Ancient tradition, logic, intuition and geometry- meet the modern fervent and innovative world of 3-D printing.
Thanks to the legendary work and design of French inventor Julien Coyne, the power of the sun is harnessed and processed through an intricate network of passages and tunnels to display the accurate time in full digital greatness. Coyne’s sundial was designed with the assistance of software and crafted into reality with a 3-D printer. The project is a perfect example of how current technology has made historically difficult and challenging projects possible.
Coyne’s gnomon, the part of the sundial which casts the shadow and in this case forms the digital numbers, can be likened to the complex form of a player piano roll in orchestrating the sun’s rays elegantly into a manifestation of time. The part takes 35 hours of print time to complete.
While Coyne offers to craft custom sundials for consumers at a cost, he has made the plans available to the DIY community in the realm of open source.