I ran out of wood PLA, and I wasn't happy with the way that the last print came out. There was a blog of plastic between the top and the raft that I didn't notice while it was printing. It left a really unsightly mark on the top.

I decided to order another roll and try again. Once it was printed, I gave it a light sanding. I didn't want to go nuts with the sanding. I wanted to leave some of the layer details in so that it would look like wood grain. If thought if the surface finish was perfect, it would look like plastic. I wanted some small imperfections in the finish to remain so that it would look like wood.





Since my roll of black PLA was finally delivered, I printed the final base.



I then installed all the hardware. Looking good.



I then took the top outside and gave it a coat of wood stain.



A friend at work is a wizard when it comes to wet sanding and clear coating, so I passed it off to him for a few days so that he could work his magic. Boom.





I sifted through my acrylic scraps and found a piece that was perfect for the display cutout. It's actually the cutout from the first clock that I made.



I hot glued it in place and installed the buttons and the speaker.



I then made all the necessary connections.



One last detail…what vintage kit is complete without rubber feet?



And there it is. I think it came out awesome.





I started the clock almost a year ago. However, once I actually figured out how to drive the display, it was another 7 months before I actually started it. I had so many other projects to finish first. I'm glad I waited until my plate was clear to work on this. It really came out nice. It's definitely one of my favorites.

See this project from start to finish:
I Finally Figured Out This Vacuum Fluorescent Display
VFD Clock - Part I
VFD Clock - Part II
VFD Clock - Part III
VFD Clock - Part IV
VFD Clock - Part V
VFD Clock - Part VI
Clock Button Panels