your work surface.
2. Lay the clock face into the frame insuring it is the correct way up.
3. Cut four small strips of foam core and glue to the inner edges of the clock frame tight against the back of the clock face. The face is now fixed securely in place and has made the entire clock frame even more secure.

1. To wire up the light sensor, follow the above wiring diagram I made. We use the NC (Normally Closed) and COM terminals to turn the backlight On when in a dark room. Using the NO (Normally Open) terminal will have the opposite effect, backlight turns On in a brightly lit room. Plug it in to a power source to test operation.
2. Make a small hole in the top of the clock frame and insert the light sensor photocell. Add a little hot glue inside of the frame to keep the sensor in place.
3. Add a little hot glue to the back of the sensor module and attach it to the inside of the clock frame.
4. Trace any wires around the edge and hold them in place with a little glue.
5. Plug it in to test operation again.

1. With the LED strip already connected to the light sensor that we did in Step 11, peel back a little of the LEDs adhesive backing paper and start attaching it to the inside of the clock frame (see above pictures).
2. Keep going all the way around. When doing the corners, make the LED strip have a little curve. Bending it at a tight right angle could damage the strip.
3. When it's fully attached, plug the USB plug into a power source to test operation again.
4. At this point you can adjust the light sensor 'pot' to adjust the sensitivity.

1. Grab the second sheet of foam core and measure/mark out a section to make the maintained panel. It needs to be large enough to not only get the the clock mechanism, but to reach in with a screwdriver to adjust the light sensor pot.
2. Cut the section out with your knife and metal ruler, but don't remove it yet. The cut out a small section in what will be the bottom of the panel to put your finger through to open it.
3. Place a piece of clear tape along the top of the panel and the frame. This will act as the hinge.
4. You can now push the panel out. It will be tight so if you don't mind a tight press fit you can leave it as it is. If you want a looser fit (gravity will pull it down anyway, and if you're hanging it on a wall, the wall will keep it closed), you can carefully cut a small slither of foam core out along the edges.
5. On the back panel along the top, measure the exact center of the clock and make a mounting hole large enough for a screw head to go through.
6. Apply glue to the edges of the clock frame and attach the back panel.
7. Insert the clock battery.
8. Set the time.
9. Then display it where you want it, plugging in the USB plug to some 5v power.

You may need to play with the light sensor pot to fine tune the back light operation.

NOTE: The height of the back panel is a bit shorter than the clock frame, so you can add another strip of foam core to hide this gap. I left it as it to make the addition of a small down light effect on the wall.

And there we have it, your very own cheap n' cheerful Instructables clock so you can see how long it takes you to make your projects and compose/publish them here.

Funny thing, I'm so pleased with the way this turned out, I'm really considering keeping this one myself and making another one using wood and paint instead of foam core, and using a different technique for the clock face (see step 7 for more details). Not that there's anything wrong at all with the foam core one, it's actually quite a ridged and solid piece when put together, but I want to make a more luxurious one still with the same colour scheme, as it is a gift for someone. This is where I may use the second technique for the clock face I mentioned in Step 7.

So looking at the clock, I see it's time to wrap this one up. If you decide to make your own clock, please share what you made in the comments section.

Oh, and do you know why clocks go clockwise... Because when the more populated Northern Hemisphere invented the clock, the movement was based on the movement of their sundials where the shadows move from left to right and there was little reason for the Southern Hemisphere (where the sundial shadows move right to left) to change this standard. If clocks were invented in the SH, we would all be going backwards lol, joking of course.

Thanks for reading, and happy making.