开云体育

I don't know what the final result of the attempts to download the forum were from a few months ago - but if anyone managed to, I would be happy to host them on TubeClockDB.com. I will experiment with wget...but the authentication thing might make it challenging.

Brian

Thank you for your suggestion, threeneurons:

"Some of my links:

Drawings and binary (.HEX) code of my third nixie clock (with dekatron):



Drawings and binary (.HEX) code of my one dekatron clock:



You need to have some Atmel tools, like the AVRisp (~$35US, or equivalent), or the AVR SDK (pricy-er) to burn the code into the respective AVR uCs, to use it. Also AVRStudio (or similar) loaded on your computer, to control the AVR device."

Do you know if there is anyone out there I can hire to program your hex code onto a controller chip for me? (I'm a Mac guy...)

-Ian

Yahoo, in their infinite idiocy, have once again foisted upon us a new "upgrade", without warning and without asking whether we wanted it. This new UI/skin or whatever they're calling it is a total crapfest. This was the last straw, so I am no longer going to be running this group on Yahoo. Owner Ray is once again MIA, having been in the "Bouncing" email list for over 3 months, so I don't expect him to take over anytime soon.


If any of those who have downloaded content in response to my previous posts on the subject, or anyone willing to do so now, would like to take up the torch and host/manage a replacement group elsewhere, you are quite welcome to do so. If there are more than one of you, I leave it up to yourselves to work out the details. You may use this message board to do so if you wish. I will provide whatever assistance I can, and will leave this group open to member posts without moderation (members currently on moderation, I hope to have all of you on normal status shortly but if I miss anyone, I will still be notified by email and will admit your posts and update your status as I am able).

The group will be closed to new members until further notice. I will also be updating the homepage text alerting anyone arriving there to the situation.

If an alternative to this group approved by formal or informal consensus of the members here is underway in a timely manner, I will happily update this group's homepage again to redirect any new arrivals to the new alternative site.

Best regards, and hoping to see you all soon in greener (oranger?) pastures,
Alan "A.J." Franzman
NEONIXIE-L moderator

490-1208-ND is a 4MHz ceramic resonator. For clock accuracy its pure crap. That parts has 0.5% accuracy. That's 5000ppm, or ~7minutes / day off. A regular crystal has accuracy of 30ppm, or ~15minutes / year (~3 seconds / day). Amazingly, the US and Western Europe, have AC line frequency, that if used, will keep your clock ON time, within a minute, per year (2ppm).

Muxing is commonly used for displays, including nixies. Nixies do have a finite turn-ON time. They don't turn ON instantly. Typically, its in the range of 10's of microseconds. As for muxing frequency, try a complete set faster than 60Hz, to avoid flicker. That is: Dig-1 On for 2.5mS (milliseconds, or 2500microseconds), then blank (all digits off) for 200uS (microseconds), dig-2 on for 2.5, blank (200uS), and so on, for all 6 digits for (2.5+0.2)=2.7mS*6=16.2mS (or 61.7Hz). During those blanking intervals is when you switch the digit data going to your ONE (common) 74141.

It BLOWS CHUNKs BIG TIME ! Whoever at Yahoo thought that this was great, should step up and take credit. That way I know who to beat with a stick !

Hey guys. It's been a while! I had a summer class which was taking up all my time. Now I have about a week before Fall classes. So in the meantime!

I'm coming very close to finishing the circuit for my clock. I finally got to programming my PIC16F876. I then realized that there is no internal clock. woops! I think I'm going to go with this:

Anyways. Onto my question. I have currently set up a prototype for my circuit. The difference being I'm using 7SEG displays instead of my tubes. I plan a sort of modular approach to testing my circuit. I already tested the power supply and tubes. Now I just need to make debug the functionality of the software and such, using the 7 segment displays. It's hard to test a temporary setup with the tubes because of the pins on a Z573M.

I plan on using a 1x6 multiplexed circuit. I'm not worried about it being possible because I know it's been done. Here are my questions:
1. I want to get a better idea of what timing is involved. I want to ensure there is no ghosting. I plan on having a dimming option if it is viable. It may already be so faint once multiplexed that it doesn't make sense. I assume the mux is as simple as: - set 74141 with A - turn on A - wait - turn off A - set 74141 with B - turn on B - wait - turn off B... etc. It's the wait that I need some direction towards.
2. When I was playing around earlier with a single digit on my arduino and noticed that when it was multiplexed I could see it pulsating. Can I find some frequency where I won't notice this?

Thanks!
-Mike

I am ready to jump ship.

