I actually got into the hobby over the holidays, as a break from wood/metal working out in a cold garage. Got one of those little IN-14 QTC kits from PV Electronics, and got it glued together over a few hours after marveling at how fast stuff ships internationally (3 days from the UK for the kit, I think 5 from Ukraine for the tubes). Things were going gangbusters with the first tube, which was a seconds-counting *machine.* Moving that tube over to the minutes however, was a solder bridge too far (at least, I think that's what caused the zap, sizzle, lightshow I witnessed). Kind of an inauspicious start, but it's not like I wouldn't have to learn about debugging circuit boards sooner or later. Haven't done any electrical stuff since my circuits course in school 6 years ago, but I'm finding the subject more engaging this time around. I think it's because the nixie and vacuum tubes are actually big enough to see what is going on directly, while a solid state transistor has no bright flashy parts to keep my meager attention span.
Now I've got all sorts of ideas and ambitions on what to make after I get this first clock working. I think I'll start with a Shaker-style (oval shaped) hat-box type wooden housing for this one, which shouldn't be terribly difficult and will look cool. After that, a taller and bigger version, with some IN-18's up top poking through a brass lid (or 14's if those are silly big), and a pair of speakers barking through holes in the front. Probably jimmy a Bluetooth stereo board inside there to drive them for now (since a tube pre-amp is definitely beyond my priorities or abilities at this time), and rig up some means of magic eye VU meter to dance around with the output. Gotta fix this current mess first, though... TCB -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6dc704e8-90ea-4b9b-a5ef-082cf2c6c44e%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
