A sundial is something that was used to tell the time in the past, back when there was no such thing as a watch – digital or otherwise. It was fairly accurate, as long as the sun still shines, and one big problem is it does not work when dusk falls until the next day when the sun rises, of course. Perhaps a digital sundial might be the “cure” to this problem, as French Thingiverse member Mojoptix decided to build one from scratch – although his will still not work when there is not enough sunlight. Bear in mind that this digital sundial does not incorporate any kind of electronics or moving parts, and yet will still depict the time from 10:00 to 16:00 in a changing numerical display as long as the sun shines.
Mojoptix’s creation is not the first digital sundial of sorts, far from it, but it is certainly interesting enough due to the lack of electronics within. His version will throw a shadow that displays the time in 20-minute increments within itself as the sun moves. This unique sundial was designed using free OpenSCAD software, before requiring approximately 35 man hours to build it using ABS plastic on an Ultimaker 2 3D printer.
There is a kit that is on sale so that you can use the pre-printed components to piece them together and you’re good to go right out of the box, and the entire shebang will retail for $77 over on Etsy.
Filed in .. Source: gizmag