time

I feel like time was jerking me around in 2008 since I seemed to pass randomly from extreme excesses to severe shortages. A productive hobby, i decided, is the key to managing the nights when there simply ain't shit to do. I have chosen "Modern implementations of 1940's Russian Vacuum display technology." (don't google it kids, i just made that shit up). Enter, the Nixie Tube.

Though appropriate to the inconsistencies in free time, i didn't realize until now how fitting it was to build a clock.


I've been rolling the idea around in my head for about 12 months: It should be wooden to look "classic" with a dark, well-varnished finish. The more imperfect, the better. The tubes would be IN-12s (because that's what i had easy access to). 4 digit instead of 6, because it's more symmetrical and less linear. The colon would be assembled from independent fluorescent lamps because they would glow randomly with a warm flicker that an LED cannot reproduce. And finally, though it could be built with all the miniaturization 2009 has to offer, the body would have mass and space to give it substance. In my mind's eye, i could already see it perfectly: a wooden box with a recessed section. The darkness would shield the tubes and the glowing numbers would seem almost to float.




(Above) Step one is to prototype. My deepest regret is buying a ready-made clock driver chip. I would have preferred to write the code myself, but i was anxious to get one of these bastards put together and with the first burning somewhere between 40 and 60hrs of build time, i had to take a short cut here.




(Above) Luckily, whilst cruising the craft store for supplies and lonely old cat women, i happened upon a small, wooden, three-drawer dresser-esq design of about 10 inches high. Three sections... PERFECT! I grabbed two. Here we see one of the drawer faces being converted to a nixie socket face.




(Above) The wood is stained but not varnished. Lack of supplies (board-edge connectors, terminals, etc) during the prototype version dictates that all wires are soldered. Furthermore, lack of clairvoyance on my part required soldering the sockets to the decoder board whilst IN the case. This proved painful. High (180VDC) and low (5VDC) power supplies, sockets and decoder boards are in place. CPU, control switch panel, Blue LED back lights and a butt-load of wires are not.




(Above) Assembled and ready to rock. Back panel, made of matching finished wood, removed (note magnets in corners for retaining cover). Blue LED back lights visible in the nixie sockets. (not sure what i'm going to do if the tubes need to be removed). Burn-in was a solid week of observed operation, hopefully meaning that it won't bust into flames later.




(Above) Back lighting turned off, finalizing the finish. Picture taken at a moment in between colon flashes. Full functionality enabled.





Now that the first example is complete, I think it shall make a fine gift for some spectacular stranger. And now that i have a hobby to fill down time, i'll start working on the phenomenon of never having enough time to do the stuff i want to do. Perhaps a time stop-u-lator of sorts. I'll see what the Russians were working on in vacuum tube form cir. 1950...