That is, once someone has a ship to jump to.

Michail

Yep. Me too!

Does anyone else hate the new Yahoo groups interface? I do...

I have received a reply from a Traco engineer, he says that it is NOT possible since output and input are not galvanically isolated. Does this make sense? I do not know why this should be a problem.

I think he's assuming you want to wire the outputs in series (for higher voltage) instead of parallel (for higher current). The statement would make sense for series connection.

I can't find any prices on their web site, do you know offhand what the retail prices are for those things? The higher voltage ones could be quite useful for dekatron and CRT projects, if they're affordable enough. I've used all but one of the nice 600V supplies I picked up on the cheap on eBay.

- John

--- In NEONIXIE-L@..., "Terry" <tschw10117@...> wrote:

I'd suggest a call or email to their applications engineering group. They may tell you how to do it, or refer you to an app note about it.

I have received a reply from a Traco engineer, he says that it is NOT possible since output and input are not galvanically isolated. Does this make sense? I do not know why this should be a problem.

Jens

--- In NEONIXIE-L@..., "cagamba" <cagamba@...> wrote:

All right, all right, NOT the best wording choice for a message title! :)

Colon like... Christopher? ;)

I'm referring to the use of miniature neon bulbs and such for the purpose of creating a colon SIGN (:) to separate the pairs of tubes corresponding to hours, minutes and seconds on our clocks.

Why not use the same "light pipes" used by Tektronix in several of their 4XX series ?
It's just an acrylic rod of the size and shape you want the indicator to be, that has been polished in the flat ends and made opaque all around by sanding or another similar process. It can work also without the sanding. You could even make a full colon with only one neon bulb as light source.

Regards
Gaston

I just came across some old info in my files that Matsushita made
equivalents of the NEO-5000 and NEO-8000, their part numbers S6135
(50 mm digit height) and S6136 (85 mm digit height) respectively.
Perhaps this is what you have.

I wish I knew how to tell them apart. None of them are marked very well but based on what I've read on this thread, it sounds probable that there were multiple manufacturers. Do you know of the Matsushita digits were also called NEO XXXX ?

Brian

Again a $1 auction: 330466882734
Dieter

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 1:26 PM, cagamba <cagamba@...> wrote:

I'm referring to the use of miniature neon bulbs and such for the purpose
of creating a colon SIGN (:) to separate the pairs of tubes corresponding to
hours, minutes and seconds on our clocks.

Here's what I've been doing lately.
I use 4 insulated thin metal tubes to position two small neon bulbs, one
just above and slightly behind the other.
You do need some small neon lamps. Allspectrum.com used to have some nice
3mmx8mm bulbs, but I don't see them in stock anymore. The 3.2mm here:
might be okay, but not too sure about
that color.

Next get some (approx) .030" OD and >=.015 ID metal tubing. The ID has to
be a little larger then the lead diameter of the neons. I've used SS
hypodermic tubing (very stiff), but copper (or brass) will also work. Copper
deforms easily, but at least you can solder it.

SS tubing can be had from amazon

and thin copper tubing is on ebay

(one
example)

You also need some thin clear heatshrink tubing (3/64").

I cut 4 pieces ( two matched sets) of the metal tubing to the height I
like, two are for the front neon, and are somewhat shorter. Heatshrink the
length of tubing except for about an 1/8" on the bottom that will be
inserted into the PCB. I like using clear heatshrink because after you
shrink it, it practically disappears and you can really see the metal
tubing's natural color (copper does look pretty nice).

If the tubing is copper you can just solder it into a PCB, If stainless,
you'll have to use millmax (or equiv) sockets, because it's almost
impossible to solder stainless steel.
The neons lamps leads just insert into the top ends of the tubing. Leave
the neon's leads long and friction makes the electrical contact, there's no
nead to actually solder the lamps into the tubes. You'll have to do your own
PCB or arrange something else to hold the lower ends of the tubes in place.

I tend to leave the nixies exposed on my clocks, the neon support tubes are
thin enough that you don't really notice them. Between the nixie tubes
blocking physical access, and the heatshrink, I'm not really worried about
the risk of shock. But I do make sure to put high value resistors on the
anode lines leaving the clock body.


You can see some pictures of the technique in fabulous blurry nixievision
here:



-carl

Here's a schematic of my MK1.5 Version:

I think the best one of them is the IRF630, as mentioned on
your schematic too, but 200 volts are a little low - what
will happen when the circuit hits the 200 volts ? Does the
transistor go into saturation, or will it simply breakdown
and short out ?

