Thanks for the read references. I know this group has a shared drive with some reading material. Maybe I can find some of these there.
I'm primarily interested in making a few special character display nixies like the in-12 tubes. More experimentation than anything. I've seen a gent on Youtube make one in his garage. On Monday, August 28, 2023 at 1:56:37 PM UTC-4 gregebert wrote: > I did a lot of research about 15 years ago when I was thinking about doing > neon art. There are 3 really good books (The Neon Engineer's Notebook, Neon > Techniques, and The Neon Superguide) and I recommend you read all 3 > cover-to-cover. Though not particularly for nixies, there is a lot of good > info about the overall process. I have yet to read the Weston text (Cold > Cathode Glow Discharge Tubes). > > You will need to pump down to the micron range, and that generally > requires a diffusion pump ( a fascinating device, and another topic on it's > own...) in addition to a traditional vane pump that will get you well-below > the millibar range. I decided against doing neon art because the bombarding > process is very dangerous; far more dangerous than experimenting with > microwave oven transformers. > > The manifolds I saw were made of glass, even the valves, and require a > special lubricant/sealant. I think you can use induction heating, rather > than bombarding, for removing impurities. The other thing that discouraged > me was the need to use mercury; it's rather toxic and I was concerned about > inhaling vapors. I'm not afraid of mercury in liquid form. > > Keep me posted if you start experimenting. I have a vacuum pump and intend > to do some basic tinkering with gas discharges, but I have no intention of > taking it to the point of making something durable. > > On Monday, August 28, 2023 at 10:23:32 AM UTC-7 Miles Thatch wrote: > >> I'm looking to experiment with making a cold cathode character display. I >> have plenty of experience experimenting with manufactured IN-12 tubes and >> the power supplies that drive these, but I want to step further to >> experiment in making my own. >> >> What grade of materials / tubing / valves should I be looking at to try >> and build my own jig for evacuating air from a tube and populating a gas? >> >> I don't suppose just about any valve with do (like liquid control valve) >> and looking at my hobbyist grade vacuum chamber, the tubing contains a >> spooled wire on the inside to provide rigidity to counter the vacuum forces. >> >> Would brass / copper tubing sealed with aluminum weld be suitable? >> > -- 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 view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/eb13e05e-8138-467e-8244-cf355baa3bb8n%40googlegroups.com.
