Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Multiplexing noise
Yes, it should work perfectly in that application with a CMOS gate. I would not try it with a TTL gate though, as it relies on the output going to the 5V rail to turn the transistor off and bipolar can't get up there. To use TTL you would need to add pullup resistors to 5V on the gate outputs. On Wednesday, March 11, 2015 at 1:34:54 AM UTC-7, Dekatron42 wrote: Pete, will the cascode circuit work properly as a cathode driver if you use for instance a 74HCT42 or a 74HCT138 to drive the transistor (they both have inverted outputs going low when selected), using the collector of the transistor to drive the cathode of a Nixie? /Martin -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/941d96b2-c032-4c66-b9e3-75404e5482e1%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
My understanding is that all of the GREEN eye tubes like the 6E5, 6U5, 6G5, 6T5 and similar, used a mineral known as willemite, to create the green glow. The willemite when bombarded by electrons gave off the green glow. As it aged the willemite became less and less active. So my guess would be that NO, you will not find any 'long lived' 20k plus hour eye tubes. Ira. On 3/12/2015 10:30 AM, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? I'm building a new clock with green neon bulbs, and a functioning magic-eye tube for the center of the clockface would be perfect. I keep my clocks illuminated 24/7, hence the need for a longer lifetime (eg, over 20K hours) I may end up making a fake magic eye tube with neon bulbs, but it wont have the smoothness or the nice color of the real thing. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com mailto:neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/8d3a0ba0-0dbd-4f61-8839-3d9941f1908c%40googlegroups.com https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/8d3a0ba0-0dbd-4f61-8839-3d9941f1908c%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=emailutm_source=footer. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/5501D30A.2020206%40HUGHES.NET. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. attachment: IRACOSALES.vcf
Re: [neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. Ira. On 3/12/2015 11:13 AM, Dekatron42 wrote: I spoke to a vacuum tube designer a few months ago, well into his nineties now, who told me the same thing. He told me that apart from the glow fading due to the material used to produce the glow many tubes had a problem with the cathode not emitting electrons as designed and expected which also led to less glow after some time. He told me that the two biggest areas in tube design was in cathode design and grid design, all other areas he regarded as simple! So I too think that it will be hard to find any long life eye tubes out there. /Martin On Thursday, 12 March 2015 18:30:38 UTC+1, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? I'm building a new clock with green neon bulbs, and a functioning magic-eye tube for the center of the clockface would be perfect. I keep my clocks illuminated 24/7, hence the need for a longer lifetime (eg, over 20K hours) I may end up making a fake magic eye tube with neon bulbs, but it wont have the smoothness or the nice color of the real thing. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com mailto:neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b8965c60-b0ec-45dd-bca9-0ccc0f9e181f%40googlegroups.com https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b8965c60-b0ec-45dd-bca9-0ccc0f9e181f%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=emailutm_source=footer. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/5501DA16.50900%40HUGHES.NET. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. attachment: IRACOSALES.vcf
Re: [neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. Ira. Interesting idea, but it would probably make the clock-case too deep to accommodate the CRT. Even the 6E5 I was hoping to use was pushing the limit. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/ad98c485-1fdf-40ed-ab3a-9b17692fc8a9%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
Thanks everyone for the responses. I purchased two 6AF6G tubes, and because of the way my big clock was designed, I believe I can get fine-grained control of the magic-eye tube from my NMOS drivers without changing the PCB (just a few component and cabling changes). I will attempt to make a replacement module with green neon bulbs that I can swap-out with the 6AF6G. They wont be pin-compatible with eachother, but at the connector where they plug into my clock PCB, they will be interchangeable. And since I use an FPGA for the clock logic, it's easy to support both by flipping a DIP switch. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/81b364e8-e58a-4569-9b37-11c5092d3671%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
