Tube-based video display

[Capitol C]

I recently put together a Nixie-tube clock kit that I bought a long time ago and didn't get around to. I'll have a more detailed review, including measurements, soon, but I can supply some initial impressions. Compared to LED and LCD clocks, the Nixie-tube clock is warmer, with smoother upper frequencies, and better spatial imaging of digits. It also has more impact if you touch certain points on the circuit board.

 

[fpitas]

All discerning chronoophiles use those.

 

[tomtoo]

And much less edgy. Look at that 8 isnt it beautyfull?

 

[solderdude]

I have the all digital emulation version. It is brighter but spatial imaging (depth) is non existent.

 

[Capitol C]

I have the all digital emulation version. It is brighter but spatial imaging (depth) is non existent.

Those are cool, too. A guy down the hall from me has one. The question is, can it duplicate the Nixie signature with DSP, or are the tube purists right?

 

[egellings]

I recently put together a Nixie-tube clock kit that I bought a long time ago and didn't get around to. I'll have a more detailed review, including measurements, soon, but I can supply some initial impressions. Compared to LED and LCD clocks, the Nixie-tube clock is warmer, with smoother upper frequencies, and better spatial imaging of digits. It also has more impact if you touch certain points on the circuit board.View attachment 287332

A pair of NE-2's should have been used for the colon between the 8 and the 4. That would have kept the viewable technology all the same then.

 

[Capitol C]

Yes, unfortunately that requires a different board, 160 V vs 5 V driver. I did swap the single white LED provided for a pair of orange LEDs to make a color matched colon instead of a white decimal point. So I have a hybrid display! Also, by eye the color match is much better than the camera.

 

[Timcognito]

I built one from a kit in 2010. Only had to replace one tube last year, the second digit of the minutes surprisingly. Was sure last digit of the seconds would be the first to go, working the hardest. Got it from tubeclock.com.

 

[Capitol C]

I built one from a kit in 2010. Only had to replace one tube last year, the second digit of the minutes surprisingly. Was sure last digit of the seconds would be the first to go, working the hardest. Got it from tubeclock.com.

Did you try any of the cathode poisoning cures?

 

[Timcognito]

Did you try any of the cathode poisoning cures?

Not familiar with that, I'm a ME. I was just glad my soldering was up to snuff. It was a challenge for this old woodworker.

 

[Capitol C]

Not familiar with that, I'm a ME. I was just glad my soldering was up to snuff. It was a challenge for this old woodworker.

What happens is that when one of the digits is lighted, material from the digit "sputters" off and coats the other digits and the inside of the glass envelope. This extra material is crappy, and adds a layer of resistance to the digits where it collects. Sometimes it can be removed by running a higher voltage through the affected digit for a while If you have a 160 to 200 V DC supply, you can sometimes cure it. (I thought I had a bad tube and fiddled with it, but the tube wasn't bad, I was just misidentifying the anode. Duh. So what I've written is based on the internet, I've never cured a tube myself.) Alternatively, some (most, I'm not sure) Nixie controllers "exercise" all of the digits frequently to extend their lives. There is interesting stuff on line about it. Having said all of that, the last tubes were made around 30 years ago, a lot of the ones you buy are used, not NOS, so I'd say that 12 years is a good run.
My physics work involves more EE than ME. I've designed the mechanics of cryogenic equipment, built some, but handed off most of the work to machinists who knew what they were doing. More an more, both the mechanical and electrical parts of the job involve putting together systems with off the shelf equipment. Not as much fun, but it works better that way!

 

[egellings]

Yes, unfortunately that requires a different board, 160 V vs 5 V driver. I did swap the single white LED provided for a pair of orange LEDs to make a color matched colon instead of a white decimal point. So I have a hybrid display! Also, by eye the color match is much better than the camera.

The orange LEDs look good there.

 

[Doodski]

I recently put together a Nixie-tube clock kit that I bought a long time ago and didn't get around to. I'll have a more detailed review, including measurements, soon, but I can supply some initial impressions. Compared to LED and LCD clocks, the Nixie-tube clock is warmer, with smoother upper frequencies, and better spatial imaging of digits. It also has more impact if you touch certain points on the circuit board.View attachment 287332

Those are unique Nixie tubes in that they made them rectangular with rounded edges and the element emits via the front of the tube rather than the side.

 

[JayGilb]

Cool project !
I used to have a Nixie-tube voltmeter and a frequency counter that I purchased at a garage sale when I was a teenager.
Got a decade or so of use before they started to fail. I always liked the forward/backward movement of the numbers.

 

[Doodski]

Cool project !
I used to have a Nixie-tube voltmeter and a frequency counter that I purchased at a garage sale when I was a teenager.
Got a decade or so of use before they started to fail. I always liked the forward/backward movement of the numbers.

Me too. I used to collect nixie tube instrumentation and I had a wonderful micro volt meter in nixie tube from HP.