Masterpiece of Soldering: You Won’t Believe This Handmade Electronic Clock

Technology
Masterpiece of Soldering: You Won’t Believe This Handmade Electronic Clock

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The collection of components that you see above is actually a clock, masterfully constructed by Gislain Benoit, who has been working with electronics for as long as he can remember. According to the description, this clock not only displays the time, but all of the components you would see in a wristwatch microchip if viewed under a microscope.

Building something like this via “traditional methods” like a printed circuit board or breadboard would be impressive enough, but Gislain decided to solder everything together in a beautiful three-dimensional structure. If you’re wondering, there are 1916 components contained in this clock, weighing in at a healthy 14 pounds.

The device runs off of a 12 volt DC adapter, and the clock’s timing is cleverly inferred from the US standard of running electricity at 60 cycles per second. In other words, it “ticks” a second for every 60 pulses coming from a standard electrical outlet. I suppose this could also be used to judge how good the quality of power coming to your dwelling place is. After griping about your dirty power, the clock, which has no external buttons, can cleverly be set using a magnet on the electromagnetic switches contained in the enclosure.

Be sure to check out the amazing images below. As seen in the last picture, Gislain signs these works of art using a soldered conductor.

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Jeremy is an engineer with 10 years experience at his full-time profession, and has a BSME from Clemson University. Outside of work he’s an avid maker and experimenter, building anything that comes into his mind!

View more articles by Jeremy S Cook

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