Guys,
Ya'll missed the point (and the joke, "chips drying out"? C'mon, I admit I'm known to be stupid, but not THAT stupid!) Also, I never said "no buttons, no batteries" or having just "one simple knob". Sarcasm doesn't help. And as far as dozens of cheap timers at the hardware store--you guys are right--the great majority of them are cheap, as in worthless. I know; I (being stupid) have bought many of them. They leak, batteries get corroded even after a short time (a week?), Or, worst of all, my dear mother pulls on the hose too hard and snaps them right off. The timer I built is a wearable device. It straps to her upper arm so the alarm is close to her ear so she can hear it. She has a hard time, on occasion, standing up and it takes her a while to do so. With a readout of time remaining, she said then she could be ready when the clock runs out.
I don't get it. Doesn't anybody like to build something just for the heck of it? As I said in my original post I've got probably 90+% of what I might need so cost would be negligible, far less than some of the corporate crap being slung by Lowe's, Home Depot, or Ace Hardware. My problem is simply that I'm not smart enough to design something like this. I can build it, heck yes. I know my way around a circuit board and a soldering iron. I just can't design it.
I've tried several times to create something digital and I've gotten spectacular results. Mostly smoke and fire, but sometimes an LED will light up. Usually not the one I want but, meh, I'll take it. Seriously though, most of the time I get nothing. Which is why I've got the boxes of logic chips I mentioned in my original post. So, do any of you guys do contract design?
Please forgive any grammar, punctuation or other errors. I'm not known for my literary skills, either. <ckd>