Very impressive.. I'd buy one too.
Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
61–70 of 109 posts
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#62Just don't bring it to school!
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#63Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#64This somehow reminds of iOS game Feed Me Oil.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6qhbZkMA0Q
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#65How can i buy one of these? And how much does/would it cost? :)
At the moment its only a prototype. After some testing, if it reutrns promising results i would be more than glad to produce a smaller quantity of these. Unfortunately i have no idea about the price, sorry.
A DIY kit would be great - I would pay for just the parts and instructions.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#66[deleted]
Most of the innovation in consumer clocks is aesthetic. Anyone can pick up a clock from Walmart that does everything they need and will last for years for cheap. Displaying the numbers by manipulating magnetic fluid is an interesting and pleasing way to do things. It's never going to be cheaper, more reliable, or more efficient than and LCD display. However, it doesn't have to be. That's not the point.
mmmm, but clearly the video: music, editing, shots are all trying to tell the viewer "look at the time and attention and detail and engineering," but for what? You made a clock. If you're excited you made a clock, document it and put it on the web. Don't over dramatize it and try and elevate it to the level of grand invention. You made a clock. That's fun. Congrats. But you also spent a year making a clock that is not more accurate. Nor is it more aesthetically pleasing than the Braun clock made many many year before. Nor is it more utilitarian... Hence, the mastabutory comment. Just a bit gauche if you ask me.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
Hi DanBc, Thanks a lot! Wow... were to start.. Perhaps the biggest problem i had was preventing the ferrofluid to stain glass and aluminum frame i used for the screen. I tried to get some help on the faculty of chemistry here in Belgrade, but no real success. Finally after months and months of experimenting with different liquids, you start to feel and "undertand" the way ferrofluid behaves.. very strange :) Its stil…
It's interesting to see that you're physically moving the magnets towards and away from the ferrofluid. Did you investigate electrically switchable permanent magnets? e.g.: http://www.eclipsemagnetics.com/media/wysiwyg/datasheets/lif... I know very little about them, other than that they're cool. The ones in that datasheet start about at about 2kg, so I don't know if you can get them small enough for your purposes.
yeah the size is the problem definitely. I experimented a lot with electromagnets and finally gave up, any result i could get didnt leave me with this kind of animation:
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#68Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#69Not to dismiss the website, but I could not reach it the first couple times so here is a direct link to the video: https://vimeo.com/140469553
Does vimeo have some sort of unspoken rule that all videos must have a hundred cuts a minute or something? This style of film making is incredibly obnoxious.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#70I love this sort of build video. I wish I could watch for hours the setting up of the various machines and the construction of the different parts.