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Another nixie tube clock :)

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Mads Barnkob

Sun Jan 16 2011, 01:21PM

Registered Member #1403 Joined: Tue Mar 18 2008, 06:05PM
Location: Denmark, Odense C
Posts: 1968

nixie

I did not find this entirely worthy of its own project thread as it was a little project I puzzled with during the Christmas holidays :)

Its pretty simple with dividers using the 50Hz wall socket frequency to drive 6 counters for each their tube. What took the longest was to drill the holes and solder all the components in and make the enclosure..

Sulaiman

Sun Jan 16 2011, 02:38PM

Registered Member #162 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140

Nice ! well done on a completed project.
To me there's something inexplicably attractive about a Nixie Clock,

This is a project I've had on the wish list for decades !
I even bought a nixie tube frequency counter via eBay
for the case, tubes etc.
but when I got it I couldn't kill it as it still works perfectly
and it's a simple 7490-based design
... state-of-the-art in my electronics youth period!

Conundrum

Sun Jan 16 2011, 05:19PM

Registered Member #96 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:37PM
Location: CI, Earth
Posts: 4061

NixiePOV would be interesting.
not sure if the tubes could take the vibration/centrifugal force though..
-A

Martin King

Sun Jan 16 2011, 06:31PM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

Conundrum wrote ...

NixiePOV would be interesting.
not sure if the tubes could take the vibration/centrifugal force though..
-A

It's been done. Decent bearings and proper balancing would take care of vibration, as for centrifugal force you just need to support the tube properly. I think I'd be inclined to slot the Nixie into a perspex tube. I'd like to make one with two Nikies, one above to other, to give both date and time.

Martin.

Nicko

Sun Jan 16 2011, 06:34PM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Conundrum wrote ...

NixiePOV would be interesting.
not sure if the tubes could take the vibration/centrifugal force though..

You all need to go to the neonixie-l group on Google - its where pretty much all of the nixie saddo types hang out (we are a small but distinguished group

)

We used to be on Yahoo!! but got fed up with them, so decamped - the archive is still on the Yahoo site, but I've disabled new members for that...

There are 100s of designs in our archives, and many members are designers and artists.

Nixie POV has been done (e.g.

, but the mechanics of some tubes leaves a bit to be desired (though they were used on Apollo flights). Members have built motorbike speedos using nixies, but the vibration tends to kill them quickly.

Martin King

Sun Jan 16 2011, 06:34PM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

Sulaiman wrote ...

...but when I got it I couldn't kill it as it still works perfectly

You don't need to "kill" it, just borrow the tubes. They're in sockets so easy to restore it back to working order if you want. I have 10 Wang Nixies waiting for me to do something with along with a Racal counter containing another 8.

Martin.

Nicko

Sun Jan 16 2011, 09:17PM

Registered Member #1334 Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615

Martin King wrote ...

Sulaiman wrote ...

...but when I got it I couldn't kill it as it still works perfectly

Depends entirely on the nixie and how its used - many are wire-ended, not pins... even if they are pinned, removing them from old & corroded sockets can lead to out-gassing unless you are careful. However, contrary to popular belief, many nixies types are readily available, and most counters used pretty common types. The rare ones tend to be very large or very beautiful (or both) and were not generally used in lab kit. Remember that even when they were first made, nixies cost a lot of money.

I have maybe 150 different types of nixies (excluding other similar displays, such as panaplex etc) - probably 15-20% are wire ended.

If you need specific spares, let me know.

Cheers

Martin King

Sun Jan 16 2011, 09:36PM

Registered Member #3040 Joined: Tue Jul 27 2010, 03:15PM
Location: South of London. UK
Posts: 237

Ah yes I forgot about the wire ended types, all mine are plug in ones. Good point about corroded sockets as well, maybe a bit of a soak with WD40 would help before trying to remove them. I note there are a lot of quite cheap 7 segment type nixies on Ebay but I prefer the ones with proper numbers.

Martin.

Dalus

Sun Jan 16 2011, 09:54PM

Registered Member #639 Joined: Wed Apr 11 2007, 09:09PM
Location: The Netherlands, Herkenbosch
Posts: 512

Nice mads lovely project

Coronafix

Sun Jan 16 2011, 10:22PM

Registered Member #160 Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 02:07AM
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 938

Nice work Mads!
Of course for the yanks the first stage would be a divide by 6.

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