Comments: The ClockClock Project
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Hi, really nice tutorial thank you. How do you set the zero position of the stepper motors, if the clock is unplugged?
Hello, the pin assignment on the AU is defined in ClockClock.acf. Unfortunately, it is not noted which motor is 0 and how the counting is. Motor 0 -1-2-3 (right to left??) Can you tell me these?
Anybody who could help me?
Hi! I pinged the Alchitry folks and they've responded in their forums - the response is here.
I've also added the project STL files as well as the step file to the Resources and Going Further section. Hope this helps!
Hello! I just checked the Alchitry forums and it looks like the same question has been asked over there, but with no response. I'll forward this to our Alchitry folks and see if they can't get this answered for you. Stand by!
Does anyone have a wiring diagram?
Could you upload it as an .stl file please?
Done! The project stls have been uploaded to the Resources and Going Further section. Hope this helps!
Hi. At first, I love this clock! You wrote in your conclusion, that the motors are very noisy. Is it a big change to build your clock with x40 stepper motors? I would like to build your design, but it have to be quiet. Is it in ypor pipeline to build an update with improvements? Thanks Dirk
Any Answer?
Hola!
I just checked in with Alchitry on this question, and here was the response:
"For noise I haven't done anything about it yet. I bought some drivers from Trinamic but haven't gotten around to trying them out. If my 3D printer (Prusa) is anything to go off, these would help a lot.
I also considered trying to add a pourable rubber to the inside of the clock which would likely dampen the noise a lot. The individual motors aren't very loud but when attached to a thin board they reverberate.
I also thought about trying to use direct drive stepper motors instead of the geared ones to prevent the backlash causing inaccurate hand placement.
To handle more motors, the simplist way would be to just use two FPGAs and do the coordination with the Arduino. You could do some other solutions and use one FPGA but it would be quite a bit more complicated.
With the clock working and on my wall, I don't have any real timeline to try any of the changes. Probably the most likely one I'd try is the rubber as it should be a simple and quick mod."
Hope this helps - if you still have questions, you might try the Alchitry Forums. There's a large community around these boards that will likely have discussed this. Alternatively, the SparkFun Forums are a good resource as well.
if anyone is building this, seems like there is a mistake in the wishlist cable count. between the redboard - button - button - button - button - rtc - fpga there are SIX qwiic cables, not 5.
You are right! Good catch! I've updated the wish list to reflect. Thank you!
Hey really cool! I'm following this, trying to make one my own, did you disconnect the internal red wire from the motors or did you keep it as stock?
The red wire is still there but it doesn't connect to anything. I had to swap a couple of wires on the motors to get them to lineup with the pins on the drivers. My final order was blue, yellow, pink, orange, red. The red wire just hug off the side. This picture shows it well https://cdn.sparkfun.com/assets/learn_tutorials/1/2/9/9/Image22.jpg
This is a really neat project. Do you have a video of it changing time?
There is one now on the first page of the tutorial.