Hi Joe
The design is based on the Philips Z70U/Z70W (single trigger/dual
trigger) application note and the nixie display design by JBDance. The
reset to zero tubes are just a U tube in parallel with the U zero tube
and act in the same way as the dual trigger version W tube. The W tubes
are like hen's teeth so the trick of using two U tubes in parallel is a
good dodge. The carry tubes act as a pulse shaper and, no doubt, a
driver for the next ring. They appear in the Philips designs and I saw
no reason to try to remove them as the effect on cost and size would be
minimal. The only complexity in the design was the hours counter that
resets to 00 when a count to 24 is made.
The great advantage of the Z70U trigger tube is they have both a trigger
electrode and a stay alive primer electrode. The stay alive electrode
means the clock will function in the complete dark which was something I
learned about with my first trigger clock using the XC18 trigger tube
which doesn't have a stay alive electrode (I think they were Kr85 doped
but that will have long decayed away).
The clock intends to be a nixie read-out clock so the rings are not laid
out to be time readable. You could make a Z70U read out clock but the
bulk of the light comes out of its bottom wire end and not the top so
some thought would be needed to make an effective clock.
All good fun
Grahame
On 24/07/2020 19:58, Joe Croft wrote:
Hi Nick,
I thought I remembered sending a kit to you. I guess old age took away
the memory of the 2nd kit. How are the clocks running? I have two that
I built way back in the day but every year or two I have to replace a
ring of lamps.
The 8 & 12 groupings of the lamps confused me. It makes a little more
sense after reading Grahame's site. It is interesting that the rings
have reset and carry tubes. Especially the carry tubes. Is that
because of loading issues with the last bulb needing to trigger two loops?
-joe
On Friday, July 24, 2020 10:25:15 AM CDT Nicholas Stock wrote:
> Joe,
>
> I've built a couple of your neon counter clocks....many moons ago.
My Father still has one too...they're great devices!
>
> It is a clock, if you look to the far right in the video, you'll see
another couple of nixies (hours), but the clock was in test mode
deliberately sped up to test one of the trigger counters.
>
> You can find details of the predecessor on Grahame's website..
>
> www.sgitheach.org.uk/nixie8.html
>
> Nick
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jul 24, 2020, at 07:21, Christian Elzey <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Yo there's a Nixie version of that that's tempting for sure
> >
> >> On Fri, Jul 24, 2020, 10:13 AM martin martin <[email protected]>
wrote:
> >> Reminds me of this project
> >> https://makezine.com/2008/06/18/transistor-clock-kit-uses/
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ~
> >> [email protected]
> >>
> >>
> >>> On Fri, Jul 24, 2020 at 4:21 AM Joe Croft <[email protected]> wrote:
> >>> Nick,
> >>>
> >>> I like it! What is the final target for this, going by the
counts of bulbs in the rings (8 & 12) it doesn't seem to be a clock.
Unless it's from Mars.... ;)
> >>>
> >>> Not to make this a pissing match, I know there are even prettier
and more complex, ring counter clocks and not to mention it's
yesteryear's news, but,I didn't exactly avoid punishments myself in
the past. I did come up with the NixieNeon clock.
> >>>
> >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSaHHKSnvfI
> >>>
> >>> 7 ring counters with a total of 60 lamps . Not as many in total
as yours, but they don't have the convenience of a trigger wire. The
rings free run counting down the 60hz to the 12 bulb hour ring without
the help of the processor,. The processor is only there to run the
green lamps, the 5 minute eye candy and set to the time (assuming you
have the RTC).
> >>>
> >>> My point of my previous email was that assembling 384 little ass
SMD boards was no small feat. I doubt I would've lasted through it.
> >>>
> >>> My favorite ring counter clock of all time it this one! It is a
great looking clock, I love the point to point wiring. I bet the 60
second ring was a nightmare to get counting so well!
> >>>
> >>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4v7IDIYiNQ&list=PLcg96zVhEST67yy294qhAUgrr7ijZnUGe
> >>>
> >>> -joe
> >>>
> >>> On Thursday, July 23, 2020 4:55:50 PM CDT Nicholas Stock wrote:
> >>> > Let's try that again....movie was too large..
> >>> >
> >>> > https://www.instagram.com/p/CCPMzuOjdBs/
> >>> >
> >>> > On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 2:52 PM Nicholas Stock
<[email protected]> wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> > > Speaking of glutton for punishment....
> >>> > >
> >>> > > A follow on to Grahame's original Trigger tube
clock....aptly called
> >>> > > 'Neon'...that we're both working on....no
semi-conductors.....the video
> >>> > > shows one of the minutes boards fed with a 10Hz pulse for
testing of the
> >>> > > counters, hence the speed....
> >>> > >
> >>> > > The ticking is from a couple of relays.
> >>> > >
> >>> > >
> >>> > >
> >>> > > On Thu, Jul 23, 2020 at 2:38 PM celzey11
<[email protected]> wrote:
> >>> > >
> >>> > >> Allegedly there's some neon bulbs that actually act as
thyratrons that
> >>> > >> can be used to make large scrolling displays...haven't seen
any of those
> >>> > >> IRL though
> >>> > >>
> >>> > >> --
> >>> > >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the
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> >>> > >> "neonixie-l" group.
> >>> > >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails
from it, send an
> >>> > >> email to [email protected].
> >>> > >> To view this discussion on the web, visit
> >>> > >>
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> >>> > >> .
> >>> > >>
> >>> > >
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
>
>
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