I did something similar to this. I machined brass 1-1/2" pipe couplings to make the standard gauge bodies, and 3D-printed a support structure to clamp the dial glass (I used polycarbonate) and support the tubes - three tubes per gauge.
The big secret though was not using Nixies - I used Numitrons (actually, the Russian IV-9 equivalents) instead. These things are exceptionally rugged - the specs for the American DA-2000 Numitrons include numbers like: life expectancy - 100,000 hours; impact acceleration (operating) 100 Gs; vibration (10Gs) 10-200 Hz; etc. They're designed for use in fighters, among other things, so they're really robust. I used several in a Burning Man vehicle, which wasn't that log duration but was pretty severe service, and they worked with complete reliability (except for the one that was broken mechanically - and even then continued to work for a while!). ~~ On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 6:54:36 AM UTC-7, [email protected] wrote: > > On Thursday, August 30, 2018 at 2:14:01 PM UTC-7, iavine wrote: >> >> One problem other people have had with such projects is mechanical >> vibration causing cathodes to short out >> >> IanV >> > > If you want to review an earlier discussion, see > > > https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/neonixie-l/Vw1dwR_CMDQ/eCtmEBUsLYMJ;context-place=topic/neonixie-l/TOQxmbVwXek > -- 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/615e4df3-1e88-494a-9299-ccc784041447%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
