Thread: Nixie (Vacuum) Tube Clock

I don't know if any of you have seen these kits before, but I just finished one up and would like to share.

This one came as a kit, pre-fabbed circuit board, but all the components needed to be installed and soldered.

The bulbs are NOS (new old stock) from the early 20th century, these tubes were made in the 80's. They are supplied with 170-180V to illuminate.

If you have any questions, please ask. I'll try to answer with out confusing you.

(Sorry for the picture resolution, they were taken on my camera phone)

I want one, where did you order the kit.

thats really cool. Reminds me of the binary clock I used to have.

I like it! Went two years on electronics-school, so anything soldered gives me good memories.

If you really want to get out the full potential of that clock you should drill six holes through a mirror and hide the electronics inside some kind of box. Imagine that on top of a nice vacuum-tube amplifier in your living room.

Nice work!

Just an idea: how about sometimes building a stereo with only that kind of display..
It shouldn't be too horribly tricky to make some kind of interface

This Kit I ordered from Ebay, member/store name petes_kits or Pete's kits. I purchased the tubes seperatly as this auction was only for the board. He does have some kits that come with the tubes as well. Pete will respond to emails quickly

I've also ordered the following from a website Welcome to KOSBO.COM, waiting for the parts to arrive. Konstantin is very helpful and will answer emails quickly as well.

IV-18 VFD Clock


Straight Razors and Nixie clocks are only some of the stranger things you find when browsing the web in the middle of the night

Many moons ago I was in the marine electronics field. I had a few of those Nixie tube displays and wanted to make a clock. At the time the Nixie tubes were state of the art and I would have been ahead of the curve. Now it is just as cool but for the opposite reason. I may get one for myself just as memorabilia.

Originally Posted by flyboy

Just an idea: how about sometimes building a stereo with only that kind of display..
It shouldn't be too horribly tricky to make some kind of interface

yes you could but you would have to isolate it from the unit because you would probably be generating a lot of noise from those tubes.

Also remember that those tubes have a definite life span and they are getting very difficult to source. A few years ago you could build a clock in all sizes and now only the smaller tubes are left. They also have models that receive signals a la GPS.