They don't actually breakdown right at 200V. Usually something rated at 200V may not breakdown until it hits close to 250V, so there is a bit of manufacturer margin built in. But that said, don't rely on it. You may get a batch that breakdown at 210V. If the total energy is limited, it may not be fatal. Power FETs are pretty tolerant with overvoltage across the drain to source. Overvoltage at the gate tends to be more destructive.

Another important component is of course the switching diode.

// Per.

All the components are important. The circuit is only as good as its weakest link. Even though, if there's one part that's of most importance, its the coil. That's where the magic is done. If you got a crappy coil, you've got nothing. That can be extended to all types on switching supplies. The magnetics (inductors & transformers) are key components the rest of the design is built around. That's why most professional switching supplies use custom magnetics.

[edited by A.J. - please trim quoted material]
On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 1:35 PM, Marcin <mr.adamski@...> wrote:

--- In NEONIXIE-L@... <NEONIXIE-L%40yahoogroups.com>,
"cagamba" <cagamba@...> wrote:

Now, I like every aspect from the Tubehobby kit, except that, in my

opinion, they left little phisical space between the pairs of tubes, to the
extent that an onlooker may have the impression that it is not a clock but
some kind of seconds counter. So... colon signs would alleviate that
problem....

We are in the same boat (or the colon ;)). I spent some time trying to
figure out how to put a colon in NCV2.1 kit. In theory it's possible - the
tiniest neon bulb I found has 4mm diameter and there is 5mm extra space for
the colons. But (there always has to be a 'but') one 4mm neon is hardly a
colon - you need two.

<snip>

Scroll to the bottom of this site: for some nice
neon bulbs...

-Ian

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 7:42 AM, john ginn <johnginn50@...> wrote:

On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 3:21 PM, gnuvvekaavaali
<[email protected]> wrote:

--- In NEONIXIE-L@... wrote:
"ian_6500" <ianmartinphotography@...> wrote:

Can anyone point me to a circuit diagram and/or a controller chip that
will let me build a clock that chimes on the hour? (One chime for 1

o'clock,

three chimes for 3 o'clock, etc.) I was thinking of using a solenoid to

ping

a piece of metal or energy chime... Thanks!

There are chine/ding dong ICs -SAE800, SAB0600. M602

There is also an alarm accessory to Raymond Weisling's
Geekclock which has a Chime circuit -

the "GAM module" from Raymond Weisling is waiting for the IC to be
finished,
spoke to him via email about 3 weeks ago, I got the four letter word clock
& GeekKlok from him about 6 months ago, just waiting on the IC to finish
the alarm side of it.

This is great, thank you everyone! I'm almost done with my first clock--I
got the chip and schematic here: I'll certainly
post pictures when it's ready. I made my own PCB for it using this very
helpful and clearly explained web site:
This method works really well!

-Ian

On 10-08-30 01:26 PM, cagamba wrote:

I've heard of people removing small neon bulbs from old-timey camera
flashes, but I'd have to find four identical flashes to draw from.

They exist in One time use cameras. If you have a photo lab nearby they might sell you some empties if you promise you won't electrocute yourself. They only get about 50 cents from the recycle programs. and with the low volume it might take a while for them to accumulate a batch. Just say you are doing an art project or something.

--
Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario
cmacd@... Just Beyond the Fringe

No Microsoft Products were used in sending this e-mail.

--- In NEONIXIE-L@..., "cagamba" <cagamba@...> wrote:

Now, I like every aspect from the Tubehobby kit, except that, in my opinion, they left little phisical space between the pairs of tubes, to the extent that an onlooker may have the impression that it is not a clock but some kind of seconds counter. So... colon signs would alleviate that problem....

Hi Marco,
We are in the same boat (or the colon ;)). I spent some time trying to figure out how to put a colon in NCV2.1 kit. In theory it's possible - the tiniest neon bulb I found has 4mm diameter and there is 5mm extra space for the colons. But (there always has to be a 'but') one 4mm neon is hardly a colon - you need two. And to have them looking acceptably nice you need a housing for them - eg. the test tube. And there simple is not enough space, period. Actually even the 4mm looks to crowded in between the IN-18s.
I simply settled for not having the colons. Even considered making my own PCB, but decided against. The famous Klok housing doesn't use them either. BTW Mike from Klok, after I asked him says he thinks about making a case for the tubehobby kit.
So, my suggestion would be - go for the nerdish design of 6 tubes inline ;) I am going for it. My case is all beautifully sketched in the google sketchup. Just waiting to be carved in aluminum and plexi :D.
Cheers,
Marcin