This clock tells time in words using a 9×9 letter grid, with only three unused letters—two of which form part of my signature. The entire front is a single 3D-printed piece that acts as the display, LED adapter, light baffle, and diffuser. Achieving that in a single print was tricky, we had to manually clean between every layer to prevent contamination, but it worked.
Internally, a TinyPICO drives a grid of LEDs, fetching time via NTP. Configuration is handled by an accelerometer: tipping the clock adjusts brightness, manually adjusts the timezone, or resets WiFi. The backplate, secured with heat-set inserts, holds the electronics and includes strain relief for the USB cable.
Not everything went smoothly. Printing took many attempts to avoid light leaks, a firmware bug fried two boards, and a couple of finished clocks mysteriously stopped working. If I revisit the project, I’d love to CNC the body and design a proper PCB instead of protoboarding. But for now, I'm happy with it.