I think that if I was going to go down the road of making homemade Nixies, I'd contact the guy that wrote this:
http://tubedevices.com/alek/pwl/lc1d/homemade_nixie_tubes.pdf -Adam On Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 10:32 PM, Nick <[email protected]> wrote: > On Feb 28, 12:14 am, Sixsmith <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, > > We're experimenting with making our own nixie tubes in our shop. I was > > planning on making the cathode out of stainless steel, but was > > wondering if anyone had any advice about the best material to use. > > Would it be better to try to find something rare-earth coated, or > > isn't it necessary? > > Weston (pp334) says that nickel is ideal but not strong enough, and > recommends nickel-iron alloys or stainless steel. He recommends a h:w > ration of 2:1 for side-view tubes where the cathodes are close > together and 1:1.6 (is that a misprint - does he mean 1.6:1 ?) for end- > view tubes where the cathodes can be further apart. > > Note that sputtering increases markedly with decreasing pressure, so > you need the highest pressure you can in your Penning mixture such > that you get reliable striking. If you introduce Hg to reduce the > sputtering, use only a tiny amount as too much will deposit on the > inside of the tube and reduce visibility. In the various books I;ve > read, life of non-Hg doped tubes is generally rated at between 1000 & > 1500 hours - with Hg doping this can be many 10s of 1000s of hours and > indeed over 100,000 (allegedly!) in some cases. > > With only 0.2W dissipation, the actual cathode temperature can be a > few hundred degrees C, so the cathodes mustn't be stacked too close as > they can distort in use. The recommended minimum spacing is 0.6mm > which allows a stack depth of 0.7mm per layer, i.e. using 0.1mm sheet > metal. Glyphs are either stamped or etched from the sheet. Design of > glyphs is quite cute - many tubes rely on the width of the stroke > changing to try to ensure that each digit has approximately the same > surface area so with a given anode current they have similar > brightness. > > The anode is non critical as long as its pretty evenly spaced - the > front mesh is as transparent as possible, and the back plate is coated > matt black to reduce reflections. > > Note that some tubes have no anode! They rely on making unused > cathodes into anodes - a neat trick gaining great aesthetics & > visibility at the expense of requiring extra electronics. > > I would get an assortment of dead tubes and have the metal analysed - > watch out for the mercury in long-life tubes. Also look closely at the > exact dimensions of each glyph - many larger tubes actually specify > different anode currents for different glyphs (or segments, e.g. in > the B7971). > > Cheers > > Nick > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "neonixie-l" group. > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
