May be, besides PanaplexR, VFD with an orange phosphor is an alternative (if such a phosphor exists for that purpose). But I am afraid the construction of an VFD display is way more complicated...
eric -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of jb-electronics Sent: zaterdag 28 januari 2012 23:26 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Hello from Sydney It is not that easy: The product of pressure and electrode distance determines the striking voltage (Paschen's curves). It is roughly U_strike ~ [p*d]^2 where p is pressure and d is distance. If you decrease the distance, then you have to use a higher pressure to obtain the same striking voltage. The higher pressure condenses the glowing and makes it not as visible as before. The alternative - a higher striking voltage with the old pressure - is also not a good idea since you will have sparkovers in your tube that way. I am not saying it is impossible, I just want to make the point that most dimensions found in a commercially made Nixie tube are results of long development. Jens > Yes, if you could manufacture new NL-4998 tubes that were only half > the height of the original ones (12.5mm versus 25mm), you would end up > with a tube that had great potential for wristwatch applications! > > > On Jan 29, 8:51 am, jb-electronics<[email protected]> > wrote: >> I do not think that it is possible to make much smaller Nixie tubes >> than the NL-4998 which is basically the tiniest Nixie tube ever made. >> The problem is the glow discharge, it is always larger than the >> cathode, and you cannot make the cathodes too small because otherwise >> you wouldn't be able to discriminate between the digits - it would be much too blurry. >> >> Panaplex displays are much more suited to these dimensions, sadly. >> ;-) >> >> Jens >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>> I totally agree with that but I guess the old machinery no longer >>> exists so it's going to cost quite a bit to setup a new production >>> line for micro sized nixie tubes. I can't really see the micro nixie >>> tubes being used in anything else but a retro style application, so >>> the market for a tube like that will be very small. >>> On Jan 29, 6:57 am, kay486<[email protected]> wrote: >>>> Id really like to see the finished watch! It would be really >>>> awesome if somebody made new tubes using modern technology so they >>>> could have much smaller digits, and being able to have them lit all >>>> the time, just like normal digital watches. >>>> Cant wait to see your design. -- 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.
