Word Clock,Arduino LED Animated Rainbow Word Clock Using WS2812b Strip With Fusion360 and Vetric Cut2D

In this Instructable I will show you how i made a LED animated word clock using an Inexpensive Ribba picture frame Arduino Nano, DS3231 RTC and WS2812b LED strip.

I saw one of these amazing clocks on Instructables sometime ago by Tech Kiwi Gadgets, their design used a 3D printed case and RGB Individual LED Modules, I have opted for using the strip WS2812b and a RIBBA Frame,

I will be using the code from Tech Kiwi Gadgets for this clock.

The clock runs off an Arduino Nano, the wiring is exactly the same as the 3D Printed clock, Addressable LED's have a + and gnd and a data cable

For the Time digits In this Instructable I have used a piece of 6mm MDF (Black or White Acrylic would be better) and cut them out on the CNC machine using a stencil font.

I also designed and 3D Printed a grid/Baffle to stop LED Leakage between the time digits, the baffle is designed and printed with Fusion360

The default time animation is a Rainbow effect but there are also several other animations, like The Matrix, chasing LEDS etc etc, these are accessed via buttons on the side of the clock, different colours can be selected and the time is also changed from these buttons 3no buttons in total.

This project require some soldering of components, but using the WS2812b strip makes things a lot easier in my humble opinion.

When using a CNC machine please use the correct Personal protective equipment:

Eye and ear protection.

Dusk mask rated for the work you are carrying out.

RIBBA Deep Photo/Picture frame or any deep frame(230mm x 230mm x 40mm)

WS1282b addressable LED strip, 110no LEDS needed in total.

Arduino Nano

DS3231 RTC Module

Push Button Switch x 3

Soldering Iron

Mini USB Cable

3D Printer

CNC Machine

The first part of this build is to measure the distance between the LED's and then create a 3D printed Grid or some sort of grid using thin plywood or foam board and hot glue into position, the grid is to stop leakage from the LED's in theory only lighting up the letter in the box.

I used the back board part of the frame for the LED's and electronics

The grid needs to be 11 squares horizontally and 10 squares Vertically the LED's are 20mm apart.

With the grid as our template we can now measure out the spacings for the LED strips.

The LED strip has a direction arrow and is self adhesive which makes things easier.

The starting point for our LED direction is bottom left corner as in the photo, the LED direction is all direction arrows pointing vertically, the exit point being in the right hand corner as we look at it from the front.

We need a 5v power supply at both ends of the strip as shown, for the data cable, I drilled a holes at the top and bottom of every strip.

I messed up here initially so be careful, the 5v and GND can be Daisy chained as in the photo but the data cable must start at the bottom of every strip, as all direction arrows are pointing up, so it comes out at the top and is routed to the bottom each time, I opted for routing the data cables around the perimeter making the electronics install easier.

The Grid was then hot glued into position.

I didn't have the light sensor as shown in the wiring diagram, so i just went with the diagram apart from that and wired in the 3 switches, (the switches were installed on the side of the frame) I did this on the back of the LED board, the nano is underneath the board in the photos but its pretty much easy for the electronic's, from the nano we take 5v and ground to the LED strip and the DS3231 RTC and the data feed is from D11 at the end of the LED strip connect 5v and gnd and tie into the 5v and Ground going to the strip, creating a power loop, wire the RTC as in the diagram.

The LED's can be tested at this point

The Frame came with a plastic front instead of glass, so i ordered a piece of glass and used this instead, behind the letters on the mdf board I fitted a diffuser to stop glare, this was just a sticky backed A4 sheet of white paper, next came the grid, ensure the led strip goes within the recesses created on the grid and hold in place with hot glue in multiple positions.

Then the whole thing was held in place with hot glue, I never got round to making a back plate for the clock.

All the settings and clock set up are the same as in Tech Kiwi Gadgets Instructable apart from I used DS1307 example set time, this sets the time on the RTC and when the clock code is uploaded the time is correct.

Assumptions:

Some of the procedures to make this clock are very tedious and time consuming but on the whole its a very rewarding build, Its been a learning curve for me that's for sure.

Big thanks to Tech Kiwi Gadgets for the original concept.

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable and thanks for looking.

In this part of the Instructable we have to start off by making a grid the same dimensions as the grid for the led's

In Vetric we can use an array to make things easier, and initially making a rectangle.

I had saved the letters from when i first made the clock but the format is the same.

The internal diameter of my frame is 230mm x 230mm so a square is drawn to these dimensions.

Create a rectangle within this square at 183mm x 162 and centralize it, this will act as a guide for our first square.

The first square is created in the bottom left corner and from this an array can be made to cover the whole 183 x 160 rectangle.

We can now start using text to populate the letters(Using a Stencil Font) within the grid, this is a bit of a bind but its the only way I know,

What you have to do is get each letter into a box then centralize each letter within its own box, this is done using the Align to selection tab, you highlight the letter first then holding shift, select its box and then align centrally, you need to do this for all 110 letters.

Once that is all done we can then go to a pocket cut and cut through the material.