Infinity Mirror Clock Constraints

After developing roughly 60% of the infinity mirror clock, these are the constraints I have run into that I need to overcome in order to achieve the desired aesthetic and initial impression.

  1. Rewiring the lights to run on a battery pack rather than 120V household electricity
    1. Also maximizing the battery life so that I am not buying new batteries after every use
  2. Hiding the wiring and electrical system behind the clock
    1. Space is very limited behind the 12″ clock body
  3. Building the mirror on clock face that has to allow electrical systems to pass through including clock hands
    1. Clock face must have two holes for the hands and to feed the LED wiring to the back of the clock
  4. Illuminating the clock hands without creating the infinity mirror effect (when the LED lights are off and the desired effect is just a clock)
    1. Right now you can barely see the clock through the mylar flim on the clock face.  The intention was for this piece to transform from a clock into an infinity mirror, however it currently looks like just a mirror with some indistinguishable thing on the other side.
  5.  LED strip heats up after about 2 minutes of being on, I’m not sure if this will be a problem but I need to determine if this could potentially damage the clock if they are left on for an hour plus at a time.
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3 Comments. Leave new

  • Sreyas Krishnan
    March 19, 2016 10:34 pm

    I think the LED panel heat issues might be worth addressing since your clock, in theory, would be constantly on. Once you determine how serious the heat issues are, you could consider mitigating it with a heat sink (aluminum?) and/or small fan (http://www.directron.com/ec4010m12ca.html?gsear=1).

    Reply
  • Ryan Yankowsky
    March 14, 2016 12:00 pm

    Have you considered adding a deeper shell to the clock body, this could be laser cut from acrylic, or 3d printed, etch to give you more depth, even adding a bit of space behind the clock from the wall would give it a floating infinite look. Keep on trucking, your almost there.

    Reply
  • Katie Hortik
    March 13, 2016 9:43 pm

    I think your project will be very successful if you are able to overcome. With my senior design project, I discovered that different combinations of batteries that add the same voltage led to very different battery lives. I would look into using D or C batteries because they tend to last longer.

    Reply

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