For a recent project that I was working on I needed a large seven segment display. I could find some ready made one about two or three inches tall - but I needed bigger. For that reason I set about designing my own and have documented it here so you can use the display as a basis for your projects.

It has been designed in a modular way using acrylic sheets and 3d printed components for each character on the display, you can one or more of these depending on the display requirements. These are then held together using a simple to make wooden frame.

I created and published code for both an Arduino (Uno or Nano) or Wemos D1 Mini (ESP8266) that will turn the display into a giant two digit lap timer. The optional PCB I have designed for the project also provides routing of power to the programmable LED strips and a connection point for a 315mhz radio receiver. This let's it receive a signal from a four button garage door like key fob and a react to it.

Mine was turned into a lap timer for the local swimming pool so the buttons either reset the counter or trigger a three stage countdown sequence using colours before starting the timer.

I’ll share with you how I made it - it is rather simple. As always there is a complete list of parts and links to amazon down below this video, and included some helpful tips and an FAQ here on my site. Enjoy.