
The Clock - unwind
http://techno-logic-art.com/clock.htm
======
jgrahamc
His other project, called The Tower, looks even more amazing. He replaced the
simple diodes with LEDs: [http://techno-logic-
art.com/tower.htm](http://techno-logic-art.com/tower.htm)

~~~
dan1234
Such a shame there are no videos on the site. Photos don't seem to do it
justice.

~~~
Technologicart
Videos are currently work in progress. Making a good video is difficult
because of the light reflection. It's not easy to film something thru a glass.

~~~
iamdanfox
If you haven't already, definitely try a polarizing filter. I had to take some
shots of some glass-framed artwork and it worked really well for those!

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kitd
Having built small discrete projects myself, the effort that has gone into
linking all those parts without a board _and_ ensuring that there are no
touching wires makes my head hurt.

Beautiful!

~~~
TeMPOraL
What blows my mind is not even wiring this up - it's how he managed to _debug_
this when he made a mistake (say, plugged something backwards or let the wires
touch). On a project of this size and scale it is pretty much impossible not
to make one at some point, no matter how careful you are.

~~~
carapace
Debug it? How did he _design_ it in the first place? I'd love to know more
about that.

~~~
lmm
That part seems reasonably clear; an oscillator is a very simple circuit, most
of the work is just going to be hooking it up to the displays correctly. You
can design a circuit like this in a software simulator, put it together on a
breadboard. Not saying that's what happened, but it doesn't seem like the hard
part.

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robzyb
I think that carapace didn't mean "how did he design the circuit" but rather
"how did he design the physical manifestation of the circuit?"

Akin to "how did he layout that PCB?"

~~~
carapace
Thank you. ;-)

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scoj
That is quite amazing. I love his signature: [http://techno-logic-
art.com/images1/gislain_benoit.jpg](http://techno-logic-
art.com/images1/gislain_benoit.jpg)

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Technologicart
Hey! I am Gislain Benoit the maker of the clock and the tower. (Proof sorry
cellphone pic)
[http://i.gyazo.com/960a386840d6c471a76bf04b47cd09ae.jpg](http://i.gyazo.com/960a386840d6c471a76bf04b47cd09ae.jpg)
If you have any questions, please post them as reply.

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userbinator
This is known as diode-transistor logic, and was quite common in early
computers:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode%E2%80%93transistor_logic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diode%E2%80%93transistor_logic)

The amazing and artistic thing about this is not the circuitry itself - it's
just a series of dividing counters and a shift register (to drive the seconds
ring) - but the layout. The images are also right at the edge of being high-
resolution enough to tempt me to reverse-engineer a schematic...

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mikegerwitz
This is an incredible piece of art. I can't express the positive emotions I
feel for this.

~~~
McUsr
I concur. The emotions the imagery invoked in me was a rare experience,
technology hasn't invoked such feelings for years. So not sure if it is
feeling associated with art, but still, it made me happy, and I do acknowledge
the work as art.

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iblaine
Very impressive. [http://techno-logic-art.com/tower.htmQD](http://techno-
logic-art.com/tower.htmQD) has been built and "The Pyramid" is coming next.

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spydum
wow, that urgently needs a video! (FYI remove the QD from your link..)

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xdissent
> The unit is powered by an external 12VDC adaptor, connected on the back of
> the frame.

But later...

> The clock reference, in other words the heart beat of this clock comes from
> the AC outlet.

Maybe it's really a 12VAC adapter?

~~~
rmhsilva
I suspect he uses both 120VAC and 12VDC - the first to provide a clock
reference, and the second to power the circuitry. It wouldn't be hard to wire
in the 120VAC connection in addition to having a 12VDC adapter.

~~~
vidarh
The C64 did this (pretty much). It had a rarely used realtime clock function
in the CIA 6526 (Complex Interface Adapter) chips. You could power the C64 off
just 5VDC for most purposes (or a voltage roughly in that region - I
experimented with running mine off both a 4.5V and 9V batteries; it was
surprisely robust against abuse from people like me who preferred physical
experimentation to actually reading up on what'd be advisable to subject it
to), but if you didn't provide an AC source on the right pin too, the realtime
clock and the user port wouldn't work as they should.

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stinos
Years ago I created something in this style (well, sort of: contained no
actual logic, just lit leds and stored a small amount of energy so it took
minutes to fade them out, and doesn't even come close to the achievements of
this guy) as a gift and I was quite proud of it:
[http://i.imgur.com/vYs619y.jpg](http://i.imgur.com/vYs619y.jpg)

Now I feel _really_ small though :P

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smoyer
Very inspiring ... I spent 20 years as an embedded systems engineering before
switching solely to software. I've done a few contract projects but this makes
me yearn for something that's simply artistic. Any ideas?

~~~
OnACoffeeBreak
An LED cube? A cube can have similar aesthetics of bare wire, solder joints
and LEDs, and will also let you use your embedded programming skills.

