Kittyhawk
Established Member
Now that's clever!
Drilling accurate holes.
- Thread starter Silfi
- Start date
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Ask him to show you how it should be done!
pe2dave
Established Member
Cabinetman
Established Member
Quite amazing what you can learn on here, never heard of a nixie clock, seen them on old films and things but wouldn’t have the faintest what they’re called. Ian
To answer the OP's question, on wood we use forstner bits with a bit of sacrificial timber top and bottom... It's not great as the gap between tubes is small and the timber can break away - not a preferred solution.
Most clocks use laser-cut/CNC acrylic/polycarbonate or metal (anodised Al or steel).
The nixie clocks I posted are actually new electronics with microcontrollers and surface mount components - one uses GPS and the other the internet NTP protocol to get close to atomic clock accuracy... Dalibor's nixies were individually hand-made by him in his castle (I kid you not!) a few years ago - the ones in the Jeff Thomas clock are from Eastern Europe during the Soviet era but the driving electronics is from 2003.
Nixies can be cheap or expensive, depending on size & rarity. The most expensive are around USD 1,000 each, but typically smaller ones can go for as little as USD 5. Alphanumeric nixies, especially popular ones like the Burroughs B7971, are about USD 200 or so each.
We use the alphanumeric nixies to make "4-letter word" clocks that when not telling the time, generate/lookup random 4-letter words. They tend to have a politeness level going from "swear like a nun" to "swear like a docker"... The ones I design tend to get ruder as the night wears on... The one in the kitchen is normally pretty polite... the ones upstairs, less so...
Other nixie clocks are inspired by Terry Pratchet's "Lord Vetinari Clock" from the Discworld series... This annoying clock wanders back-and-forth but over the long haul, say an hour or so, is accurate... but it may wander back and forth by 10 or 15 minutes, just to annoy people...
Another type of display is the VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) as found on the front of old VCRs, microwave ovens and cash tills... A normal size for these is one row of 16 alphanumeric characters, which is a very convenient size...
VFDs are used to make "approximate clocks" which tell you roughly what the time is, after all who needs atomic accuracy? The time is spelt out in phrases, e.g. "almost half-past five", "nearly twenty to three" and so on.
Other VFD clocks create phrases, e.g. "though the moon is smaller than the Earth, it's further away" (over 16 characters and the display scrolls).
There's a whole world of weirdness out there with some very talented engineers and designers.
Most clocks use laser-cut/CNC acrylic/polycarbonate or metal (anodised Al or steel).
The nixie clocks I posted are actually new electronics with microcontrollers and surface mount components - one uses GPS and the other the internet NTP protocol to get close to atomic clock accuracy... Dalibor's nixies were individually hand-made by him in his castle (I kid you not!) a few years ago - the ones in the Jeff Thomas clock are from Eastern Europe during the Soviet era but the driving electronics is from 2003.
Nixies can be cheap or expensive, depending on size & rarity. The most expensive are around USD 1,000 each, but typically smaller ones can go for as little as USD 5. Alphanumeric nixies, especially popular ones like the Burroughs B7971, are about USD 200 or so each.
We use the alphanumeric nixies to make "4-letter word" clocks that when not telling the time, generate/lookup random 4-letter words. They tend to have a politeness level going from "swear like a nun" to "swear like a docker"... The ones I design tend to get ruder as the night wears on... The one in the kitchen is normally pretty polite... the ones upstairs, less so...
Other nixie clocks are inspired by Terry Pratchet's "Lord Vetinari Clock" from the Discworld series... This annoying clock wanders back-and-forth but over the long haul, say an hour or so, is accurate... but it may wander back and forth by 10 or 15 minutes, just to annoy people...
Another type of display is the VFD (Vacuum Fluorescent Display) as found on the front of old VCRs, microwave ovens and cash tills... A normal size for these is one row of 16 alphanumeric characters, which is a very convenient size...
VFDs are used to make "approximate clocks" which tell you roughly what the time is, after all who needs atomic accuracy? The time is spelt out in phrases, e.g. "almost half-past five", "nearly twenty to three" and so on.
Other VFD clocks create phrases, e.g. "though the moon is smaller than the Earth, it's further away" (over 16 characters and the display scrolls).
There's a whole world of weirdness out there with some very talented engineers and designers.
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