{"id":17,"date":"2026-09-13T23:26:26","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T23:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/?p=17"},"modified":"2026-09-14T01:00:05","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T01:00:05","slug":"im-making-a-clock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/?p=17","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m making a clock"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Big deal, right? Making a clock is pretty trivial these days. You can get three <a href=\"https:\/\/link.amazon\/B08xFGQ64\">battery-powered analog clock kits for about $10<\/a>, or you could break out your soldering iron and put together a <a href=\"https:\/\/link.amazon\/B05VV8gg9\">digital clock for less than $20<\/a>. There&#8217;s nothing wrong with any of those approaches and both are sufficiently hackable that coloring outside the lines isn&#8217;t a problem. But I have something more ambitious in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Origin story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I like to make <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dkallen78\/clocks\">clocks for the web<\/a>. I slap together a bunch of JavaScript and CSS and make clocks. Some of them are mundane like a classic flip clock:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<style data-wp-block-html=\"css\">\niframe {\n    display: block;      \/* Converts inline element to block *\/\n    margin: 0 auto;      \/* Centers the block horizontally *\/\n    max-width: 100%;     \/* Keeps it responsive on mobile devices *\/\n}\n\n<\/style>\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dkallen78.github.io\/clocks\/flip-clock\/flip-clock.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" style=\"border:none;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Others are more ambitious, like a 24-hour analog clock based around a senary (base-6) number system:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dkallen78.github.io\/clocks\/senary-clock\/senary-clock-svg\/senaryClockSVG.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300px\" style=\"border:none;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around three years ago I shared some of my clocks on Reddit, including the vaporwave beauty you see above. Someone dropped into my comments and challenged me to make a balanced ternary clock. The balanced bit of it eluded me at the time, but the ternary part inspired me to make something completely original:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/dkallen78.github.io\/clocks\/ternary-clock\/v0.3\/ternary-clock-v0.3.html\" width=\"100%\" height=\"400px\" style=\"border:none;\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ternary time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every previous clock I had designed was based on the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sexagesimal\">sexagesimal system<\/a> developed in Egypt and Babylon thousands of years ago: a day divided into 24 hours which were divided into 60 minutes of 60 seconds each. This time, I wanted to do something different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When making a clock with computers it&#8217;s nearly impossible to escape the tyranny of the second since that&#8217;s the standard unit of time, but by dividing up the 86,400 seconds in a day in creative ways (specifically the 86,400,000 milliseconds), you can make something that&#8217;s mostly untethered from the horological system we&#8217;re used to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">My first instinct when making a ternary (base-3) clock, balanced or otherwise, was to make a clock that simply converted the base-10 digits we&#8217;re used to into base-3 digits. That&#8217;s what I did with the base-6 clock above but I quickly ran into a problem of aesthetics. A standard clock with ternary digits would run from 1<sub>3<\/sub> (1<sub>10<\/sub>) to 110<sub>3<\/sub> (12<sub>10<\/sub>). That&#8217;s not a problem per se, but it looks odd to not have 100<sub>3<\/sub> (9<sub>10<\/sub>) be the terminal number (not that 12 is much better).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ternary-clockface-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"Clockface with ternary digits in the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions\" class=\"wp-image-15\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ternary-clockface-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ternary-clockface-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ternary-clockface-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ternary-clockface-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ternary-clockface.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Tkgd2007\/Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The solution of course is to just end with 100 and divide the day into 9 or 18 hours. This is similar to what the French did with <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Metric_time\">metric time<\/a> during the late 18th century, dividing the day into 10 hours of 100 minutes of 100 seconds. But this is where I had the crucial insight: If I could change the divisions of the day, could I not also change their representation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The answer is yes, yes I could. So I divided the day into three parts. I initially planned to hew to the current system and break those three parts into eight hours for a total of 24, but just as my sense of aesthetics rebelled against ending my clock on either 110<sub>3<\/sub> or 220<sub>3<\/sub>, it wouldn&#8217;t make internal sense to have my thirds of a day be divided into eight or four hours (assuming a 24- or 12-hour clock).