#Nixie tube clock how to
#Nixie tube clock generator
#Nixie tube clock driver

I don’t have access to any CNC machines, so making holes is an arduous task, so I used a knife and a chisel to pierce the metal. Those half moon shaped holes are from original control shafts.Īs I said, my friend gave me some thin metal sheet, which I used to make the front panel.

I ordered red plexiglass which filters out slight blue hue from tubes. Later I salvaged them from buttons of old fridges. Neon bulbs wasn’t connected, because I did not yet have them at that point. Those wires are fragile and stiff to bend, which makes a terrible spring effect which I hate. Using a single core for cathodes was not the brightest idea. That hole for the display is bit smaller than original holes so I had problems to get a clean cut. Then I screwed a couple of L-mounts to the plexiglass to attach it to the bottom of the case. For two neon bulbs I used a glass tube fuse holder. I assembled nixie sockets to plexiglass with spacers, and wired them to connectors and current limiting resistors. Even cutting only 0.1mm thick steel is hard because of its spring effect. He also gave som thin steel sheet for front panel. Cutting 1mm thick metal is too hard of a job for me without any power tools, so I left that job for my friend who kindly did it for me.

Left side from the front panel was to be victim of cutting.Ī rough plan can be seen on right. I ended up using old holes and switches from right side.

#Nixie tube clock generator

That signal generator was not working properly, and I had no use for only hearing range capable equipment, so I decided to reuse it’s chassis. I found old barely working school education level function generator from e-waste recycling center. Making the case, mounting all tubes, knobs and switches, and mounting the circuit board. Third part is probably the most time consuming and difficult one. I haven’t had the time to make a mainboard yet, but it is nearly in working condition on a breadboard. Nixie control board came out really nice. I also wanted to use as little money as little as possible and use mostly recycled parts and components. The whole point in this clock is it to appear as an old prototype, so using single-dot perfboard is okay.

I assembled the parts on a veroboard, because etching PCB’s at home is difficult, and manufacturing them in factory is expensive. For hour/minute separating dots I used 2 glim bulbs, driven with MPSA42. For driving nixie tubes cathodes the best way is using 74141N or the soviet equivalent, K155ID1. I’m more hardware-orientated, so I came up with using I2C RTC chip DS1307 and I/O expander PCF8574P. However, I had to change my plans because of my lack of skills in programming. I was going to use the MEGA16 also for the clock. From beginning it was certain that I would be using Atmel MEGA16 microcontroller for the main logic. I thought first to multiplex the tubes and use some MPSA42 high voltage transistors.

#Nixie tube clock how to

Next step was to designing the schematic on how to control the nixies. I love dim neon orange, one of the best colors in the world. After some measuring and testing I got one number glowing beautifully orange. So bought nixie power supply TES 1364 from an eBay seller. That would have been dangerous, so I choose to follow my friend’s approach. That would produce about 160VAC, which would be rectified and the current limited to tubes. I was first going to power the tubes with two transformers, one 230:12 connected backwards to other one which is about 230:18.

#Nixie tube clock driver

Together we ordered some Russian ИН-12А display tubes and s K155ID1 nixie driver ICs. The idea became reality when my friend started to make his own clock. I also didn’t have the required know-how to make circuits and boards for a clock. I have had the idea for some time, but I did not have any nixies back then. I started to build the nixie tube clock at the beginning of the 2012. Applying power to one cathode surrounds it with an orange glow discharge. It is a cold-cathode tube and similar to a neon-lamp. A Nixie tube is an electronic device for displaying numerals or other information.