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Project Notes

#473 xdiskclk

An old 3.5 inch disk drive was begging to be disassembled and transformed with the addition of a simple clock mechanism to produce the “ex-disk clock”.

Here’s a quick demo..

clip

Notes

Clock Mechanism

The Clock Movement Mechanism is a cheap and simple AA-powered unit from a seller on aliexpress. I don’t expect the time-keeping accuracy to be that impressive.

clock_mechanism_dimensions

clock_mechanism_internals

Construction

The scultpure is a a random assembly of parts from the disk drive (platter, main board, head actuator) mounted around the clock mechanism.

As a table piece, I have it standing on the disk drive cover (bent to make a stand). I haven’t decided whether I’ll wall-mount the unit yet, so instead of trimming the hands to size, I just have the minute and second hand bent to size for now.

xdiskclk_build

Credits and References

About LEAP#473 CraftClock
Project Source on GitHub Project Gallery Return to the LEAP Catalog

This page is a web-friendly rendering of my project notes shared in the LEAP GitHub repository.

LEAP is just my personal collection of projects. Two main themes have emerged in recent years, sometimes combined:

  • electronics - usually involving an Arduino or other microprocessor in one way or another. Some are full-blown projects, while many are trivial breadboard experiments, intended to learn and explore something interesting
  • scale modelling - I caught the bug after deciding to build a Harrier during covid to demonstrate an electronic jet engine simulation. Let the fun begin..
To be honest, I haven't quite figured out if these two interests belong in the same GitHub repo or not. But for now - they are all here!

Projects are often inspired by things found wild on the net, or ideas from the many great electronics and scale modelling podcasts and YouTube channels. Feel free to borrow liberally, and if you spot any issues do let me know (or send a PR!). See the individual projects for credits where due.