Channel 4 Countdown Clock

Hi all,

I know many of you probably arn't interested but does anyone know which company built and designed the countdown clock? Or anyone have any idea how it works exactly? I am going to try someday to build a working one but I haven't been able to find out any details so your help will be much appreciated. Thanks

The original credits for Calendar Countdown list the designer as Robert Scott - whether he was the set designer or the production designer I've no idea.

How does it work? It's probably a computer-programmed electronic motor attached to a dynamo, and zips back to 0 once it's completed 30 seconds. Or it's a series of gears connected to a well-trained hamster in a wheel.

Michael is right!

The clock is powered by a computer Motor which is connected to the Button that is pressed by the host. The lighting used is on a 1 second sequence which i think is just fluorescent lighting tube's. As the motor works, the lighting follows each second behind the pointer.

You could easily achieve this with a Disco lighting Mirror Ball motor.

Did Robert Scott do the pilot for Calendar Countdown as well which had the clock with the 45 second lights?

That was the pilot I was referring to.

I could probably sort the motor its just the timing of the lights I think i would get stuck on. Unless someone else wants to build one for me?

This guy could probinly help you judging by his video...

Hope this helps.

http://youtu.be/Mo9JoGkR5CM

You could use some micro-switches that are activated physically by the rotation of the clock.

It's pretty trivial to get a computer to turn on 30 lights at one second intervals. If they were LEDs you could probably do it using nothing but a couple of parallel ports and a bit of coding.

Yes, that is by far the easier solution, as long as you're comfortable with basic coding I suppose. There are lots of possible ways of doing it - you could cascade some decade counters, you could have a moving piece of card inside to block the light, you could do it in a completely bonkers and roundabout way - as long as it works, it doesn't really matter.

Here you go!

http://sibotic.wordpress.com/

Happy Clock building!