Odd meter

It is indeed a silly project, I need some very small meters for the wrist watch version!

It uses the PIC2550 and having to do the PWM for the meters for both polarities in software I am running out of processor time doing the arithmetic for each meter (look up table time I think) and decoding the MSF and GPS signals. It's all fun and practice for the day job.

One thing I will try is having all the meters, not just the seconds one, doing a sweep rather than jumping to each digit, that will make it more like a real clock. A deconstructed analogue dial I suppose.

I have always wanted a working "soft watch" like Dali painted, ever since I saw the painting 50 odd years ago.

Radio Wrangler

So you won't be adding seconds, then....

Here they are now, nice and slow, no jumping either.

I have just noticed that the photo shows 5 5 5 5, it must be a super 555 timer.

[ekjdm14]

Originally Posted by merlinmaxwell

I have just noticed that the photo shows 5 5 5 5, it must be a super 555 timer.

I noticed that & thought it was deliberate, like how advertisers always seem to show analogue clock faces at 10:10. Not to rain on your parade since it is YOUR parade after all, but personally I felt the original version (HH:MM) easier on the eye.

Ingenious repurposing of the meters though & I have much admiration for your skills.

The 10 past 10 or 10 to 2 clock setting is as old as the hills. Done when it was impractical to wind every clock in the shop and have them set to the same time (and keeping time too). It looks a bit like a smile, cheers up the customer!

Thinking about the "sweep" for all meters, there is a major flaw, take the minutes...
0 to 1 easy, same for 8 to 9 but what about 9 to 0, it would be silly making it go backwards for that minute. It only works sensibly for the seconds "hand". I may set the seconds back to non sweep to make it consistent. Or re-do the dials (scales) to include the last digit i.e. add a 10 to the minutes.

It is a very silly clock though. Listening to a tribute to Tim Brook-Taylor, a child came up to him and said, "You are a very silly man". I am happy with silly.

[Radio Wrangler]

We need more silliness.

It is the people who take themselves very, very seriously that have historically proven to be the most dangerous.

Where is David Sutch now we need him more than ever?

David

I am no danger then!

Back to the clock, getting used to reading it now. I had a "video call" to work this morning and put the clock in the background, quite deliberately. We spent more time discussing it than work, silliness rules...

I like the seconds sweep and may do an experiment where the whole 60 minutes are done by the seconds dial and hours by the current hours dial leaving the other two unused. That should be quickly readable and near enough for day to day time keeping. And I could make two, twice the silliness. Or have day and date? It will be an exacting Lettraset job for the date though. The question is do I have day (mon, tues..) and date or month and date, I usually know what day it is but the date is always a bit of a mystery. And a JFMAMJJASOND dial would be suitably silly. And it would take a year to test it fully.

[factory]

Originally Posted by greenstar

I have several nice quality Sangamo Weston meters about 52mm case diameter. They are marked 100-0-100uA. But the scale is 0 - 9 with the needle at rest in the middle at 4.5.
I have wondered where and how they might have been used. If I use them, I am thinking, I will need to change the scale, which would be a pity.
Tony

They are very similar to the meters used in what appears to be a timer counter made by Venner but with the alternate name of "Frequency And Time Measuring Equipment" model TSA1035P.



If the Venner had been nearer to me I would have added it to my collection.

The HP 524A & 524B counters use two meters as well, still looking for one of those for my collection (think they are almost extinct in the UK).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ka1wwvex5o

Another one is the Advance TC1.S. this differs a bit as it uses edgewise meters mounted vertically.


Note none of these use centre rest meters.

David

I spotted these on TV, Marcus du Sautoy's excellent series on precision measurement.