THIS is inventing a clock
You know, not every situation calls for belittling the achievements of children in the news.
Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
81–90 of 109 posts
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#82Not 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.
It's shown to increase excitement and therefore engagement.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#83author here, i will be glad to answer any questions you guys have
Absolutely fantastic idea and execution. Props to the video producer(s) as well. One question: what sort of power consumption is required to maintain the digit positions inside of the enclosure?
I'm guessing none. Looks like a servo is moved, which moves permanent magnets closet or farther from the fluid. Once the servo moves the magnets to the desired position, no further power would be required. So looks like just a burst of power every minute to move the servos and nothing more.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#84I want these as individual 7 segment displays. Or 16 segment.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#85If you liked this, you'll probably also like Ferrolic: http://www.ferrolic.com/ Super mesmerizing to watch the ferro fluid making its way through the display. Edit: I remember reading that the ferro fluid used in Ferrolic would begin to lose its magnetic properties a few months in - Ferrofluids are fundamentally unstable. They're colloidal suspensions that rely on surfactants to keep the particles apart, and as the s…
If i use the regular ferrofluid it can last for quite long, however i dont like the effect of the fluid in that case, it has spikes and doesnt really look like a blob that i wanted to achieve. I have samples that are year old and work just fine so far.
Higher viscosity filler fluid and/or a ferro-binding compound to dampen the "springy" vibrations and ferro "spikes"?
Btw: Comes off a labor of love and insanely-awesome attention to design and detail. Outstanding. Kickstarter/indiegogo/lockitron selfstarter page yet? :)
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#86If you liked this, you'll probably also like Ferrolic: http://www.ferrolic.com/ Super mesmerizing to watch the ferro fluid making its way through the display. Edit: I remember reading that the ferro fluid used in Ferrolic would begin to lose its magnetic properties a few months in - Ferrofluids are fundamentally unstable. They're colloidal suspensions that rely on surfactants to keep the particles apart, and as the s…
Idea: Ferrolic showing Rorschach faces until it's 'asked' to show time.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#87It doesn't seem to say so anywhere on the page, but "Rhei" is presumably a reference to the ancient Greek phrase, "panta rhei" (πάντα ῥεῖ), which means "everything flows." It's associated with the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, and while the phrase itself doesn't occur in any of his extant writings, it's reminiscent of his famous observation that you can never step into the same river twice.
Pretty awesome name for a liquid clock.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#88If you liked this, you'll probably also like Ferrolic: http://www.ferrolic.com/ Super mesmerizing to watch the ferro fluid making its way through the display. Edit: I remember reading that the ferro fluid used in Ferrolic would begin to lose its magnetic properties a few months in - Ferrofluids are fundamentally unstable. They're colloidal suspensions that rely on surfactants to keep the particles apart, and as the s…
> Ferrofluids are fundamentally unstable
But not if you are constantly stirring them up. The Ferrorfluid used in loudspeakers for instance doesn't seem to degrade.
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#89This reminded me a lot of the "world of goo" you should check it out I'd you haven't. It's an indie game. (PC originally but later ported to phones)
Re: Show HN: I spent a year making an electro-mechanical prototype of a liquid clock
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely fantastic idea and execution. Props to the video producer(s) as well. One question: what sort of power consumption is required to maintain the digit positions inside of the enclosure?
I'm guessing none. Looks like a servo is moved, which moves permanent magnets closet or farther from the fluid. Once the servo moves the magnets to the desired position, no further power would be required. So looks like just a burst of power every minute to move the servos and nothing more.
It could get away with none, however i wanted it to constantly move even while numbers are changed - otherwise i asked myself why build it out of liquid if its not moving.
On the other hand, you are right, it only draws power when it moves and it moves every other segment every few seconds which is enough to constantly animate the numbers, because the fluid needs time to readjust.
The motors are actually stepper motors, which made it all harder, because its not as easy to move them as it is to move servos, and steppers have no idea where they are which required an initial calibration sequence. The good news is that steppers are not loosing any steps, i guess the mechanics work very well.