This looks very promising... looking forward to building a new word clock with these tubes!
dudu sa schrieb am Samstag, 27. September 2025 um 18:01:57 UTC+2: > About half a year ago, a few friends came to me and asked if I could make > a Nixie tube similar to the B7971. As one of the few Nixie tube > manufacturers, I thought about it for a while and decided to give it a try. > > I am very grateful to Adam for sending me a B7971 sample—thanks to his > sample, I was able to accurately measure the filament length, dimensions, > and other parameters. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927232658.jpg] > > When disassembling and studying two different models of the B7971, I found > that it made extensive use of mica sheets as the substrate and some pads as > connectors to link the cathodes to the pins. This assembly method is > extremely cumbersome, so I began to wonder if, in 2025, there might be new > solutions for making the backplate material of the B7971. > > > After a long investigation, I found a very good solution—Rogers > high-frequency boards. According to the manufacturer’s description, they > use ceramic material, which allows them to withstand high temperatures. In > addition, circuits can be printed on the back of the board, eliminating the > need to make metal strips for connecting the electrodes. It sounded like a > very promising choice. > > So I began designing a solution based on Rogers circuit boards to make > the B7971, including electrode shapes, routing, and so on. > > > [image: 微信截图_20250927232444.png][image: 微信截图_20250927232503.png] > > > > If successful, this would be a very good option. To verify the solution, > I spent a large amount of money on producing Rogers circuit boards. I must > say, the prototyping cost was really expensive, but there was no other way > for the sake of R&D. To test this ingenious idea, I had to make a bold > attempt. > > After a long wait, I finally received the package. The moment I got it, I > felt extremely uneasy. On one hand, I was very excited about this solution > and hoped it would successfully achieve my goal. On the other hand, if it > failed, it would mean that all the time and money I had invested would be > wasted. > > The moment I opened it, I was stunned—what the fuck, why is this board > soft? From my experience, pure ceramics, whether alumina or zirconia, are > extremely hard materials. How could it possibly bend so easily? Could it be > that this isn’t pure ceramic? To verify this thought, I decided to test it > with a hot air gun. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927231537.jpg] > > Oh no, this was such a huge disappointment—it really wasn’t ceramic. Burn > marks actually appeared on the circuit board, and at that moment my mood > hit rock bottom as I began to search for the truth behind it. > > It turned out that Rogers boards are a composite material—they are doped > with ceramics and not pure ceramic. I felt very sad; this perfect solution > was just rejected like that. > > But even so, I didn’t give up. I wanted to try other materials. My idea > was to skip the baking during evacuation—just vacuum the tube and then fill > it with gas. Although the impurity content would be high, it would be > enough to verify whether my electrodes could function properly. > > So, I began assembling the electrode materials. I carefully mounted them > onto the substrate and then used solder wire to connect them to the pins. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927234616.jpg] > > These are the cathodes used for emitting light made by us, with the pins > fixed to the back substrate. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927231537.jpg][image: 微信图片_20250927234557.jpg][image: > 微信图片_20250927234551.jpg] > > This is what it looks like after assembly. > > Next, I connected them to the base. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927234600.jpg][image: 微信图片_20250927234603.jpg] > Everything looked perfect, even if it didn’t seem entirely reasonable. > Next, I sealed the base with the lamp envelope. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927234605.jpg] > > > As it turned out, I was defeated once again. During the sealing process, > the high temperature of the flame scorched the Rogers circuit board. It > released a large amount of toxic gases, severely contaminating the inner > walls of the tube. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927234607.jpg] > > > As expected, the seal soon cracked. Due to the release of severe > contaminants, a large amount of impurities got mixed in while sealing the > base and the lamp envelope, causing the entire tube to start splitting > during the cooling process. > > [image: 微信图片_20250927234613.jpg][image: 微信图片_20250927234610.jpg] > > > That was the end—this entire approach ended in complete failure. The > reason can be summarized as insufficient preliminary research; I hadn’t > fully understood the temperature range of Rogers boards. But even if I had > known in advance, I think I would still have tried this approach, because > sometimes the listed range only indicates normal usage and doesn’t > represent the material’s actual temperature limit. > > I’m very sorry to the friends who have been waiting—I know you’ll have to > wait a little longer. Developing a new Nixie tube is not easy; this is just > one failed case. However, the problem isn’t insurmountable, and I will > immediately start working on the next solution. > > Finally, I welcome everyone to follow us. We are InixieLab, and I am > Sadudu, the founder of the lab. Our website is inixielab.com. We are > currently in stable production of 30mm Nixie tubes, the DGM01 and IN-18s. > In addition, we are preparing for mass production of the large Z568MAX > Nixie tube. We have been testing it for over six months, and so far, the > results are very good. We are already preparing the next batch of materials > to start small-scale production. > > > > > > > > -- 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, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/0feedbc2-2a2b-4951-a8a9-a88113a09e70n%40googlegroups.com.
