In fact, there’s nothing uncommon about utilizing 7-segment shows, particularly in a clock. Nonetheless, [Edison Science Corner] didn’t purchase shows. As an alternative, he fabricated them from a PCB utilizing 0805 LEDs for the segments. You may see the ensuing clock undertaking within the video beneath.

Whereas the concept is nice, we would have been tempted to make use of a pair of LEDs for every section or used a diffuser to blur the LEDs. The naked look is sweet, however it could actually make studying some numerals barely complicated.

The rest of the undertaking is what you’d anticipate, a 3D-printed case and an Arduino Nano coupled with a DS1307 make the clock half work.

Actually, with a number of modifications, we’d wish to make up a few of these boards for different kinds of customized shows. We are able to think about a PCB the place the bottoms of the show parts are proper on the fringe of the board as an alternative of on stalks. You can even create a 14-segment show (we used to name these British flag shows) to make customized textual content messages. In fact, you may as well make customized electroluminescent shows on a PCB fairly simply, too.