A mechanical clock that tells time using 114 steel balls

By Marco Ventimiglia on May 16, 2021

Eric Nguyen has come up with a rather unique way of showing hours and minutes: steel balls arranged as seven-segment displays.

Every minute, the face rotates down and a series of 28 servos capture and release the balls using magnet and linkage systems.

The device is powered by an Arduino Nano along with an RTC module for accurate timekeeping, two PCA9685 driver boards control the motors directly and a TTP223B Capacitive Touch Switch Module.

More info.

About Marco Ventimiglia

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