Broken LCD Monitor? Reuse It to Make a Titan Clock!

When an LCD display breaks, this means that you’ll need to spend money for a new one, and either traipse outside or wait for one that you ordered to arrive. On the other hand, you could build the excellent “Titan Clock RGB” from the remains, perhaps even while you await your new model! The design, by hacker “ProtheanSoft,” uses RGB LEDs, and an LCD panel’s diffuser to form a uniform glow for each segment of the clock’s digital display.

The donor panel is required to be cut into 28 segments, along with two dots to separate the hours and minutes, in this case using a laser cutter. 48 segments were cut for this build, meaning plenty of material for the four digits, and it’s noted that this could also be done with a saw. If a saw is used, however, the cut surfaces would likely need to be cut to allow light to pass through. Finally, the sides of each segment were wrapped in aluminum sheet in order to reflect light from a pair of WS2812 RGB LEDs shining in from the top and bottom.

For control, the clock uses an Arduino Nano, along with a DS3231 RTC module for accurate timekeeping. If you’d like to build your own, check out the project’s GitHub page for code and a wiring diagram!