LOST (TV show) - The Countdown Timer

Jintosh

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I bought 3 of these....a modern version of a classic flip clock. I bought these because they're the most affordable option for my budget.
The hours section turns at a different rate than the minutes section, so I will likely use the 3 minute sections from the 3 clocks so they'll all spin at the same rate.
I'll create a box to hold the flip sections and motors to spin them.


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Here's one of the motors I'll be using. It is 4 rotations per minute and I'll use gears to slow it to 1 rotation per minute to countdown from somewhere around 58 seconds.
It is a right angle motor to the rotating post. This is important because I'll only have a small space to the side of each flip section.
 
Ok, I like the idea of reusing the old clocks! that way there won't be that much research, but rather adapting to a concept. Keep going!
 
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Thank you. This is my first PHYSICAL build, since I usually do 3D modeling and printing.

Ok, I like the idea of reusing the old clocks! that way there won't be that much research, but rather adapting to a concept. Keep going!

Yep. It'll be a smaller size than the original, but more doable. If you notice the "01" on the clock, it is a single Tile for the top and one for the bottom. When I'm through, the numbers on the right will be inverse......white background and black numbers...and count down instead of up. I'll make the white label have a black line going down the middle to give it the illusion that the "01" is on (2) top tiles and (2) bottom tiles.

oh man this is going to be good!!! :thumbsup

This is a challenge for me, having a limited electronics background....but I do have a plan and I'll see this out if I can. The final product will have a sound file that plays the final countdown.
 
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I already have some black gears that I can use. The right pic is the ones I am having Shapeways make for me.
The red gears are specially designed to fit the rotating post of my DC motor. I am waiting on the gears at this point.

I also looked at the inside of my flip clock. Looks like I might be able to leave the hours section on the minute section and use the whole thing. There aren't (2) motors. There was just one motor that spins the minutes, and the minutes turn the hour section when minutes hit 00. I can work with that.
 
I'm glad to see this! Think Geek trolled us with a Lost Alarm clock a few years back. I was so bummed when I found out this was a joke.

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I cant wait to what you come up with!
 
I'm glad to see this! Think Geek trolled us with a Lost Alarm clock a few years back. I was so bummed when I found out this was a joke.

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I cant wait to what you come up with!

:lol.......... I saw that picture when I was researching my build and thought that they had actually MADE that.

Guess they fooled me. :wacko:cool
 
I'll make the white label have a black line going down the middle to give it the illusion that the "01" is on (2) top tiles and (2) bottom tiles.

This is a challenge for me, having a limited electronics background....but I do have a plan and I'll see this out if I can. The final product will have a sound file that plays the final countdown.

Very clever! limited electronics background? oh, I'm sure you can find some tutorials online!
 


** Minor update **

I got my gears from Shapeways. One worked. (pictured here) The other gear turned out to be too short. I fixed it and reordered.

Here is the motor I selected with the 3D printed gear. It is powered by a modified USB cable.
The direction of the motor can be reversed by switching the black and red wires on the motor.
 
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What a cool project, can't wait to see how it turns out!

Thanks ! :D

Here's a bit more info :

I bought a timer board that is common to eBay. It can be programmed to run for an amount of seconds and it has 4 female USB ports on it. Anything that is plugged into the USB ports is turned on and off automatically only while the timer is counting down.

So my DC motor is connected to a USB cord that'll plug into the timer board and my MP3 player board will also be attached to a USB cable and plugged into the timer board. The motor and MP3 will run for the 59 seconds that I program it for. This kind of timer board is cool because you can plug in and control anything that runs on 5 volts for a predetermined amount of time.
 


I got my timer board and DC power supply.

The timer usually goes into a coin-op machine. I had to get a small board and momentary button to simulate a coin insertion.
I set the timer for 15 seconds for this Test Run.
 
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Had a little extra time tonight.

I've connected my Timer board to the DC motor, connected the motor to the gears, and connected the gears to the Flip Clock. Effectively turning a Digital timer into an Analog timer !!!

A Flip Clock that originally counted off minutes, now counts off seconds.
 
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