Oscilloclock.com

Handcrafted Scope Clocks with circle graphics

Category: Features

  • Astro Clock

    Astro Clock

    “Metropolis Time“

    A few years ago, we introduced Metropolis Time, a time system based on the 20-hour, two-shift days featured in Fritz Lang’s iconic movie Metropolis.

    Since then, we’ve received a few requests to craft clocks that display some other calendar and time systems – from the ancient and archaic, to the religious, to the scientific.

    That’s Astronomical!

    Today’s exciting story began with a request from [Alan], a prominent amateur astronomer. He happened to have a lovely Tektronix 620 X-Y Monitor lying around, and wanted to turn it into a clock.

    Well, that would be easy – the Oscilloclock Bare is a bare-bones controller assembly that can be used to drive an oscilloscope or XY monitor that meets certain requirements (for the techies: a DC coupled Z-axis amplifier). And the Tek 620 is perfect – wonderfully performant, and perfectly compatible. Job done! Right?

    Oscilloclock Bare + Tek 620 + scientific passion = Astro Clock!

    No way! [Alan] didn’t want just any old clock. The custom splash screen above was pretty cool, but could his clock display something called “sidereal time“?

    Yes! Anything is possible, and here’s what we ended up delivering: several custom clock faces showing sidereal time (in both analog and digital formats), in addition to all the standard screens that are based on solar time.

    The shipped Astro Clock assembly!

    But what is sidereal time?

    A Solar day

    Well, most normal human beings and their clocks like to measure a 24 hour day by using the Sun as a reference point. One solar day is the time it takes for the Earth to spin on its axis enough and see the Sun at the same height in the sky as the previous day.

    For example, let’s say it’s 1 May 2023. It’s lovely weather out, and you happen to notice that the Sun reached its highest point in the sky at 12:30 pm. The next day, 2 May, you would find the Sun at its highest point at — you guessed it! — 12:30 pm. And if you ignore man-made tweaks such as daylight savings, you find the Sun is always at its highest point at 12:30 pm*, year-round, looking from the same location.

    *This is not quite true – because every day is slightly shorter or longer. But it averages out over the year.

    A sidereal day

    Sidereal time, on the other hand, uses the distant stars as a reference point to measure 24 hours. One sidereal day is the time it takes for the Earth to spin on its axis enough to see the same distant star at the same height in the sky as the previous day.

    Because the Sun is so close, and a distant star is so (relatively) far, there is a difference in the length of a sidereal day compared to a solar day. A sidereal day turns out to be approximately 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4.0905 seconds.

    Confused? I don’t blame you. This video should help:

    History and Sidereal clocks

    According to this brilliant post, the concept and utility of sidereal time has been around a very long time. The length of a sidereal day was even calculated to a surprisingly high level of accuracy some 1,500 years ago!

    Here are two surviving sidereal clocks that were made “recently” – just a few centuries ago.

    But who on Earth would use sidereal time?

    Astronomers would.

    Most people don’t look at the boring old Sun all the time. We look out to the stars and galaxies far, far beyond our solar system. If an astronomer wants to track the position of Betelgeuse day after day, she can record the sidereal time that she saw it, and know that it’ll be at the same ascension at the same sidereal time the following day. Brilliant!

    Mariners and Astronauts would.

    They can fix their location even when the Sun is not visible, by observing the position of the stars and calculating their position back from the current sidereal time. Life-saving!

    Oscilloclock Labs would.

    Because we can.

    In the next post, we’ll take a look at the build. What hardware went into this Astro Clock? How on earth does it tick? Can you figure it out?

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  • Screens & Things

    Recently I had an enquiry from [Frank], who had just begun a life-long love affair with scope clocks by purchasing one on eBay. The clock was great – but he felt that the two available screens (simple analogue and digital clock faces) lacked a certain oomph.

    He then stumbled across Oscilloclock.com, and in his smitten state immediately reached out with his number one question: just what screens are available on an Oscilloclock?

    Well, let me save Frank’s time trawling through years of blog posts. Right here in one place are most of the Oscilloclock screens and features created to date.

    Enjoy the show!

    Standard Time Screens

    These stock-standard analogue and digital time screens may be quite simple, but they do evoke the ‘retro’ look that most people appreciate.

    Oscilloclock Model 1-S at Tokyo Maker Faire 2013
    Heathkit OR-1 Oscilloclock

    And you can flip a menu setting to display days, months, years in Japanese:

    There are also some ‘random’ screens that add in a bit of dynamic visual entertainment:

    • Random number screen
    • Random letter sequence screen
    • Random four letter word screen (clean words only, by default!)
    • Random phrase screen (the phrase list is typically customized to a theme)

    And of course the mesmerizing Timedrops screen:

    Themed Screens and Features

    … These themed features were developed more recently, and can be added for a small fee to help cover development costs!

