#BUY LIGHT UP WORD CLOCK SERIAL#

They are small surface-mount LEDs that can handle 30 mA of peak current. For white light backlighting of each word, I'm using Digikey 1080-1212-1 LEDs.

#BUY LIGHT UP WORD CLOCK SERIAL#

I wanted high accuracy, a serial interface, and battery backup. I am very familiar Micrchip's PIC family, so I selected the PIC16F688. The next thing to do was choose the microprocessor, the clock IC, and how do you drive all of those LEDs anyway? You can use the second head to print dissolvable support material (which allows for undercuts in the models!), or to print two-color 3D models, such as this one for the clock. Two-head printers are so much more useful than one-head printers. Side note: If you are going to acquire a 3D printer, buy one with TWO print heads. The divider walls extend all the way from top to bottom of the 3D printout. Instead the diffuser portion is made up of separate rectangles for each word, positioned at the top of each light well. Note that the diffuse layer is not a full flat layer, which would be bad for letting light bleed across the words. The second head prints a thin (0.05') layer of translucent ABS material to diffuse the light. I used a two-headed 3D printer - one print head used black ABS material to print the side walls.

Second, it must diffuse the light from the LEDs so that each word is evenly illuminated. It has two functions, first, create light for only the intended word (light must not bleed into adjacent words). The heart of the project is the light well.

Buy light up word clock