RE: [neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
The only SQ tuning indicator I can find is a E82M/5624 You can find it at Åke Holm's site [ http://www.sm5cbw.se/tubes/htm/em82.htm ] But that is a kind of magic-bar type. eric -Original Message- From: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Forbes Sent: donderdag 12 maart 2015 20:13 To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? On 3/12/2015 11:25 AM, Instrument Resources of America wrote: You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. Ira. I have a bunch of 7/8 1DP1 and 1-1/4 1EP1 CRTs if you need some. Also transformers to power them. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/5501E521.20208%40dakotacom.net. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/!%26!AAAYAPDddShx705MuX20yCpp0vvCgAAAEBAxqT3%2BMnNEneNOiLYgFJsBAA%3D%3D%40zeelandnet.nl. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
RE: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
An easier way is used in the magic eye of the old radio my parents used in my early youth: It was magneto-mechanical and functioned at the way of an old galvanometer. The pointer was a diabolo shaped piece of shading (magnetized?) material. At one side there was an ordinary scale bulb and at the other side a greenish, frosted disc of glass with a black dot in the centre. The shade of the diabolo projected to the glass resembled the shade of an EM34. It could be a narrow line at maximum and a diabolo at zero. There must be a drawing , but I cannot find it at the moment. eric _ From: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Dan Harboe Burer Sent: donderdag 12 maart 2015 20:06 To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? I have another (crazy? wild?) suggestion: Go mechanical. See my attached picture. You should be able to simulate a magic eye with a couple of counter-rotating (bevel) gears with oval slots cut in them, a light source and some matt plastic or glass, behind them and a small (stepper?) motor to run it. It might even be possible to make this quite compact - in theory at least Smiley I would try to find nylon gears - they are easiest to cut in..but with access to real machinery it could look quite cool with brass gears.. a steampunk magic eye? Sorry for the primitive drawing. I just threw it together on my desk .. let me know if you want a more accurate description.. Regards Dan From: John Rehwinkel mailto:jreh...@mac.com Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 7:51 PM To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? On Thursday, 12 March 2015 18:30:38 UTC+1, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? There are ways to increase the lifetime of these tubes. Normally they're operated at lowish voltage and high current, which rapidly damages the outer phosphor layer. However, they can be operated at higher voltage and lower current, leading to greater electron penetration and greater phosphor life. I spoke to a vacuum tube designer a few months ago, well into his nineties now, who told me the same thing. He told me that apart from the glow fading due to the material used to produce the glow many tubes had a problem with the cathode not emitting electrons as designed and expected which also led to less glow after some time. Running at lower current would also likely extend cathode life. Note that most eye tubes have a space charge grid around the cathode, which both limits cathode current and gives some interesting striations to the resulting glow. It would be handy if this grid were brought out to a separate terminal for greater control on emission. In most tubes, it's simply connected to the cathode, giving essentially zero grid bias. You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. This is an interesting idea. Most of those one inch CRTs use an ordinary P1 phosphor (Mn-activated zinc silicate), which is a subtle variant on the willemite phosphor (Mn2+-activated zinc silicate) used in eye tubes. I'm guessing the CRTs have longer life because of the aforementioned higher voltage and lower current. Some CRTs use an aluminized screen to increase brightness and reduce ion damage, but I don't think any one inch units do. There are small CRTs with other phosphors, but they might not give the color you're looking for. Similarly, there are some eye tubes (generally those with the phosphor deposited on the inside of the glass like 6HU6) which probably last longer, but they too are generally a different (more blue) color. Another possibility is a vacuum fluorescent display. These use a different cathode technology capable of extremely long life, as well as different phosphors (zinc oxides and sulfides) optimized for long life at low voltage and modified for increased conductivity. However, they too are more blue than most eye tubes. Once upon a time, there were very high brightness green fluorescent tubes used for copiers and underlights for escalators. These had a double layer, of white paint and then green phosphor, along with a linear window where no phosphor was applied. These are capable of very long life, high brightness, and they're brilliant green. However, they're large, power hungry, and hard to obtain these days. However, there are small colored phosphor CFLs that give nice pure light. One of these might serve. There are also some Russian bulbs that work like the green NE-2 bulbs, but they're larger, about 1cm in diameter. Don't know about their lifetime. - John -- You received this message because you are
[neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
I spoke to a vacuum tube designer a few months ago, well into his nineties now, who told me the same thing. He told me that apart from the glow fading due to the material used to produce the glow many tubes had a problem with the cathode not emitting electrons as designed and expected which also led to less glow after some time. He told me that the two biggest areas in tube design was in cathode design and grid design, all other areas he regarded as simple! So I too think that it will be hard to find any long life eye tubes out there. /Martin On Thursday, 12 March 2015 18:30:38 UTC+1, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? I'm building a new clock with green neon bulbs, and a functioning magic-eye tube for the center of the clockface would be perfect. I keep my clocks illuminated 24/7, hence the need for a longer lifetime (eg, over 20K hours) I may end up making a fake magic eye tube with neon bulbs, but it wont have the smoothness or the nice color of the real thing. -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/b8965c60-b0ec-45dd-bca9-0ccc0f9e181f%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
On Thursday, 12 March 2015 18:30:38 UTC+1, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? There are ways to increase the lifetime of these tubes. Normally they're operated at lowish voltage and high current, which rapidly damages the outer phosphor layer. However, they can be operated at higher voltage and lower current, leading to greater electron penetration and greater phosphor life. I spoke to a vacuum tube designer a few months ago, well into his nineties now, who told me the same thing. He told me that apart from the glow fading due to the material used to produce the glow many tubes had a problem with the cathode not emitting electrons as designed and expected which also led to less glow after some time. Running at lower current would also likely extend cathode life. Note that most eye tubes have a space charge grid around the cathode, which both limits cathode current and gives some interesting striations to the resulting glow. It would be handy if this grid were brought out to a separate terminal for greater control on emission. In most tubes, it's simply connected to the cathode, giving essentially zero grid bias. You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. This is an interesting idea. Most of those one inch CRTs use an ordinary P1 phosphor (Mn-activated zinc silicate), which is a subtle variant on the willemite phosphor (Mn2+-activated zinc silicate) used in eye tubes. I'm guessing the CRTs have longer life because of the aforementioned higher voltage and lower current. Some CRTs use an aluminized screen to increase brightness and reduce ion damage, but I don't think any one inch units do. There are small CRTs with other phosphors, but they might not give the color you're looking for. Similarly, there are some eye tubes (generally those with the phosphor deposited on the inside of the glass like 6HU6) which probably last longer, but they too are generally a different (more blue) color. Another possibility is a vacuum fluorescent display. These use a different cathode technology capable of extremely long life, as well as different phosphors (zinc oxides and sulfides) optimized for long life at low voltage and modified for increased conductivity. However, they too are more blue than most eye tubes. Once upon a time, there were very high brightness green fluorescent tubes used for copiers and underlights for escalators. These had a double layer, of white paint and then green phosphor, along with a linear window where no phosphor was applied. These are capable of very long life, high brightness, and they're brilliant green. However, they're large, power hungry, and hard to obtain these days. However, there are small colored phosphor CFLs that give nice pure light. One of these might serve. There are also some Russian bulbs that work like the green NE-2 bulbs, but they're larger, about 1cm in diameter. Don't know about their lifetime. - John -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/68B2B1D4-04B1-4268-9B09-C17568AFA42C%40mac.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
