As a freshman undergrad, I wanted to learn more about electrical engineering and started on a special clock that displays the time in word format. After looking around at some designs online, I decided on a modular system that could use different word templates by changing the flashed code. I discovered how shift registers worked and developed a simple circuit to control 121 LEDS individually with an Arduino. I had to learn how to design electrical diagrams, draw circuits in Eagle and mill them out, solder vias and ICs onto the PCB, and program with Arduino. After getting guidance from other students/teachers, I finished my word clock and displayed it in my room.

This clock was my prize pig for a while, but it had a lot of issues that justified a redesign. The wiring from PCB to LEDs took up a significant amount of space and were haphazardly tangled in open space behind the clock. Also, the resistors for the LEDs were soldered to the head of the LEDs, and there was no short protection. The old clock would eventually fall behind the real time, and I realized that the internal microprocessor inside an Arduino doesn't count time accurately after a month. Two years later, I decided to remake the clock. I designed a smaller modular board that unified the shift register, eight LEDs, eight resistors, and routing. Each board would connect to the next through a small 5 pin connection. The reduction in wiring allowed me to shrink the depth of the clock by half. I found and integrated an auxiliary unit with a crystal specifically meant for counting time, and I added buttons to adjust the time if it drifted off. Lastly, I adjusted the Arduino code to make it much easier to edit letters for different templates. After a couple of weeks, I managed to complete this new clock just in time for my girlfriends birthday.