but that wouldn't have made this task cheap. Unless you're thinking in terms of NC machinery, this job would take a highly skilled (not a student) mill operator a whole day to lay out and execute. Who'd pay for that?


Just what do you mean by "cheaply", and, what sort of engravers/routers do you mean?


Now that seems plausible, if, perhaps, a bit crude.



That just might be a bit of an oversimplification, but I'm inclined to agree ... the British have often come up with very imaginative responses to what appear to be difficult problems.


However, I think the Swede has come up with the most realistic proposal, i.e. printing the mask on film, whether in a printer or with a photographic process, e.g. on a Gerber plotter. If there is a density issue, it can probably be remedied by using two layers of film, particularly if one produces one in reverse, so the two emulsion/ink/pigment sides are in contact to avoid parallax. Using a Gerber plotter would be prohibitive, perhaps, but not so much so as tying up a milling machine for a day.

It's still not a simple homework assignment, but for a semester project, it could, I agree, be done, though probably not for less than the cost of a case of beer. The key, I suppose, is to have one or more LED's illuminating a diffuser behind each individual text string. The firmware would have to decide which text strings would be required to assert the current time, and, of course, how to drive the appropriate LED's. Further, it's probably at a low enough level that a first-year student could handle its every aspect.

RE