    Astroclock (Sidereal Time)

    External XY input

    OscilloTerm (serial terminal)

    Oscilloblock (lego)

    Metropolis

    Aftershock Clock (Earthquake display)

    Unbirthday Clock

    War Games

    Oscilloclock Globe (work in progress)

    Radioactive (work in progress)

    Logo screens

    Over the years many folks have requested that I render custom logos in Circle Graphics. Here are some examples:

    Toshiba ST-1248D - Brass bezel

    “Seasonal Treats”

    Up next are some fun, mildly interactive animation features. Not exactly screens per se, these animations pop up after a predefined period of inactivity – but only during certain months of the year. Can you guess which months?

    Boo!
    Santa in your Clock!

    Menu screens

    There are far too many configuration menu and test screens to present here. Fiddle to your heart’s content!

    Various arcs that can be made by blanking out circles

    Q. How are screens switched?

    Screens are switched simply by rotating the control knob in one direction or other.

    There is also a configurable auto-switch feature; the screen is changed every 90 seconds in a predefined order (with the exception of some animation screens). The display time is configurable, and the auto-switch feature can also be turned off for those who prefer to switch screens manually.

    Q. How are screens selected & configured?

    Customers can request screens to include and/or specify the switching order. The configuration is done here in the lab before clocks are delivered.

    Oscilloclock also provides a firmware upgrade kit, which allows the customer to upload a revised version of the firmware into the clock themselves. Using this, updates to screens and other features can be uploaded without shipping the clock back to the lab.

    Q. What is the process for rendering a custom screen or logo?

    We typically prepare a mock-up based on the customer’s description, sketch, or image file. This is tweaked as needed until the screen looks just right to the customer.

    Like what you see? Contact me!
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  • War Games on an Oscilloclock!

    War Games on an Oscilloclock!

    As I’ve hinted before, your friendly Oscilloclock gang is entirely pacifistic. We abhor the thought of actual military activity in this modern day and age. BUT we love games just as much as anyone – and we also love light-hearted movies with happy endings!

    So when [Ian] (of Bunker Club Clock fame) came up with the idea of a feature based on the iconic 1984 flick “War Games“, I pounced on the chance!

    Check out my YouTube channel to see this and other videos in HD!

    Now, this may look like a simple animation. But Ian’s Oscilloclock is powered by a tiny processor with minimal specifications, and 100% of the code is written in assembly language. Implementing this baby in assembly and keeping within just 3K of RAM was quite an accomplishment!!

    About the host clock

    The gorgeous model shown here is a painstakingly-retrofitted Heathkit CO-1015 Engine Analyzer. It’s the perfect play-toy for any serious motor-head who grew up during the Cold War!

    First up on the custom build list is the original meter fitted with amber LED lighting and ticking audibly each second. (And yes, the tick intensity can be easily adjusted.)

    Next up, there is the optional External X-Y input feature. Normally, this is used for plain and simple Lissajous figures like the below…

    … but by tweaking some settings, we can get some segments of Jerobeam Fenderson’s incredible Oscilloscope Music Kickstarter video to display quite nicely!

    Peeking inside the Engine Analyzer Oscilloclock is also a must-do! Not only is this visually appealing, but you also get a significant olfactory kick from the sweet smell of vintage electronic components…

    Attractive Oscilloclock boards and cabling, neatly tucked away
    The original circuit is completely bypassed – but still looks awesome!

    Tech Talk – Strategies, Maps, and Missiles

    The War Games feature uses the Oscilloclock’s Sprite Engine module to display the world map and up to 9 missiles when the W.O.P.R. system is simulating various war strategies.

    32 of the 130+ strategies seen in the movie are implemented. For each strategy, a random number of missiles are launched along a predefined Primary trajectory, followed by a random number of missiles along a predefined Retaliatory trajectory. If any of the 9 missiles remain, they are launched along randomly selected (but predefined) trajectories.

    Trajectories are predefined because computing them using 8-bit arithmetic would consume a huge number of cycles! At least, a small amount of randomness is added to the launch position and velocity parameters at run-time, to make things more interesting.

    As the simulation progresses through the strategies, the speed of the launches increases and the delay between launches decreases. This gives a similar effect to that in the move, where WOPR moves through strategies at warp speed until it realises that there is no winning this game…

    A Joint Effort

    Creating a huge number of realistic trajectories (68 in total), translating start and end X and Y coordinates from latitude and longitude into the Oscilloclock’s Cartesian plane was a task of mind-blowing proportions! Here we see our 2nd junior technician eagerly earning his room and board.

    Like what you see?

    Are you a petrol-head? You need an Engine Analyzer ticking over at your bedside or in your office! Were you brought up during the Cold War, perhaps in the Soviet Union or in the US? Get the War Games feature and fry the world safely! Contact me if you like what you see.

    (Disclaimer: Oscilloclock.com hopes that no-one is offended by the deliberately light-hearted tone of this post, in referring to the decidedly serious topic of nuclear warfare.)

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  • Quake News!

    Quake News!

    Fake news – a common keyword these days. Fortunately, Oscilloclocks do not display fake news. But wouldn’t it be handy to see quake news on an exotic scope clock? This is the challenge [Atif] gave me – and one year and many grey hairs later, here is the result: The AfterShock Clock!

