Setup
You will want to change the meter faces to have them display hours and minutes instead of microamperes, Two basic designs are below. There are other creative designs on the Internet.
Carefully remove the two silver screws on either side of a meter. Lift up on the cover. Cut your meter face out of paper. Ensure at the bottom you cut a semicircle out so the needle movement will swing freely. Use a glue stick or other very light adhesive on the meter face then carefully slide the new face in without harming the meter needle which is very fragile. You will wish to make slight adjustments to align the scale. The meter needle should be pointing at the left hand mark on the scale (if a tiny bit off, you can adjust this later). Put the cover back on the meter and screw it on. Using a flat screwdriver, you can adjust the zero on the meter slightly with the black screw in the lower middle of the meter.
Mounting
The meters have four mounting posts providing a sturdy mount on nearly any surface. For my less than traditional mounting method, I placed the meters side by side. I planned to put the circuit board behind the meters. For this I nned a flat surface and the meter movements stick out from the rear. I fashioned 3/8" thick wood precut to 1 3/4" widths. I cut one piece at 2 7/8" to connect the meters, another at 2 1/4" to bring the level up to the back of the meter movements. Two screws (not too long!) from the screw bin were inset to connect the pieces and it was mounted to the meter with the included nuts. A 3D printed mount would be another method to make custom pieces.
The circuit board is mounted on the back of the meters in my design. I am mounting the breadboard, I highly suggest when you are satisfied with the circuit, you transfer it to a Perma-Proto board to provide sturdy, permanent connections. You will want to secure the 9 volt or other battery such that you can change the batteries easily. You may design your clock with a DC wall supply to avoid batteries, the trade-off being having to connect it to wall current. The DS1307 board will continue to hold the time for many months with no power due to the on-board coin-cell battery.
If you mount the meters in a box, you have much more flexibility on circuit board placement.
If you mount the meters in a box, you have much more flexibility on circuit board placement.
Post your designs in the Adafruit Trinket forum or the Adafruit Google+ Makers, hackers, artists & engineers community.
And the modern mounting box I used. I borrowed the napkin holder bought at clearance at Kohls. It's not what you get, it's what you do with it.
And the modern mounting box I used. I borrowed the napkin holder bought at clearance at Kohls. It's not what you get, it's what you do with it.
Page last edited October 13, 2013
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