Build A Nixie Tube Clock

J Aldridge writes: "People are still using Nixie tubes. Their warm glow seems to be the digital equivalent of the warm sound of vacuum amplifiers. One person has constructed a tube wristwatch."

Comments

cool clocks

[Pathwalker]

The coolest looking nixie tube based clocks I've seen on the web are these over at World Power Systems.
(Be sure to check out the Story Teller if you go to that site - extremely cool!)

Even Cooler...

[kzinti]

Wow, those nixie clocks bring back some fond memories. I always wanted to build a nixie project, but as a novice hardware hacker, couldn't even read the hookup schematic. Now, a little older, wiser, and with the help of these kits maybe I'll finally build one.

However, while browsing some of the associated links, I came across this clock, which I find even cooler:

http://www.cathodecorner.com/

It uses an oscilloscope tube to draw the time in green phosphor arcs - no pixels. Way cool! And a kit is available with a guts-on-display plexiglass case. Awesome...

--Jim

Re:Design considerations

[Detritus]

While I agree with you about the need for a transformer for safety reasons, the mains frequency is useful for a clock. I built a Heathkit digital clock, back when digital clocks were rare items, that used the mains frequency as the input to the logic circuits. It never drifted more than a few seconds from the time signals broadcast by WWV. The power grid operators would adjust the frequency of the grid to keep the long term average frequency at exactly 60 Hz. If the frequency dropped during the day, due to high load, they would run it a bit fast at night to compensate.