10s of seconds

Uh oh....

No power to the display?

Oops. I inserted the dumb thing too high. It wasn't easiest to get out in one piece

Success so far!!

The lights are on! Now I get to load the display digits!

Display time!!

Seconds seven segment

It's only diodes standing between me and building the first part of the display.

I'm getting tired of diodes because they're so hard to line up, and these are so close that it's getting hard not to plug adjacent holes.

Seconds decode section

A little monotonous, but at least all the diodes go in the same direction.

Eerrrrgggg

Ok, a frustration, especially once you start working along lines of really close holes. It's really easy to accidentally touch an adjacent hole after making a joint and it fills with solder!! It's really hard to clean out.

Seconds counter

Prescaler is done

No idea what needs to be pre scaled, but after power supply, it's the next section to be put together. Parts here were much closer together so there were a couple of times I got goofed up on the back, but with a little scratching I think I'm ok.

I need to write the company to see if there's a nonoscilliscope way to test this section

Loaded 46 diodes

Ok, a couple of things I've learned so far:

Clippers: I find big toenail clippers an easier answer than the angle clippers meant for this kind I work

Diodes: they're smaller than the distance between the holes on the component board, so they're a lite tricky to line up.

I am also a little anxious about how to test this section because the only thin recommended is to check the final resisters for a 1hz signal... And I don't have an oscilloscope.

Success!

Just got a multimeter and did the initial testing of juice across the big capacitor. Also needed to test that none of the components get hot, so I'm off to build the next section: the prescaler

On my way!

Ok, both my dad (who bought me the kit) and my little brother say I'll never be able to do this, which of course makes me want to even more. The box arrived yesterday from KBelectronics (www.transisterclock.com). I got an electronics dual temp soldering iron from Radio Shack. I need a voltage meter to start checking my work so I'll have to do that soon. I spent about an hour during the Seahawks game this afternoon and finished the power supply.