here it is, on this web site, ~+~http://www.magiceyetubes.com~+~ left side of page indexunder eye relativesThe shadow graph On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 3:23 PM, Tidak Ada offl...@zeelandnet.nl wrote: An easier way is used in the magic eye of the old radio my parents used in my early youth: It was magneto-mechanical and functioned at the way of an old galvanometer. The pointer was a diabolo shaped piece of shading (magnetized?) material. At one side there was an ordinary scale bulb and at the other side a greenish, frosted disc of glass with a black dot in the centre. The shade of the diabolo projected to the glass resembled the shade of an EM34. It could be a narrow line at maximum and a diabolo at zero. There must be a drawing , but I cannot find it at the moment. eric -- *From:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Dan Harboe Burer *Sent:* donderdag 12 maart 2015 20:06 *To:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? I have another (crazy? wild?) suggestion: Go mechanical. See my attached picture. You should be able to simulate a magic eye with a couple of counter-rotating (bevel) gears with oval slots cut in them, a light source and some matt plastic or glass, behind them and a small (stepper?) motor to run it. It might even be possible to make this quite compact – in theory at least [image: Smiley] I would try to find nylon gears – they are easiest to cut in..but with access to “real” machinery it could look quite cool with brass gears.. a “steampunk” magic eye? Sorry for the primitive drawing. I just threw it together on my desk .. let me know if you want a more accurate description.. Regards Dan *From:* John Rehwinkel jreh...@mac.com *Sent:* Thursday, March 12, 2015 7:51 PM *To:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? On Thursday, 12 March 2015 18:30:38 UTC+1, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? There are ways to increase the lifetime of these tubes. Normally they're operated at lowish voltage and high current, which rapidly damages the outer phosphor layer. However, they can be operated at higher voltage and lower current, leading to greater electron penetration and greater phosphor life. I spoke to a vacuum tube designer a few months ago, well into his nineties now, who told me the same thing. He told me that apart from the glow fading due to the material used to produce the glow many tubes had a problem with the cathode not emitting electrons as designed and expected which also led to less glow after some time. Running at lower current would also likely extend cathode life. Note that most eye tubes have a space charge grid around the cathode, which both limits cathode current and gives some interesting striations to the resulting glow. It would be handy if this grid were brought out to a separate terminal for greater control on emission. In most tubes, it's simply connected to the cathode, giving essentially zero grid bias. You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. This is an interesting idea. Most of those one inch CRTs use an ordinary P1 phosphor (Mn-activated zinc silicate), which is a subtle variant on the willemite phosphor (Mn2+-activated zinc silicate) used in eye tubes. I'm guessing the CRTs have longer life because of the aforementioned higher voltage and lower current. Some CRTs use an aluminized screen to increase brightness and reduce ion damage, but I don't think any one inch units do. There are small CRTs with other phosphors, but they might not give the color you're looking for. Similarly, there are some eye tubes (generally those with the phosphor deposited on the inside of the glass like 6HU6) which probably last longer, but they too are generally a different (more blue) color. Another possibility is a vacuum fluorescent display. These use a different cathode technology capable of extremely long life, as well as different phosphors (zinc oxides and sulfides) optimized for long life at low voltage and modified for increased conductivity. However, they too are more blue than most eye tubes. Once upon a time, there were very high brightness green fluorescent tubes used for copiers and underlights for escalators. These had a double layer, of white paint and then green phosphor, along with a linear window where no phosphor was applied. These are capable of very long life, high brightness, and they're brilliant green. However, they're large, power hungry, and
Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
