I'm surprised nobody's already done an Arduino based OSHW watch with them.
Not Arduino based, true, but I have been developing an OSHW watch module using one of the original Memory LCDs - for um, quite... a... long... time...
![](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18290329/hosted/OTM/OTM-01%20and%203D%20printed%20case%20concept_w600px.jpg)
So I'm really excited to announce the recent launch of 'Open source Time Machine #2 - OTM-02' - an OSHW watch module designed using KiCad.
Here's the KiCad design files on github:
https://github.com/hairykiwi/OTM-02You'll find more technical details there, along with a BOM when its finalised - by the end of first week in Feb, all going to plan.
Barring any major setback, the goal is to have a functional prototype module ready to show around the end of Feb.
![](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18290329/hosted/OTM/MTM-OTM-02_PCB-1-Front_RevK_w600px.png)
Case design files, (for a non-waterproof, DIY 3D printable case) will be posted just as soon as I've made the prototype watch module and form/fit tested it in a case - by the end of April, sooner if possible. This is how things were looking back in September - printing on a RepRap Prusa Mendel using 0.3mm layer height:
![](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/18290329/hosted/OTM/MTM-OTM-02%20in%20early%20dev%20DIY%203D%20printed%20case_w600px.jpg)
I've subsequently redeveloped the case design from the ground up, (with almost identical appearance) and printed it with 0.2 and 0.1mm layer height - with 0.2mm being best overall. At this scale, almost every detail counts in optimising a design for DIY 3D printing.
More case and dev prototype images and schematics (pdf) are here:
bit.ly/mtmpublicThe project has been so long in the making simply because I've had to learn everything about MCUs, programming and 3D printing as I've progressed - and I still feel like a MCU novice.
Anyway, if you've got any suggestions for any improvements to the module itself - circuit topology, board layout or functionality, I'm keen to hear - either here or over at the thread I started on Energy Micro's Lizard Lounge Community Projects:
http://forum.energymicro.com/topic/582-otm-02-open-source-time-machine-2/Dave, if people want to discuss this more on the EEVBlog forum, I could post a new project thread - just let me know what you prefer.
If anyone is interested in contributing to, or leveraging what I've done so far, for their own derivative projects - be my guest - that's what OSHW is all about.
![Smiley :)](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
Here's a little more project background, if you're still reading: Apart from a brief intro to MCUs with the 68HC11 in the mid 90's I started again more recently with TI's eZ430-F2013 and progressed (jumped) to one of the Olimex MSP430 dev boards tempted by it's built-in LCD. Big mistake - with no clue and no worked examples I could interpret, I only ever used it connected to a four line alphanumeric display. After general disillusionment with support from the MSP430 world, I discovered the world of ARM and in particular the Cortex-M3 powered STM Primer2. That brought my first big breakthrough at 'natively' driving a graphic LCD - largely thanks to another member of STM's Primer community who had made development of projects on 'bare metal' reasonably straightforward. Soon after, Energy Micro's ultra low power 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 Gecko dev board appeared on the market and from there, things just started to come together (ok, much less slowly) but probably in no small part due to EM's enthusiastic customer support and especially as a novice - the decent range of examples in their app notes - I really can't say enough good about Energy Micro - Groovy baby!
After getting all ham-fisted with multimeter probes and blowing up my first first Gecko STK
![Face Palm :palm:](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/facepalm.gif)
development continued with a Tiny Gecko STK connected to the smallest commercially available LCD I could find (but still MOQ of 100 ex Taiwan). I owe a big debt of thanks to Thomas Tuxen at Review Displays UK for his time and kind support during this phase. Then, the month after I first got that LCD working I discovered silver PNLC Memory LCDs - the same model mikeselectricstuff featured in his video - were available from Mouser in unit quantities. Woohooo! That was April 2011 and what an awesome breakthrough it was in terms of the availability of cool tech for the masses. After house renovations, life, work and other distractions edged their way back up the priority list, it took the rest of 2011 to get to the stage you see in the very first image, above. Finally, during a period of flailing-economy-driven me-time, I started on the circuit design, component hunting and case integration around April last year. At the end of July I began to realise just how much case is needed around an LCD, (coincidentally I discovered the MetaWatch Strata on Kickstarter - and just how big it is on an average-sized wrist when I took delivery of one in Dec. Really well done MetaWatch, but for daily wear it's just a bit too big.) And so I switched to the latest Memory LCD technology in September 2012, (the same one that Andlier featured in his video) when those units became available as samples - many thanks to AvnetEmbedded UK for their generous support. Since then it's been a slow but steady process of PCB design tweaks followed by case design tweaks, sometimes by inspiration, but mostly by needing a break from one aspect of the design process.
Right now, I'm moderately confident the PCB is ready to prototype - feature creep is probably the single biggest risk to tangible progress right now.
Regarding cases - Initially I'm targeting and working on an optimising case design for the DIY 3D printing scene, with printed metal case design(s) to follow. I'm thinking along the lines of supplying a basic case design as OSHW that people can modify and/or embellish with their own unique design details. Right now 'fine detail' and 'DIY 3D printing' don't really go hand-in-hand, but with various on and off-line 3D metal printing bureaus, and the on-going improvements in the DIY 3D printing world, the future looks quite exciting for small batch high-tech manufacturing.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
- Hamish