Ivan Miranda’s mechanical clock displays time as digital-style numerals made from moving marbles: white marbles form the number pixels, while black marbles make the background. An Arduino, infrared sensors and a small solenoid sort the marbles into the right pattern, and two gates coordinate when each minute’s display appears.
How does a clock tell time with marbles?
Instead of lighting fixed pixels on a screen, the clock physically arranges marbles into a changing display. A circulating supply of black and white marbles is lifted from a hopper, sorted into the pattern needed for the next display, and held until the minute changes. After serving as part of the display, the marbles return to the hopper and can be used again.
The result is a mechanical display: the numerals emerge from the placement of individual pieces rather than from electronic segments. The Hackster.io article by Cameron Coward describes the machine as gigantic but gives no dimensions or quantitative comparison with an ordinary digital clock.
How does it sort black and white marbles into numbers?
The supply begins in a hopper-like pile, so marbles arrive in effectively random order. An elevator lifts a row, and an Arduino uses infrared sensors to identify each marble’s color and compare it with the color required at that position in the intended pattern.
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- Lift: An elevator brings a row of marbles up from the hopper.
- Check: Infrared sensors let the Arduino identify each marble’s color and whether it matches the target position.
- Keep or reject: A matching marble continues through the mechanism. A small solenoid pushes a mismatch back toward the hopper.
- Repeat: The selection process continues until the required arrangement is assembled.
Coward describes the sorting as slow, which is why the clock stages the marbles rather than trying to sort and display each minute’s pattern at the instant it changes.
What do the two gates do at the minute change?
The gates separate preparation of the next display from the display already in place. The first gate collects the marbles being sorted for the next minute. The second gate holds the marbles that form the visible digits.
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- While the current digits are displayed, the first gate gathers the next set of sorted marbles.
- Just before the minute changes, the second gate releases the current display’s marbles back to the hopper, clearing the display area.
- At the minute change, the first gate releases its waiting marbles toward the second gate, where they form the new digits.
This staging lets a comparatively slow sorting process operate alongside a minute-by-minute display. The article does not report the clock’s dimensions, exact marble sizes, component models, or a complete construction guide.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What is established about the build?
The Hackster.io article identifies Ivan Miranda as the builder and Cameron Coward as its author. It names an Arduino board, infrared sensors and a small solenoid as parts of the sorting mechanism, but does not specify their models or provide a complete bill of materials. The mechanism is described at a functional level; those details are not enough to reproduce the clock as a construction plan.
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