Upcycled Videotape Time Zone Clock

Hey guys,

I found an old videotape in a cuboard in my house and since I can't play it wanted to do something fun with it instead. Got the idea to turn it into a dual time zone clock for a friend whos' partner is going to work in Japan for a bit. It turned out pretty good and actually wasn't too hard to do in the end so hope you enjoy.

-Video tape

- Two clocks or clock mechanisms

So I had an old clock lying around the house and then I went and found another in a charity shop but you can also buy these online. The main thing to think about is size as the whole thing has to fit in the tape and you don't want the hands to interfere with eachother.

-Paint (optional)

-Screwdriver

-Mounting hook

-Super glue

Cost: This cost me a total of £3.50, I got one clock for £1.50 and the superglue. If you were buying the clock parts new then it could run the costs up a fair bit higher.

Time: This whole thing probably took about 3 hours but would be a lot quicker without the painting.

So if you're using old clocks you'll need to pull them apart. I found this quite hard and all the arms came off whilst I did it but they went back on fine. I highly recommend checking your clock works and keeps time before you glue it in! Also check they are going to fit inside the tape.

If you're painting then make a design. Mine is a combination of the Welsh and Japanese flags to represent the two countries but you can really go to town on it.

Unscrew the tape and then disgard the contents.

I painted the clock faces too cos I thought it looked cool but it was a bit fiddly, whatever floats your boat.

Basically put a bit of glue inside the tape and then carefully insert the hands of the clock through the holes (if they fall off you can put them back on from the other side so don't worry if your hands are too big for this.) Make sure its dry before you flip it over but don't put it down on the clock hands either (I ended up just holding it admiring the view for a few minutes.) I put extra super glue around the edges.

Set the times you want before you put the back on! As an additional both my clocks tick and with a bit of battery fidling I managed to get them to tick together. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be and I think it was worth it.

So I'd checked before whether the clocks would fit and found they didn't really fit with the time setting dials sticking out at the back. Thankfully I discovered you can remove these without upsetting the clock and the video has all these handy nooks and crannies that you can store them in for if you wanted to reset the time later.

Then its just a case of screwing it back together.Its really easy then to take the back on and off as required etc.

I really liked this project, it was really very simple but looks great, good enough for my first instructable! I'd love to see if anyone else does it or other ideas for old video tapes.