Yes this is the mirrored acrylic, etched from the back. 

The nice added effect is that the edges of the acrylic are also illuminated and it looks very good at night. In either color.

Great idea!  Will be interesting to see how this wears overtime.  Mirror acrylic is easily scratched.

Hopefully not too bad.  The clock face will not be touched too much. The mirroring is on the back and protected by the circuit boards. 

I can always make new  front panels they mount with 4 bolts :-D

Wow - That looks really like my PIC based clock modules in a custom faceplate - It looks really amazing.

http://www.dougswordclock.com/

http://www.instructables.com/id/A-Word-Clock/

I have been considering developing a Ponko design to make the enclosure for my big clock.

http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Wordclock-Grew-Up/

It is on my to do list :-)

Thanks for that .

Doug

Hi Doug

Thank you.

Interesting indeed. My influence was the QCLOCKTWO http://qlocktwo.com/info.php?lang=en the original came out quite some time ago, late 2008 maybe?  It looks like they have updated it since.  I changed some of the number positions to make it fit my original shape for a word search clock. It took quite some time to be happy with the aesthetics of the front panel.

The very first idea was to use a word search type face with horizontal, vertical and diagonal time, however that proved to be a very large face plate.  The electronics were designed way back in 2008/9 to support that idea and the SMT LEDs are multiplexed so the front panel can be anything. 

This is about the 3rd panel design and I did start out with a Vinyl cutout on clear acrylic, covered with opaque window frosting plastic. The mirror version is the latest idea, the next is to modify the LED board to use RGB LEDs and change the colour as the day progresses.

Using the acrylic front and including the spacer the clock is about 10mm thick which makes it a good fit on my desk :)

Wow - Thats cool.  

I too was inspired by that clock, and wanted to make one for my wonderful wife (megan) - So I spent hours mucking around with layouts I came to the smallest layout I could, and I had some spare letters, so I could place Megans and my names.  

I ended up going with strip LEDs to allow me to make bigger clocks - I felt that the size constraints with the PCB processing (and associated expense) slowed me down.  Making a 30cm x 30cm PCB costs a fortune!!

Hey - can you let me know what software you use to interface with the manufacturing stuff here?  it is something I would love to explore.

Doug

Hi

Strip LEDs, now that is interesting.

I used the Inkscape package and their templates, primarily because it was a free application.  It took a few attempts to get it right.  However the support folks were a great help in sorting out my problems.  The biggest issue with Inkscape is that if you switch to mm to work out sizes it causes problems with scaling.  So you need to import the final design back into a px based design, the default setting.  There is a 'How to' in the forum which explains the process.  Then they will also check the design before you run it.  It is pretty easy to drive and operate.  If you have Illustrator that can be used too, just pick up their templates and follow the instructions and off you go.

I was really impressed with the support and help trying to get the design done the first time - I was a little impatient with the tools.  

I am now pondering my word search clock with maybe strip LEDs and no PCB :)

If you need anything else just let me know and good luck with your next project.

I've never had a problem using MM in Inkscape. I design my project in 3D in Sketchup first to work out any bugs or kinks to the vision of the final project in my head. I change and modify the design until I have something that I believe I can reasonably accomplish with my limited wood working tools in my condo. Then I create squares in P1 or P2 or P3 size and lay out my pieces on those squares to see what size sheets I need. Once I have the sheet cuts laid out right I use the plug in for Sketchup created specifically for use with Inkscape and Ponoko by Flightsofideas that exports the cutouts to a file type Inkscape can import. From there I import it in to the appropriate template from Ponoko, change the measurements to MM and the size to .003. Then I save it as an .eps file and upload it to Ponoko to be cut.

I'm trying to figure out how to work out how to laser cut acrylic without having the middle of the letters drop out. Would you mind sharing your template? I would love to see that.

Thank you!

Would you mind sending it to phaerus@gmail.com ?

Thank you!