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead of each third of a day being subdivided into eight quotidian hours, I leaned into the theme of threes and split my thirds into nine equal hours, 3<sup>2<\/sup> or 100<sub>3<\/sub>. Extending that logic outward leads to 3<sup>3<\/sup> or 1,000<sub>3<\/sub> minutes and 3<sup>4<\/sup> or 10,000<sub>3<\/sub> seconds. And while this doesn&#8217;t line up perfectly with the time we&#8217;re used to, it&#8217;s not too far off. Dividing the day in this manner leads to hours that are a bit shorter, minutes that are twice as long, and seconds that are about half as long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">From conceptual to physical<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Out of all the clocks I&#8217;ve made, this is the only one I&#8217;ve wanted to manifest in the real world. I mentally toyed with the idea of creating something electromechanical, but the form factor I come back to over and over is segmented LCD. I don&#8217;t have anything against electromechanical, but the engineering challenges I would need to overcome don&#8217;t really interest me. I also thought about e-ink, but it&#8217;s hard to find a square e-paper display that isn&#8217;t tiny\/low-resolution. That leaves segmented LCD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The kind of LCD screen I&#8217;m talking about is the kind you probably remember from those old solar-powered calculators we all had before we traded them in for smartphones. These are called twisted nematic (TN) LCD, and they&#8217;re pretty cheap to make. In fact, I found a supplier on AliBaba.com that quoted me $5 per 10\u00d710 cm display, but there are a few problems I need to overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/casio-lcd-calculator-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Old Casio calculator\" class=\"wp-image-14\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/casio-lcd-calculator-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/casio-lcd-calculator-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/casio-lcd-calculator-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/casio-lcd-calculator.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><a href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/User:%E8%BB%8D%E4%BA%8B%E7%94%A8%E6%87%90%E4%B8%AD%E9%9B%BB%E7%81%AF\">\u8ecd\u4e8b\u7528\u61d0\u4e2d\u96fb\u706f<\/a>\/Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first problem is that to set up the machinery and parts needed to make the custom displays costs money, about $300 USD according to one quote I received. The second problem is that there&#8217;s a minimum order cost of 100 units from most suppliers. That means the base investment to bring this to life is going to cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $800, which is money I don&#8217;t have. But wait, there&#8217;s more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The next problem, which is just as significant as the first two, is I have no idea how to power and manipulate a TN LCD display with 120 (3 + 9 + 27 + 81) segments. What I do know is the basics of microcontroller programming and electronics, so at least I have a place to start from. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I need money and I don&#8217;t have it. The solution is crowd sourcing. I&#8217;m going to attempt to get this done via Crowd Supply and if they won&#8217;t have me, I&#8217;ll do my best on Kickstarter. This introduces another problem (of course) which is: I can&#8217;t wait until my project is funded and promised to receive a sample, because once I have the sample in hand, I need to design a PCB that will incorporate all the components I&#8217;ll need to make the clock work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If I want to move from funding to fulfillment as fast as possible, I need to know how to work with TN LCD displays; I need to know how to work with the LCD driver chips; I need to know how to design PCBs; and I need to know how to use the ESP32 microcontroller to manage it all. I&#8217;ll probably have to drop $300 on the one-time tooling myself so I can have the sample in hand ahead of the crowdfunding campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Is it a lot? Yes. Is it manageable? Also yes. Over the next months I&#8217;m going to write about my journey building up the skill set I need in order to pull this off. To start, I&#8217;m going to dig through the random components that came with <a href=\"https:\/\/link.amazon\/B0aqgcLKS\">the Arduino starter set I have<\/a> that I never worked through. I know there&#8217;s at least a single-digit seven-segment LCD in there somewhere and I&#8217;m going to make it do stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-style-section-5 is-vertical is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-9a66129f wp-block-group-is-layout-flex is-style-section-5--1\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:9px;border-top-right-radius:9px;border-bottom-left-radius:9px;border-bottom-right-radius:9px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30)\">\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">If you like what I do, send me a dollar to help pay for the infrastructure!<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ko-fi-button-kofi-button\">\r\n\t<div class=\"ko-fi-button\" data-text=\"Buy me a coffee!\" data-color=\"#ff5f5f\" data-code=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/heuronaut\" id=\"kofiShortcode852Html\" style=\"float: right; text-align: left;\" data-title=\"\"><\/div><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Making a clock is pretty trivial these days, but I have something more ambitious in mind &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[7,6,8],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-projects","category-ternary-clock","tag-clocks","tag-electronics","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/32"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuronaut.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}