Project Spotlight: AWK-105 Analog Voltmeter Clock

12/19/2014 0 Comments


One of our favorite things is seeing the transformation of our customer's designs to a finished product.  Sam aka "THE Awkward Engineer" prototyped some boards through CircuitHub for his recently launched Kickstarter campaign. 

The Model AWK-105 Analog Voltmeter Clock is his take on what a desk clock would be in a world that isn't overrun by flashing LCD screens.

The clock features:
  • Dual analog meters - one "meter" for hours and another for minutes.
  • Powder coated sheet metal construction.
  • Highly tactile knob selector switches to set and adjust the time.
  • Contrasting mix of analog and digital – the time is tracked digitally by the microcontroller, but an analog signal is output to the needles on the meters. 



We especially love the WWII inspiration behind the clock:

"The look and feel of the Model AWK-105 Voltmeter Clock is heavily inspired by my grandfather's WWII era telegraph keyer. The sheet metal construction and the instrumentation knobs were so solid and substantive, it left no doubt as to the durability and quality of construction. For me, old analog equipment like that has a functional beauty and aesthetic quality that I really tried to capture with my Clock design."

As for the technology inside the clock, it started off as an Arduino prototype. It was later upgraded to a custom circuit board built around an ATtiny microcontroller and was optimized to draw microamps of power from a battery. 


Sam also shared a little about his experience using CircuitHub:

"Using Circuit Hub to manufacture circuit boards was a huge help as a turnkey service. Being able to go to one place to select components, specify alternates, generate Gerbers, source parts, and manufacture and assemble boards was a big time saver, freeing me to focus on higher level design activities."



The project has already more than tripled its funding goal in only a few days. Congrats Sam!

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