I Turned an Old Hard Drive Into a Smart Weather Clock

Hello people, in this Instructables I will show you how I converted my old hard disk into a smart weather clock!

To begin with, let me tell you the reason that made me build this project. If you are a little into tech you may already know that the prices of hard disks have gone up recently.

This fact made me realise how valuable these little spinning disks actually are, even the dead ones.

But before that I wanted to share a short story about me and my hard drive!

Every old hard disk has a story. Mine spent years inside a computer spinning at 7200 RPM, storing memories, files and moments.

As usual it was serving its purpose, day after day every time i turn my computer on, But one fine day it decided to give up :(

When it finally retired, I could not throw it away. Instead I wanted to modify it into something useful and meaningful.

So I decided to give it a second life, One that would sit by my desk at all times, telling me the time, weather, temperature, conditions outside and other essential information.

Also i upcycled the analog clock mechanism from an old clock to add on this to keep that retro touch!

I took some time to properly think through how to utilise the parts inside my hard disk and give each part a role it deserves.

The shiny magnetic platter became the face of an analog clock. The sturdy metal enclosure became the housing for all the electronics(i made a 3d printed enclosure to cover up all the electronics)

But I wanted more than just a clock. I wanted it to also tell me the exact time down to the second, show me live weather from outside my window, and pulse with a warm Edison glow(like a heartbeat that reminds you time is always moving)

Most importantly, I wanted all of this to be powered by a chip smaller than my thumbnail!

And that is exactly what I built and very eager to show you how in this Instructables.

These are the supplies you will need to build this

ESP32 C3 Super Mini from amazon

Non Working Hard Drive

Old Clock

OLED Module(ssd1306)

Multiscrew Driver Set

Edison LED Filaments

Jumper Cables

Soldering Lead and Iron

Super Glue

PLA Filament

3D Printer

Battery to run Analog Clock

Arduino IDE

Type C Cable

Wifi connection with internet

Time to disassemble hdd!

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I took the hard drive out of my computer (from the laptop), and if you are using a hard drive of the same size, the task will be much easier for you.

The main tool to disassemble the hard drive is a screwdriver, and I had one with interchangeable bits(can check the supplies section for more details)

After a few trials and errors, I found the right bit which was a small star-shaped bit to remove the screws. Removing the top part is very easy.

Once you remove the top part, you can see the shiny disc (second image in this step).

Here, we are mainly focused on the platter or can be called as shiny disc and the actuator arm.

There will be a small chip near the arm. You can remove it just by lifting the arm and keeping it back in its place.

Now, to remove the disc, you have to remove the screw on the spindle. This uses another size of screw.

After you remove this, you can separate the shiny disc. By the end of this step, you will have almost all the parts disassembled.

Like I said previously, we are mainly focused on the shiny disc and then the arm.

The screws and other small parts are optional. In the end, if you are willing, you can add them as decorative items, but I wouldn't recommend doing so.

To Begin with i will scavenge my old clock for analog clock mechanism, There were plenty of old clocks that was abandoned just because it was old!

I just wanted the analog mechanism, also the hour and minute hand is not of that importance i just used the seconds hand here.

It took me quite a while to disassemble the clock since most of the screws were worn out and the plastic parts seems to be breaking apart too.

Start by cleaning the clock for dust and other things, i found a small abandoned wasp net too.

After some time i was finally be able to get the analog mechanism part, note that here when you are removing this part from the clock you might need to remove the hands of clock.

Always in most of the cases you can remove the second hand and then minute and then finally the hour hand.

You can cross check the analog mechanism for its working by inserting the battery.

I will use Tinkercad to make the 3d printed parts for this clock, since it is a custom design i took measurements of all the parts first.

There are total of 4 parts in this project and the main part here is the holder or the case that holds the hard disk and the other electronics inside it.

The case has a small slot for holding the type C pin on the esp32 board and the analog clock mechanism.

The small ring is for analog mechanism fitting onto the hard disk and the big ring is to create a small space between the shiny plate and the edison led so that the illumination can be seen.

Base parts are two pieces that is printed at once and glued to the base(sides) that act as a stand to hold the entire setup.

You can slice the model using any slicer, i used ultimaker cura to slice the modela and you can see the setting that i used.

No need of any rafts or supports at the time of printing, Just import the model to your slicer from the stl files given below.

Print with PLA filament and the choice of color is left to you.

Keep the model for printing and you can continue with other tasks of this project.

The front panel you removed was the first half of the work, now the second half you can do to remove the pcb from the hard disk.

Repeat the same steps and even here the size of the screw will be different, remove it and it comes of easily.

The size of the spindle was taken as reference to print the holder for the analog clock mechanism.

With some basic hammering i was able to remove the brushless motor part and its base and once it is removed i will add the analog clock mechanism here.

After the slot is ready on the hard disk, insert the small ring on the analog mechansim center and use a tiny drop of glue.

Although it is a kind of press fit for double strength use super glue, now add hot glue of thin layer on this part and press firmly on the hard disk backside part.

If needed add hot glue to the corners of the attached part for more strength.

Allow for hot glue to dry completely and now we can head over to the next part.

The edison led generally dont come with preinstalled wires, i soldered the jumper cable ends to the pins of these filament.

Test it before its installed on the hard disk part.

Main purpose of this filament is to create the pulse effect every second, and it looks beautiful in the dark.

since the base of the hard disk is made of aluminum and also the shiny disc part is made of aluminum i kept this filament in between although this do not generate much heat.

To maintain a proper gap between these 2 parts i installed an 3d printed circular ring that also illuminates light.

Use superglue to attach this to the base and later on the top you can attach the disc.

Disc also acts as a reflective surface to showcase the movement of second movement on the analog clock.

Now half of the work is complete, remaining half is adding the microcontroller and we will see that in the next step.

The circuit is very simple since we are involving less components.

I will connect the oled module first and then the edison led filament, the code is optimised to consume less power so that both the components work fine without any problem.

SSD1306 or the OLED module has 4 pins

Sda is connected to pin 1 on the esp32 board

Scl to Pin 0 on esp32 and the common Vcc and gnd to 3.3v and the ground pins on the controller.

Edison led filament has 2 pins and here i will be connecting the ground to the ground and the other pin is connected to pin no 3 on the esp32.

This completes the connection, To reduce the number of wires i will be connecting the ground wire from esp32 to both filament and then the oled module.

Once you are done with this connection connect the board to computer and open arduino ide.

Use the below program but make sure to do some changes, Replace my wifi creedentials with yours and then the location or the ntp.

I used my location and if you want it to your location change it to yours and if you feel struck just leave a comment and i will help you.

After these changes are made just select proper board type and port number and click on upload.

If you face any problem at the time of upload mostly it will be because of the missing library.

Once this is done your display will show time and other details and also the edison filament will start to glow.

Using this is very easy all you have to do is connect the battery to the analog clock and then connect the usb cable to the esp32 board.

After few seconds the board will automatically connect to the internet(to the given wifi) and you can see the live status of the connection on the OLED.

Here there is a small trick that you can achieve although its an optional part, If the edison led is not in sync with analog clock movement simply remove and insert the battery.

The second on then oled clock will be in sync with the edison led light, and also it would be far more better if you can sync the same with the analog clock too.

The OLED will show the details of time and date, weather details and also the uv index.

Dont miss to check out the working video along with complete build tutorial of this project.

If you have any doubt regarding the disassembly or the circuit your all questions carry an answer inside this video.

Let me know if you make this project, i hope to see it on the i made it section, This was all about this project, have a great build and willing to see "your hard disk story"

Thank you and have a great day.