    This custom-crafted Oscilloclock Core Duo assembly is a unique first in several ways:

    1. It’s the first scope clock ever that pulls in and displays real earthquake data!
    2. It’s the first scope clock ever that puts a dual-beam CRT to good use – one beam for the clock display, and the other for the earthquake and map overlay!

    Earthquake display

    The AfterShock Clock’s WiFi module connects at regular intervals to two public APIs (servers) to collect the latest earthquake events. It then feeds earthquakes to the clock’s quake gun controller, rotating quakes every 30 seconds. Cool!

    (Note: flickering is due to camera effects and is not visible to the human eye)

    Of course, there is the usual wide variety of standard clock screens to cycle through! The quake map’s beam is automatically dimmed for most of the screens, giving a soft ‘watermark’ effect.

    Dual-beam CRT

    The E10-12GH CRT used in this clock is certainly not mundane!

    Beautiful spiral PDA lets you really see inside the cavity!
    Nothing beats a dual-gun CRT for intricacy… (except a quad- or pentuple-gun CRT!)

    Oscilloclock Core Duo

    Atif wanted to create his own case, so he initially asked for an Oscilloclock Core. But currently a single Core set does not provide control, deflection, and blanking circuits to drive TWO electron guns… So he had two choices:

    1. Wait an eternity for me to redesign the boards to fully support dual beams.
    2. Get started now! Simply put two Core assemblies together, with some degree of inter-control and removing any redundant circuits.

    Atif chose the latter – and the Oscilloclock Core Duo was born!

    WiFi setup

    Setting up the WiFi connection is easy – just connect a device to the clock’s administration SSID and pull up the admin page. (To foil any would-be hackers out there, the admin SSID is available only for the first 5 minutes after power is applied.)

    Then, access the admin URL and configure the connection to your home router:

    There are a million other advanced settings to tweak things such as quake polling interval, quake magnitude filters, maximum quake age before purge, and other geeky aspects…. See the Support page.

    Oh, I forgot to mention – the clock also synchronizes time against an NTP server, eliminating the need for a GPS module.

    Like what you see?

    Do you go for electron guns? idolize intricate electrode assemblies? Have a filament fetish? Or just want some quake news? This kind of clock might fit the bill. Let me know!

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  • Bunker Club Clock

    Bunker Club Clock

    It’s the 1970’s. The cold war. The U.S. and Russia aim nuclear weapons at each other. How do you prepare for the worst? Why, you build a bunker, of course!

    Today, [Ian] has done just that. Not a real nuclear fallout shelter, of course, but a period-themed bar called the Bunker Club. What better way to face disaster, than over drinks with the mates!

    Ian decided to pepper his bar with vintage equipment that looked the part. But he wanted to make them truly functional, to entertain his retro-loving customers. So, he commissioned the Bunker Club VectorClock!

    Now, regular followers of the blog will easily recognize the base unit here as a Tektronix 520A Vectorscope. So far a total of four of these delightfully-lighted machines have been converted to retro Oscilloclocks – see the Gallery for other examples.

    But as always with any model, Ian wanted to make some cool customizations. Let’s look at two of them.

    1. External XY Input

    First introduced in the Metropolis Clock, this feature allows Ian to input two signals and visualize them in X-Y format on the screen. This is very, very useful for generating custom Lissajous figures externally – using either a cheap signal generator, or even an iPhone!

    Lissajous figures from an iPhone!
    Cool Lissajous figures – even from a humble iPhone! (note, this picture is of the Metropolis Clock)

    The external signals are rendered within a rectangular ‘window’, pre-configured to look nice alongside other standard parts of the Oscilloclock screens. For some screens, the window is drawn large but with a lower intensity, forming a kind of ‘watermark’. This is an awesome effect!

    2. Custom Logos

    Nearly all Oscilloclocks feature some kind of customized logo. Past examples include the customers’ business’ name, the name of the oscilloscope manufacturer, or even the name of the customer’s favourite film:

    Toshiba ST-1248D - Brass bezel
    Kikusui 537
    Metropolis Clock

    In Ian’s case, the obvious candidate was his new bar’s official logo – a very chunky-looking rocket blasting through the atmosphere!

    Further enhancements … on the way

    It seems Ian enjoyed his first clock so much, that he has commissioned a second, with a completely different physical look. Some further special effects and display animation are planned, to further enhance the nuclear theme and keep his customers happy. Stay tuned!

    Like what you see?

    Do you own a bar? Well, normally you wouldn’t want a clock in your premises, as it would help customers keep track of their time, which would be bad for business. But Oscilloclocks are so much more than timekeepers! Recent feature additions make them lots of fun to watch and fiddle with. If you have special ideas, let me know!

    (Disclaimer: Oscilloclock.com hopes that no-one is offended by the deliberately light-hearted tone of this post, in referring to the decidedly serious topic of nuclear warfare.)

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