Hello! As for the sputtering.. I once bought a bunch of ZM1042, Z566M, ZM1040 and similar tubes.. Those tubes (ZM1042) doesnt have a mercury capsule, so I think there is no mercury present. Notice, that those tubes have a hole on the side of the anode. (look here: http://www.jb-electronics.de/images/elektronik/nixies/n_zm1043s/zm1043s_aus_2.jpg) I am not sure about the reason for making such a hole here, but I think that it is there to show age of the tube by looking on a deposited layer of metal on the glass just in place of the hole. Some of the tubes were used, some a lot. And there alway was a layer of metal on the glass next to that hole. Interesting was that there were no visible layer deposited on the glass in the place of anode grid. I later found an information (in Weston or Roth book) about relation of size of the hole in anode and amount of particles able to go through it. I didnt study it much as I solved different problems, but I made a quick calculation and found that for our conditions, the hole must be smaller than 2.5mm to prevent depositing the metal on glass. That pretty well fits to a shape and form of the common anode grids. And it also fits for that "service" hole that is around 4mm wide.
Another thing - is there anyone who saw a tube that would have sputtered metal layer in front of the anode grid? What do You think guys? Dalibor 2013/10/10 AlexTsekenis <alextseke...@gmail.com>: > Hi Nick, thanks for following up on this. > > Yes, there are a couple of end of life statements criteria on that page, > here is p334 for reference. As far as the end of life luminosity is > concerned, I have adopted a threshold of 30% of initial brightness taking > into considering the modern applications of these tubes. > > Indeed it is a good text with many references to research of the time. The > chapter on sputtering does cover two-three theoretical models but these fail > at the higher gas pressures in commercial tubes (sputtering rate inversely > related to pressure). There is however at least one author who took the > experimental path, Stocker B. J. 1961. > > I get the impression that research interest on sputtering, one of the most > complex topic of this technology, faded away after the introduction of the > LED in the late 60s mid 70s. Hopefully we will come to an agreement on the > end of life of commonly used tubes using experimental methods, handmade > tubes being of particular interest. > > Alex > > On Thursday, October 10, 2013 11:53:27 AM UTC+1, Nick wrote: >> >> On Wednesday, 2 October 2013 15:55:46 UTC+1, AlexTsekenis wrote: >>> >>> Nick, thank you for the swift reply. >>> >>> I've scanned in p340, here. The book is the exact one in the reference. >>> >>> On this page Weston explains the impact of digit cycling on lifespan. The >>> point of a gradual rather than abrupt end of life is also made. However I >>> was not able to find the aforementioned 50% threshold. I also checked p240 >>> and p140. Could it be that it is somewhere else in this chapter? I am >>> conscious this would appear as pedantic, but the quoted end of life due to >>> loss of luminosity comes down to this important threshold. >> >> >> Finally checked this - you are right - the actual references to >> end-of-life are in paragraph 2 of page 334 where he considers EOL to be >> either a discontinuous glow over the digit or the glow spreading to >> elsewhere in the tube. I know I've seen the 50% reference somewhere else, so >> I'll have to dig through my library. >> >> I'd forgotten what a comprehensive book Weston is - lots of good stuff >> about sputtering in there, including detailed analysis of cathode materials, >> their performance and lifespan with and without Hg doping... >> >> Nick > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "neonixie-l" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/47d6e7af-f02d-46a7-8bf9-86a845292dc4%40googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- Dalibor Farny http://dalibor.farny.cz -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CA%2BnkT5qj_QWtsTBDWruBv%2BcBrcm93J5bL9XToT6RKbqsp2gYEw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
