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How I Made: Time-to-go-clock

FEATURE

Count down to future events in style

n 20 January 2017,

Donald J Trump was

inaugurated as the 45th

President of the United

States of America. I

remember the date well,

because that was the day I stumbled

across Nixie tubes for the first time.

Out of these seemingly unrelated

events emerged the Time-To-Go

Clock, Trump Edition.

Like countless others, I

felt a compelling need to say

something about the new

Commander-in-Chief. Spilling

out more polarising words

seemed pointless, however.

Instead, I’d make something

that would, literally and

figuratively, speak for itself.

The Clock’s defining feature,

broadly hinted at in the name,

is that it can display the time to

any future event. In the case of the

Trump Presidency, the US Constitution

helpfully provides the exact time and

date when his term of office will end. Of

course, it is possible President Trump

could be re-elected, in which case the

clock can be easily set to the end of his

second term (or any other date) without

further programming.

O

By Peter Kent

TIME-TO-GO-

CLOCK

FEATURES

Somewhat conceitedly, the clock has its

own dedicated website, which lists its

major features as follows:

• Optional cycling through time, date,
  Trump administration days-to-go, and
  Trump administration hours, minutes,
  and seconds-to-go
  
  
  • Simple, menu-driven setting
    using an LCD and website
    provided by the clock’s
    own server
    
    
    • Celebrates President
      Trump’s affinity for Twitter by
      tweeting the time left for his
      Administration at a random
      time each day
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Uses Russian IN-14 Nixie
  tubes and Soviet-era military-grade
  toggle switches


• Uses an IR motion detector to turn
  off the tubes if no one is around to
  see them, and logs activity on the
  clock’s website


• Full operating instructions are also on
  the website

How I Made

Above

Toggle switches

add a more tactile

experience than

push-buttons