Split-flap displays are awesome and pretty much everyone would like to have one to play with. These are the electro-mechanical displays where characters are flipped into place by motor rotation. While simple in concept, actually executing a project like this is fraught with ways that things could go wrong. One alternative to starting from scratch would be to examine Tindie seller scottbez1’s design, and build a copy or use it for inspiration.
While having the design handy would shortcut the build process significantly, one thing that remains tiresome is cutting out 40 PVC cards to the proper specifications. To solve this issue, scottbez1 is selling packages of 165 pre-cut PVC cards that work with his clock, enough to more than fill up four 40-character modules. The assembled device looks quite entertaining, happily flipping away in the video below:
To further help with the build, he’s selling a Hall-effect sensor breakout boards that are also needed for this project, and could have other applications as well. Of course, if this type of clock isn’t quite your style, Tindie has many other clocks products available, like the word clock face seen here, or this clock movement for use with normal hour/minute/second hands, that can be programmed to tick at odd intervals.
