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Final Changes to the Sculpture

A project log for GPS Clock

My entry to the circuit sculpture contest - A digital Clock which pulls its time from the Global Positioning System

matthew-james-bellafaireMatthew James Bellafaire 09/03/2020 at 03:260 Comments

When starting this project, I didn't know too much about making this style of circuit, it's difficult to get bends right. I have learned one thing through this project, thinner gauge wire is significantly easier to bend but much more difficult to keep straight. 

First thing is that I replaced the two power wires coming off the seven segment that go straight down to the power supply lines. The direct path these took kind of stood out as something odd in the sculpture which was less than ideal (see the fix below).

Originally, I used thinner gauge copper-colored wire for providing a connection to the LEDs, this was not the right choice. The thinner wire is very flexible and it's difficult to get the wires to run parallel in a nice way. Since those wires running to the LEDs are a significant element of the overall aesthetic it just made things look kind of sloppy. I desoldered them and used them as a reference to bend some new wires out of the thicker gauge brass wire that was used for power connections: 

With the thicker wire these came out a lot better, If I were to do this project over again, I'd probably stick exclusively to the thicker wire. The margin for error is a lot lower since fixing a bend is more-or-less out of the question once it's done but the result is worth it. In total I replaced all 6 of the wires running from the ESP32 to the anodes of the LEDs. The new wires are a night and day difference in my opinion, the lighter color also makes them stand out a bit more against the base. 

Finally the rear stand on the display was removed. with the two mounting screws present it's not really needed, the circuit alone is enough to support the display. 

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