If you have time to spare and some patience, you can create wonderful items and adorn your home with them. I had this old Hard drive lying at home. It was not functioning anymore and I didn’t know what to do with it. I didn’t want to throw it out either. So I decided to convert it into a clock. The picture can be seen below:

Click on Image to enlarge.

I had to make a lot of changes to the hard drive to accommodate the clock mechanism inside. But the end result was worth it. What are the objects you need to make a clock? Here is the list of items I used:

a) an old hard disk (completely not working – caution: opening a hard disk will render it useless!)

Click on Image to enlarge. Image Courtesy: pclaunches.com

b) Quartz movement with  hour, minute and second arms (faceplate if available)

Click on Image to enlarge. Image Courtesy: nationalartcraft.com

This can be removed from an old wall clock in your house. This operates on a single 1.5V AA battery.

c) Tools like screw driver etc.

The first thing you need to do, is plan where the clock is going to be mounted on the disk. In some cases you could probably remove the disks and mount the clock there. I chose not to do so. Instead I mounted the clock near the disk and this involved visits to the nearby drilling and milling shops. But the effort was worth it.

After you have determined the place to mount the clock, screw it tight from the top side. Proceed to stick a face plate of your choice (it could be hand drawn) with the movement sticking out. Mount the hour, minute and second needles in that order and you are all set.

You can make a small stand from a old cloth hanger or tie some cord and hang it on the wall.

 Here is the video of the hard disk rotating.

Wall Clocks, a common item found in most Indian homes. So simple to install but so many choices out there. We wanted to take a break from consumer appliances which have been prominent on the front page of our portal for quite some time now. Instead we decided to write about unconventional things which still are essential part of your home.

Click on the image to enlarge

Wall clocks are time keeping, battery operated devices. Usually they are mounted on the wall with the help of a nail. Most Wall clocks are powered by a single AA battery which needs to be replaced once in about 6 months or so. Others may require more than one AA cell or even bigger cells to power its circuitry.

Swiss watches are not battery operated. Instead you may need to wind them up with a key or use the attached strings with weights to wind the clock’s mechanism.

Let us look at some of the types of clocks available in the market today for you to choose from.

• Simple electronic analog clock – These display just the time with either 2 or 3 hands. (hours/minutes/seconds). They operate with one battery or two at the most. You could have all the hours printed or only the 4 key hours printed on the face of the clock – 3, 6, 9 and 12 hours. Some models have an hourly chime option to indicate the start of a new hour.

• Analog Clock with date and day option : In addition to the options mentioned in the first type, these clocks display the date and day of the week as well. These are perhaps not that functional unless they have perpetual calendar built in as this would require you to change the date once in two months. The mechanism within in most cases will not automatically switch over to 1st of July after 30th of June. This is equivalent to wrist watches with a date and day display.

• Simple digital clocks , LED based - Here you have the time displayed either in 12 hour or 24 hour format with the help of light emitting diodes. The advantage is that the visibility of time is good even when the room is not lit. But this may also be a disadvantage for rooms like bedroom. Most often such clocks are used in public places but a few choose them for their homes as well.

• Simple digital clocks , LCD based - Here the display is made from “liquid crystal”. The battery life for such clocks are high and they are even capable of displaying date, day and some additional details like temperature of the room, relative humidity and more.

• Mechanical clocks - These are fading away from regular use since the advent of electronic clocks. They are more of a traditional aspect in one’s home today. Serious collectors also have a variety of mechanical clocks with interesting mechanisms and features. Imported Swiss clocks or cuckoo clocks also fall in this category. These are really impressive and expensive at the same time. For every new hour, the cuckoo clock has the wooden bird come out of its cage and chirp a number of times which indicates the time too.

Mechanical clocks in particular the cuckoo clocks are very tough to maintain. Repairs have to be carried out by trained and authorized stores or else you end up loosing a good investment.

You could buy a clock for your home ranging from Rs. 150/- all the way to perhaps Rs. 1,00,000/- or more.