here is another with spinning LED's Building A Mechanical Magic Eye http://www.hpfriedrichs.com/radioroom/magiceye/rr-magiceye.htm On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 6:50 PM, Billy Watson aesops.t...@gmail.com wrote: here it is, on this web site, ~+~http://www.magiceyetubes.com ~+~ left side of page indexunder eye relativesThe shadow graph On Thu, Mar 12, 2015 at 3:23 PM, Tidak Ada offl...@zeelandnet.nl wrote: An easier way is used in the magic eye of the old radio my parents used in my early youth: It was magneto-mechanical and functioned at the way of an old galvanometer. The pointer was a diabolo shaped piece of shading (magnetized?) material. At one side there was an ordinary scale bulb and at the other side a greenish, frosted disc of glass with a black dot in the centre. The shade of the diabolo projected to the glass resembled the shade of an EM34. It could be a narrow line at maximum and a diabolo at zero. There must be a drawing , but I cannot find it at the moment. eric -- *From:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com] *On Behalf Of *Dan Harboe Burer *Sent:* donderdag 12 maart 2015 20:06 *To:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? I have another (crazy? wild?) suggestion: Go mechanical. See my attached picture. You should be able to simulate a magic eye with a couple of counter-rotating (bevel) gears with oval slots cut in them, a light source and some matt plastic or glass, behind them and a small (stepper?) motor to run it. It might even be possible to make this quite compact – in theory at least [image: Smiley] I would try to find nylon gears – they are easiest to cut in..but with access to “real” machinery it could look quite cool with brass gears.. a “steampunk” magic eye? Sorry for the primitive drawing. I just threw it together on my desk .. let me know if you want a more accurate description.. Regards Dan *From:* John Rehwinkel jreh...@mac.com *Sent:* Thursday, March 12, 2015 7:51 PM *To:* neonixie-l@googlegroups.com *Subject:* Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ? On Thursday, 12 March 2015 18:30:38 UTC+1, gregebert wrote: I did some research and found that common magic eye tubes, such as the 6E5, have a pretty sort lifetime, maybe 1000-2000 hours. Have any of you found round, end-view magic eye tubes with a substantially longer lifetime ? There are ways to increase the lifetime of these tubes. Normally they're operated at lowish voltage and high current, which rapidly damages the outer phosphor layer. However, they can be operated at higher voltage and lower current, leading to greater electron penetration and greater phosphor life. I spoke to a vacuum tube designer a few months ago, well into his nineties now, who told me the same thing. He told me that apart from the glow fading due to the material used to produce the glow many tubes had a problem with the cathode not emitting electrons as designed and expected which also led to less glow after some time. Running at lower current would also likely extend cathode life. Note that most eye tubes have a space charge grid around the cathode, which both limits cathode current and gives some interesting striations to the resulting glow. It would be handy if this grid were brought out to a separate terminal for greater control on emission. In most tubes, it's simply connected to the cathode, giving essentially zero grid bias. You MAY be able to obtain a one inch CRT and drive the deflection plates with appropriate signals and 'simulate' and eye tube. This is an interesting idea. Most of those one inch CRTs use an ordinary P1 phosphor (Mn-activated zinc silicate), which is a subtle variant on the willemite phosphor (Mn2+-activated zinc silicate) used in eye tubes. I'm guessing the CRTs have longer life because of the aforementioned higher voltage and lower current. Some CRTs use an aluminized screen to increase brightness and reduce ion damage, but I don't think any one inch units do. There are small CRTs with other phosphors, but they might not give the color you're looking for. Similarly, there are some eye tubes (generally those with the phosphor deposited on the inside of the glass like 6HU6) which probably last longer, but they too are generally a different (more blue) color. Another possibility is a vacuum fluorescent display. These use a different cathode technology capable of extremely long life, as well as different phosphors (zinc oxides and sulfides) optimized for long life at low voltage and modified for increased conductivity. However, they too are more blue than most eye tubes. Once upon a time, there were very high brightness green fluorescent tubes used for copiers and underlights for escalators. These had a double layer, of white paint
[neonixie-l] Re: Housing for nixies
Neat ! Where's the rest of the train set ? ;o) On Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 5:29:09 AM UTC-7, Petro Vodopyan wrote: Beautiful piece of art. http://pikabu.ru/view/podoshli_k_kontsu_dva_goda_ruchnoy_rabotyi_nad_chasami_na_gazorazryadnyikh_indikatorakh_in14_rezultat_otsenivayte_sami_3153651 Petro -- 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 neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/234c3ee2-b08b-4bfa-b73c-9a1ddc75a850%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
