Per Johan Groland sent me a nice little VFD clock for review and I think you’ll like this one.
This clock is made up of four IV-17 alphanumeric VFD tubes. As it ships, the electronics come in two parts – the base with the microcontroller and the shield with the VFD tubes. The base can support up to four sixteen-segment tubes or twenty seven-segment displays.
The big draw to this board, in my opinion, is how hacker-friendly it is. The software is open source and available on GitHub. It ships with an ISP header for easy software upgrades. Given this combination, it makes a great platform for experimenting with. If you want to make your own four letter word machine or to experiment with VFD tubes, this is a great place to start.
I received this device fully assembled but it normally ships as a kit. It looks relatively straightforward to assemble but I would estimate that each half of the device will take about an hour to do.
When the device is operating as a clock (using the shipping firmware) the operation is very straightforward. The clock can operate in 12h or 24h mode, the brightness can be adjusted, and there is also an alarm. Nearing the menu structure is pretty easy and there is a manual online to make setting the device easier.
The one feature that is missing from this firmware release is a display off time. Since VFD tubes wear out, it would be nice to have the display shutoff during certain hours of the day. This is not a major problem in my opinion given how easy it is to find VFD tubes on eBay, but it is something I wanted to point out.
The enclosure is a clear acrylic that has been cut in an almost jigsaw puzzle like fashion. This ensures that the pieces only fit together one way. Once assembled, I would suggest lightly tacking the base pieces together to prevent the sides or back from falling off. The electronics themselves are not actually attached to the enclosure.
One of the features of this clock that I particularly like is it’s size – the entire device is one of the smallest that I’ve reviewed. This is partly because it is a four digit design but it also means that it is easier to find room for this gadget on a crowded desk.
Now, you’re probably thinking that this would make a great four letter word machine and you would be right. A FLW modification is in development to support this feature. It will actually require an extra EEPROM to support the dictionary needed for this device.
As of the time of this review, inly the IV-17 shield is available. There are three more shields in development: and IV-16, IV-22, and IV-18. These should be available shortly.
Overall – I’m a fan of this little device. The hacker-friendly nature of the gadget and it’s low price ($104 for the kit) mean that this will appeal to a wide audience. This is a great way to get started working with VFD’s without having to worry about the electrical engineering part. Be sure to look at the photos below to get a better idea of what is included and watch the review.
Currently, only the IV-17 shield is on sale. The IV-6 is almost ready for production and the IV-18 and IV-22 will need a little but more work before they go on sale.
Jürgen from NixieKits.eu is working on a new design for a line level preamplifier. This new device will have the same footprint as his headphone amp and he has been kind enough to share the schematics so far. The cool part of this design is that will support a range of tube with both 6v and 12v filaments. For example the ECC81 / 82 / 83 (12Ax7) have a 12V filament. All "newer" tubes, e.g. ECC88 / E802CC... and all Russian types (6N1P...) have a 6V filament.
Paraphrased from the seller: This is a hand crafted, radio controlled clock. Each clock is one of a kind and only the highest quality components are used. The buyer may customize the clock with any LED color or size of their choice.
One of the things that this website doesn't have enough of is CRT / Oscilloscope clocks. Thankfully, I found an eBay seller who is happy to help fill the void. eBay seller al-truism has been selling scope clocks for a while and I've been watching them as his designs progress and he is offering them pretty regularly via eBay and directly from his website. For those who are a little more adventurous, he sells the board directly as a kit. His website has lots of great work and his YouTube channel shows the devices in action - go check it out.
From his site:
These oscilloscope clocks display a digital face for ten seconds and then an analog face for ten seconds. This helps to reduce the "burn-in" that otherwise will inevitably occur on crts displaying the same image for too long. Many of the parts are recycled from used electronics, which makes them kind of "green". The base and shroud are homemade from plexiglass. These scope clocks have a "shifter" that will move the display on the screen slightly every 6 seconds. Also , the display alternates every ten seconds between analog and digital face. This helps to greatly reduce the burn in that can result from the display staying in the same spot continuously. The Nixie clocks are "faders", which means when the numbers are changing, the number that's going is dimmed while the number that's coming is brightened. This produces a "morphing" effect that kind of makes them appear to melt into the next one. The oscilloscope clocks are user programmable with preset sleep / wake mode , which will turn the display on and off at preset times automatically, while still keeping time, thus conserving the crt usage and extending its lifespan.
Here is a cool 4 digit numitron clock based off of what appears to be an ardunio. Based on the GitHub description:
The TubeClockDB / Tube Clock Database is a collection of nixie clocks, vfd clocks, vacuum fluorescent clocks, crt clocks, scope clocks and oscilloscope clocks. We will feature just about anything: fully assembled clocks ready to purchase, kits, or even individual nixie tubes. If there is something that you think would make this a better resource, please contact us.
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