***Official Electronics Thread of Officialness (it starts off with lots of Nixie Tube Clock goodness

  • Thread starter Thread starter Aod
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Feek said:
Hands up everyone who just knew I'd do more tonight ;)

I did a lot more...



Infact there's a tube on that board...

[img]

Getting to the base of the tube to solder it was the only really tricky bit.

Here's the one tube with power applied.

[img]

Very happy so far but I really don't have time to do any more tonight, the iron is off.

I've got a dedicated GPS on the way, no faffing with manual time settings for me :D[/font][/QUOTE]

That's looking good. :)

How much time do you think it will take to complete it?

Is the GPS an addon for the board?
Click to expand...
 
It has it's own clock built in which will be accurate enough but I can be a little anal about time sometimes and I appreciate the irony of old technology to display the time coupled with modern tech to keep it spot on.

It has inputs for either an MSF clock or for a GPS source. I chose GPS simply because I've got a lot of noise in my shack which I know interferes with MSF. I've bought a dedicated module from eBay for about fifteen quid which will just plug in.

My build time so far is somewhere between two and a half and three hours..
 
Feek said:
Hands up everyone who just knew I'd do more tonight ;)

I did a lot more...

board-20110914-222611.jpg


Infact there's a tube on that board...

underneath-and-tube-20110914-222714.jpg


Getting to the base of the tube to solder it was the only really tricky bit.

Here's the one tube with power applied.

five-20110914-222852.jpg


Very happy so far but I really don't have time to do any more tonight, the iron is off.

I've got a dedicated GPS on the way, no faffing with manual time settings for me :D
Click to expand...

Looking good Feek. those tubes are a right bugger to solder in eh?
which GPS receiver did you go for? the Globalsat BR-355?
 
Aod said:
Looking good Feek. those tubes are a right bugger to solder in eh?
which GPS receiver did you go for? the Globalsat BR-355?
Click to expand...

The rest of the tubes will be OK, that one is just in an awkward position and now I've trimmed the leads short I'll go back and tidy it up.

Yes, that's the GPS which the board will take as a straight input so it seemed sensible to use it, a guy had a batch of five of them on eBay, used but in 'as new' condition and I got the last one for a good price.
 
I think i saw that exact auction and was very tempted but decided against it.

I'm sure i don't need to say this but you'll need to set up the GPS settings in the clock as per the instructions in the manual :)
 
Feek said:
Hands up everyone who just knew I'd do more tonight ;)

I did a lot more...



Infact there's a tube on that board...

Getting to the base of the tube to solder it was the only really tricky bit.

Here's the one tube with power applied.

five-20110914-222852.jpg


Very happy so far but I really don't have time to do any more tonight, the iron is off.

I've got a dedicated GPS on the way, no faffing with manual time settings for me :D
Click to expand...

Looking sweet, which kit did you get? Think i may have to splash out a little tonight!

Can anyone recommend a decent soldering iron (obviously in both use and cost?) and is there a difference in solder bar the obvious size?
I think ill buy a kit and the gear i need and just practice first!
 
Smaller grade solder simply allows you to apply solder in finer amounts which is good if you're soldering small things and don't want shorts.

I use an Iroda Solderpro 50 (gas powered) which i couldn't be happier with :)

Feek got the IN-8-2 kit with tubes
 
Aod said:
Smaller grade solder simply allows you to apply solder in finer amounts which is good if you're soldering small things and don't want shorts.

I use an Iroda Solderpro 50 (gas powered) which i couldn't be happier with :)

Feek got the IN-8-2 kit with tubes
Click to expand...

Brilliant, cheers.
I think i need one of these in my life! I shall take a look for that kit then!
Im more looking forward to making my own case!
 
Some of you might be interested in this, i see from Twitter that the Open Hardware Summit is underway, just a quick look turns up a ton of really interesting projects, and the people behind Arduino should be there. More info:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/open-hardware-summit-2011 - Live Stream

http://www.openhardwaresummit.org/ - Website

And at #ohsummit :)

EDIT: Lol, PA Announcement - "Anybody have an oscilloscope here? I need an oscilloscope!" :D
 
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Feek said:
five-20110914-222852.jpg


Very happy so far but I really don't have time to do any more tonight, the iron is off.

I've got a dedicated GPS on the way, no faffing with manual time settings for me :D[/font]
Click to expand...


I thought you got a plastic spacer that went under the tube to raise it off the board a bit so cases can fit without covering the base of the tube as much??
 
RopAyy said:
Brilliant, cheers.
I think i need one of these in my life! I shall take a look for that kit then!
Im more looking forward to making my own case!
Click to expand...

What sort of case are you thinking of making?

I'm probably going to go for a wooden case of some sort. Might get some American walnut :cool:.
 
My clock went a bit funny this evening. the first tube (NX1) was lit up all angry and not changing, as though all the cathodes had been short circuited.

I washed the whole board with isopropanol and a toothbrush and it stopped. I think some capacitive dust from my antiperspirant must have gotten on it somewhere, similar things have happened before.

Unfortunately the board's all sticky now, i think the IPA might have started dissolving the Solder-resist :eek:

Tefal said:
I thought you got a plastic spacer that went under the tube to raise it off the board a bit so cases can fit without covering the base of the tube as much??
Click to expand...

That's only the IN-14 tubes that come with the spacer for some reason.
 
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PermaBanned said:
:(

So i guess it's rather important to sort out some sort of enclosure as soon as possible?
Click to expand...

so it would appear... i'm a little concerned but the solution was simple, as i suspected it would be.

I'll have to get some sort of enclosure sorted for it soon though.
 
Mark A said:
What sort of case are you thinking of making?

I'm probably going to go for a wooden case of some sort. Might get some American walnut :cool:.
Click to expand...

Not really that sure, i just have images of weathered steel the lovely orange rust colour! Mechanical looking!
 
All done!


The fiddliest bit was actually putting the tubes on the board, I didn't think his technique of trimming the legs to different lengths was any good so I didn't bother with that. Soldering nx6 was the trickiest due to slightly reduced space but that wasn't too hard really.

I reckon my total build time has been about four hours. It's sitting on my shelf right now running slots every minute but I'll change that after a few days. It's not in any case yet as I'll keep an eye out for suitable old kit to build it into.

It's quite appropriate that there's a Russian on the radio in the background considering these are old Russian tubes.

Very pleased, it's a job well done :D
 
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