Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by jacquesm on Thursday August 18, 2016 @07:52AM
(#12311734)
Super persistence and what a nice result. Nixies are really quite neat, I love the shapes of the digits (compared to LED digits).
Last year I cleared out an old warehouse that I owned (and have now sold) and I came across a box with a whole pile of nixies. Tossed them into the trash, if I had realized what they were worth... The inner pack-rat in me weeps.
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by frederikvs on Thursday August 18, 2016 @09:35AM
(#12312344)
There's a link there to a his Shanghai Time nixie clock [1],"a two-tube nixie clock". I wonder how you read a two-tube nixie clock.
From the pictures it looks like it just displays the minutes, but that wouldn't be enough info for me. I'd be like "OK, I see it's 10 past, but 10 past what? Judging from the position of the sun, it may be 10 past 2 or 10 past 3. Not sure though."
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by ChuckMcM on Thursday August 18, 2016 @03:52AM
(#12310986)
Fun stuff, at $145/tube its a bit more than they were originally but its nice to know there is a source if you need one.
I really enjoyed his journey of discovery though, I think if he put it into book form he could self publish on Amazon or some similar publisher and people would be able to support his effort without such a big buy in cost :-).
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by Artlav on Thursday August 18, 2016 @06:40AM
(#12311499)
I wonder who would buy them at such ridiculous prices. Most NOS nixies are in the $0.5 to $5 range, excluding delivery costs. Only exceptions are a few weird and rare ones.
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by creeble on Thursday August 18, 2016 @11:57AM
(#12313510)
I love nixies. I have a Fluke 8100 with a nixie display; it's pretty much just my battery tester but the most beautiful (and largest) one in the world.
Also built a kit clock that wasn't much more expensive than just one of this guy's tubes (uses Russian surplus pc-mount tubes), but apparently no longer available.
I think I got it here, but the site just shows some lame SQL error now:
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by phasetransition on Thursday August 18, 2016 @11:37AM
(#12313307)
As someone who assembled, ran, and maintained high vacuum hardware and furnaces in undergraduate and graduate school, my hats off to the scope of this guy's undertaking.
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by peletiah on Thursday August 18, 2016 @05:53AM
(#12311342)
Wow, impressive quality in details and finishing. And all made in a small shop in rural Czechia. I wonder how the guy financed all the equipment and time in the first place, he looks pretty young.
Re:Bringing Nixie tubes back to life
by Terretta on Thursday August 18, 2016 @07:53AM
(#12311739)
> Anyone else can't stand the anti-chronological format? It's not a changelog!
It's exactly a changelog, blog, newsfeed, any number of things that read in this "newest news first" order.
This is the user friendly order for the repeat visitor and if that's not you, it's not for you. Your one time experience is suboptimal so the recurring interested audience visit is optimal.
That your HN-typical nitpicking was on top of this artisan's thread annoyed me, so I ordered a clock.
Last year I cleared out an old warehouse that I owned (and have now sold) and I came across a box with a whole pile of nixies. Tossed them into the trash, if I had realized what they were worth... The inner pack-rat in me weeps.
https://aivelectronics.ru/aivnixie_eng/
I did not know that you can get time from GPS/Glonass before that.
[1] http://www.daliborfarny.com/shanghai-time-nixie-clock/
I really enjoyed his journey of discovery though, I think if he put it into book form he could self publish on Amazon or some similar publisher and people would be able to support his effort without such a big buy in cost :-).
Old Z5680M / Z568M tubes of dubious quality are selling on EBay for $200+.
Also built a kit clock that wasn't much more expensive than just one of this guy's tubes (uses Russian surplus pc-mount tubes), but apparently no longer available.
I think I got it here, but the site just shows some lame SQL error now:
http://www.store.tubeclock.com/
It's exactly a changelog, blog, newsfeed, any number of things that read in this "newest news first" order.
This is the user friendly order for the repeat visitor and if that's not you, it's not for you. Your one time experience is suboptimal so the recurring interested audience visit is optimal.
That your HN-typical nitpicking was on top of this artisan's thread annoyed me, so I ordered a clock.