Nixie-based tube clocks

£69.95 / Kit

 

Pete from PV Electronics sent me a link to a really cool kit that he has been working on.  It is a GPS nixie clock kit that is offered in IN-8-2 or IN-14 tubes.  This is a killer little design and all of the hard work is done for you.  All you need to do is assemble it and build a nice enclosure for it (or buy the one pictured below).

Features:

  • Hours, Minutes and Seconds display.
  • 12 or 24 hour modes.
  • Date display in DD.MM.YY or MM.DD.YY Format.
  • Alarm clock feature with programmable snooze (6,9,12 or 15 minutes).
  • Programmable auto display of date at end of minute.
  • Programmable Blue LED backlighting. Can follow night blanking.
  • Uses a Crystal Oscillator as the timebase.
  • Optional DCF / WWVB / MSF / GPS Synchronisation with status indicator LED.
  • Supercapacitor time backup for short power interruptions.
  • Simple time setting using two buttons.
  • Programmable leading zero blanking.
  • Calendar function has full leap year calculation up to 2099.
  • Five programmable neon colon settings (Flashing AM/PM indication, illuminated AM/PM indication, both flashing, both on, both off).
  • Maintains time during setup mode, eg. When changing between Standard Time and Daylight Savings Time.
  • Seconds can be reset to zero to precisely set the time.
  • Programmable night time mode - tubes blanked or dimmed to extend tube life / prevent sleep disturbance.
  • Separate modes for colon neons during night time mode.
  • Fading digit mode or standard change of digits.
  • 'Slot Machine' cathode poisoning prevention routine.
  • All user preferences stored to non-volatile flash memory.
  • Useful tube-test routine on cold startup.
  • Night mode override with 1 button press. Customisable override period.
  • LED backlights can be permanently disabled in software if you prefer, or not installed.
  • All through-hole components. No difficult Surface Mount Components.
  • Tubes INCLUDED with this kit.

What's Included

  • 6 X IN-8-2 Nixie tubes, with 18mm digit height
  • All transistors, resistors, capacitors, ICs, diodes
  • 2 X Neon bulbs for hours:minutes:seconds separators
  • Double sided, plated - through - hole PCB with red solder resist.
  • Fully pre-programmed PIC microcontroller, with socket
  • 6 X blue LEDs for tube backlights
  • Piezo alarm sounder

All electronic components are provided, except power supply. WWVB / DCF / MSF / GPS receiver not included but available in the PV Electronics store.

 

Optional Enclosure

 

 

Links

Peter Sztojanov Jr. of Steampunk Alchemy shared a link on Facebook yesterday to a few nixie clocks that he's been working on.  He did a really great job building them and photographing them and I wanted to share his work here.  He has a detailed walkthrough of the construction and a nice gallery to browse through.  Go check it out!

(photos are owned by Steampunk Alchemy and used with permission)

Full Thread Here: https://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l/browse_thread/thread/7d000c18fea426cd?hl=en#

Note: DO NOT send orders to tubeclockdb.com!

From the thread:

Sorry for the delay on this folks. We have finally arrived at pricing  for the above and will be ready to ship in about 45 days (probably  less). Pricing is as follows:

Complete MOD-SIX_7971 Nixie Kit includes: 
** 5 black solder mask modular PCB’s (3 dual tube boards, 1 CPU and 1 PS board) 
** Pre-programmed CPU (see feature set below) 
** All SMD and thru-hole components 
**1.5 amp, 110 VAC-12VDC power supply 
** Pre-sized copper tubing for colon towers 
** Decorative precision CNC drilled and sanded 1/4” thick billet  aluminum base + all mounting hardware + screw-on heavy duty rubber  feet 
** Custom-made and sized 1/4” thick acrylic top 
** Assembly manual

 

Jürgen just sent me these new photos of the alternate enclosure for his Manuela HR nixie clock.  The plexiglas in the final product will be a gold color.  The plexiglas in the photo is actually a standard mirror finish that has been mocked up in Photoshop.  And, for those curious, the tubes are Siemens ZM1182 clear tubes that were manufactured in January 1967.

Wall Mount Nixie Clock

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