~~~
Zikes
These can be bought as kits now, too.

[http://www.tested.com/tech/487664-show-and-tell-hypnocube-
le...](http://www.tested.com/tech/487664-show-and-tell-hypnocube-led-cube/)

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stegosaurus
Does anyone have any recommendations of basic circuit emulation software that
could be used to tinker with ideas like this without destroying actual
hardware?

In the UK schools used to have software called 'crocodile clips' which could
show things like the current flowing through each junction, but it's too basic
for larger projects like this.

~~~
mctx
We used PSpice at uni:
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSpice](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSpice)

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nsxwolf
Does this guy write his own copy? He sounds pretty full of himself. He has a
right to be after making these things, but still.

~~~
acomjean
You are getting modded down, but you are correct his description has a few
sentences that are bad enough to be somewhat off-putting. Its bad form in the
art world to call something you created a masterpiece or extraordinary (even
if it is).

I chalk this up to lack of experience.

The work is beautiful, it would be better to have less hyperbole in the
description .

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sbierwagen
KABtronics makes something similar as a kit you can solder together yourself.

[http://www.transistorclock.com/index.html](http://www.transistorclock.com/index.html)

[http://www.transistorclock.com/linked/onwall_l.jpg](http://www.transistorclock.com/linked/onwall_l.jpg)

~~~
hga
That strikes me as mostly tedious without looking hardly as beautiful.

I'm told I have above average soldering skills, but the beauty of the (very
large number of) joints in the OP work of art floors me.

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snake_plissken
That is pretty sweet and completely mesmerizing!

But, the thought of soldering all of those junctions together; what is the
process for testing something like this as you build it? What if you make a
mistake and don't catch it in time? Like you hook up a diode backwards...

Serious craftsmanship.

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lamuerteflaca
This is how you do it: You design it in a computer. Test it. And then just
follow the diagram.

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TheOtherHobbes
I think it's more likely the design is modular - build your BCD counter out of
smaller modules, breaking it down to gates. You can repeat the 3D design of
each functional unit.

Still awesome though. Especially that central ring, which is just there for
the look of the thing.

I'd be a little worried there are no decoupling caps anywhere, so it could be
a touch glitchy - although at 12V you'd have good natural noise immunity, so I
guess that's not a problem in practice.

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mcguire
That is a beautiful piece of work.

But I'm afraid the description lost me at:

" _Since glass covers the complete artwork, there was no way adjust the time
using buttons which was simply solved by hovering an elegant handcrafted piece
of magnet over specific locations over the glass frame. Electro- magnetic
micro switches inside the frame responds to the magnet and adjust the time.
The "Time adjusting magnet" has a chrome handle tip and its magnet side is
covered with velvet._"

"elegant handcrafted piece of magnet"?

~~~
cfontes
I think it's pretty ok to understand what they are saying.

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iamdanfox
One of the most pleasing things for me is that his gallery was navigable using
two finger swipes on my macbook!

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spot
similar technique but more useful:
[http://jasonkrugman.com/](http://jasonkrugman.com/) in particular:
[http://www.jasonkrugman.com/organicElectric/](http://www.jasonkrugman.com/organicElectric/)

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ljk
Is there a tool that one can use to bend the leads in perfect straight line
and circles?

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tdicola
You probably need to make a lot of custom little jigs out of wood and use them
to bend pieces around curves and such.

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rootbear
This is beautiful. I hope he posts videos. It reminds me of the old
electronics of my childhood; radios and TV sets that had point-to-point wiring
on terminal strips. No circuit boards! But they were never this beautiful.

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mapster
Having been an electronics hobbyist myself I have great awe for his projects.
Are there examples of software that are analogous to 'the clock' in their
power to inspire awe?

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reedlaw
The dual digit displays are probably simply encased LEDs but it would be nice
if there was a way to expose the inside of those too. Aesthetically they seem
out of place.

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mod
I wish there were a picture to show scale. I did see the dimensions but
something for comparison would be nice.

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dyeje
I would love to see a video of using the hand crafted magnet to adjust the
time of the clock.

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rikkus
Next step: Use valve transistors. Bonus points for using them in place of the
LEDs too!

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techaddict009
Hope to see his Kickstarter campaign soon for the same.

