I made an awesome thing

To avoid ads I'm going to ramble... Read or don't whatever...

I want to give credit where credit is due... I first had the urge to make something like this after reading this post... https://m.imgur.com/gallery/iMXmj
I made some of my own changes, I used an Arduino Mega, integrated LEDs with WS2812B controllers, and a GPS chip for setting time rather than a bunch of ICs...

So the thing with the clock is that it needs stenciled font. Unfortunately through all my searching no one has thought to make a Harry Potter stencil font (go figure) so I had to manually create one... Not fun (if you want it pm me and I'll figure out where to post the files)

I used http://www.ponoko.com to laser cut the faceplate. In order to keep spacing right I built a grid in inkscape and lined everything up. The letters are backwards so the burning that happens from cutting will be on the back

The finished plate.

So the clock is made of three boards sandwiched in the box. The faceplate, light plate, and back plate... This is the light plate that will hold the LEDs. I drilled out holes for only the letters that has lights

This is the first time I extensively soldered beyond a "this is how you solder" class in one of my undergrad labs

Obviously I got better as I went

Finished plate with wired up Arduino and GPS... What isn't pictured here is an external regulator I added later. I read online that the v+ output of the Arduino should be less than an amp. Well at Max, I'd pull right at 0.96A, so I added the external regulator to keep the Arduino from frying

Finished lights. Notice the button??? Well it is a GPS clock, so it'll automatically set to Eastern Time zone. I was able to program DST into it, but time zones are a bit beyond me. So the button is there in case the person whose gift this is moves out of the Eastern Time zone. I'll shift the time 1 hour ahead each press.

Building the box with some help from a buddy's dad

Box and faceplate stained

First time putting all 3 plates together

The clock is a wedding gift, so on the couple's anniversary at the time of their wedding it does this. The random words are timed to Hedwig Theme, and the always shifts between blue (ravenclaw) and yellow (Hufflepuff) since those are the two houses of the couple...

And again the final picture just for fun