[neonixie-l] Re: OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
I have 6E5S. Need? четверг, 12 марта 2015 г., 20:30:38 UTC+3 пользователь gregebert написал: 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/0e23abb6-0dc8-4b03-8d62-6e4a4530c171%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 ?
How about the very miniature display tubes in [old] vid cam eyepieces then? John K Australia - Original Message - From: gregebert To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Sent: Friday, March 13, 2015 5:12 AM Subject: 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 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. -- 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/153239FD36ED4333908583CB22503D9A%40compunet4f9da9. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Multiplexing noise
Thanks, I will try it but I am currently renovating my whole apartment, including my hobby room, so that will be many months into the future but it is on my list - maybe I can't keep from checking it before I have finished renovating, you know how it is when your fingers itch to do something you really want to do instead of what you should be doing ;) /Martin On Friday, 13 March 2015 09:30:30 UTC+1, petehand wrote: A lower voltage on the base would work, or an extra diode in series with the EMITTER to raise the turnon voltage by another 0.6V, or just pullup resistors on the chip outputs to make sure they go to a righteous 5V. Remember you still need those emitter resistors, otherwise the B-E diode will short the driver output to Vcc and cook it. It may be worthwhile to use those resistors to set the cathode current, since they have to be there anyway, and not use an anode resistor. I don't know, I've not tried it myself, so you're a pioneer. Be sure and tell us how it works out. On Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 10:18:22 AM UTC-7, Dekatron42 wrote: Thank you for your answer! I'll try that as that makes it possible to use either the 74HCT42 or a pair of 74HCT138s instead of a 74141 with just a few extra transistors and resistors, unless you don't want to use anything more modern like any of the Supertex HV-VFD drivers. Thanks for pointing out the difference between TTL and CMOS in this case. Would an extra diode in series with the base or lets say a lower voltage on the base work with TTL? If so a simple voltage divider or a zener and resistor to the base would be a simple solution. /Martin On Thursday, 12 March 2015 17:58:55 UTC+1, petehand wrote: 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/bf104a26-ff3d-4c62-9f50-f706bc3acc2a%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
RE: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
Not exactly what I described, but the principle is the same. I made a Corel drawing from what you got to see eric _ From: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:neonixie-l@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Billy Watson Sent: vrijdag 13 maart 2015 0:50 To: neonixie-l@googlegroups.com Subject: 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 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
Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Multiplexing noise
A lower voltage on the base would work, or an extra diode in series with the EMITTER to raise the turnon voltage by another 0.6V, or just pullup resistors on the chip outputs to make sure they go to a righteous 5V. Remember you still need those emitter resistors, otherwise the B-E diode will short the driver output to Vcc and cook it. It may be worthwhile to use those resistors to set the cathode current, since they have to be there anyway, and not use an anode resistor. I don't know, I've not tried it myself, so you're a pioneer. Be sure and tell us how it works out. On Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 10:18:22 AM UTC-7, Dekatron42 wrote: Thank you for your answer! I'll try that as that makes it possible to use either the 74HCT42 or a pair of 74HCT138s instead of a 74141 with just a few extra transistors and resistors, unless you don't want to use anything more modern like any of the Supertex HV-VFD drivers. Thanks for pointing out the difference between TTL and CMOS in this case. Would an extra diode in series with the base or lets say a lower voltage on the base work with TTL? If so a simple voltage divider or a zener and resistor to the base would be a simple solution. /Martin On Thursday, 12 March 2015 17:58:55 UTC+1, petehand wrote: 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/1af15cab-334c-45d8-b18f-1fc189e30454%40googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] OT: Do any long-life magic eye tubes exist ?
How about the very miniature display tubes in [old] vid cam eyepieces then? Those are common and cheap (I have a box of 'em), but they're P4 (whitish) phosphor. The 1DP1 and 1EP1 CRTs that David mentioned have a green P1 phosphor which would be a much better color match. Better yet, they're electrostatic focus and deflection, which is easier to work with than the magnetic deflection 40CB4 viewfinder types. - 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/E424A8ED-2FFA-4672-8BBF-D7FB219BFA40%40mac.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
Re: [neonixie-l] In Newy York (New Jersey) for the next two weeks...
Canal Street (and TriBeCa) in NYC used to be surplus nirvana. But that was many years ago. All the really good scrap stores have closed up shop. My dad used to take me and my brother there all the time when I was a kid. Then I worked at Trans-Am Electronics on Canal St when I was a teenager back in the 70's. Fun times. Made some great friends that I still talk to. These days... Not a lot of surplus electronic places left in NYC. The real estate itself was worth way more than the businesses could ever take in. And then rents went through the roof in the late 80's 90's. If you did not own the building you got pushed out when your lease expired. And if you did own the building, you sold it for millions and retired. But I think Argo might still be there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QqUyNsJ02U Not sure it's worth a special trip. But if you want to come into the city and poke around Chinatown, Little Italy, and the downtown area anyway then it's still worth a peek. Just don't buy any Rolex watches or Coach bags if offered while walking along Canal . (unless you happen to be shopping for fakes) Also second the recommendation to take the PATH / NJ transit / public transport into town. Parking can be a PITA during the day. But if you're going to go out to Leed's, then having a car might be more convenient, if expensive. The bridge / tunnel tolls (not to mention the traffic) can shock the uninitiated. BTW, I used to frequently eat dinner with Bernie Goldstein. Bernie owned Leed's Radio when it was still in Manhattan on Warren St. below Canal. Another possible activity. Don't know where your data center in NJ is, but the Trenton Computer Festival is coming up in a week or so. http://tcf.pages.tcnj.edu/ The TCF indoor fleamarket is not as large as it used to be, but it is a fun show. Lots of old computer gear on parade. I'll be there selling some junk and surplus electronic components. carl Henry Carl Ott N2RVQhcarl...@gmail.com On Wed, Mar 11, 2015 at 7:32 PM, David Speck MD dr.sp...@davidspeckmd.org wrote: Nick, For the 8 years I lived in NYC (1975 - 83), the place to go was Canal Street, west of the #6 train. There used to be about 7 or 8 places with electronic surplus. Regrettably, I haven't been back since then. I hear the area has been gentrified to a large extent, but a quick Google search for electronic surplus Canal street NYC shows that there are at least a couple of places still open -- Argo electronics (a name I remember from back when, and 269 Electronics (new to me). Sylvan - Wellington was retail with good quality Xcellite tools, and a comprehensive inventory of Stancor and Triad transformers. If you needed a part with specific ratings, they would have it, though at a price. I'd still stop in whenever I went by, just to drool. There were also places like Pearl Paint (lots of art supplies at bargain prices), Canal Electric Motors -- (motors and industrial electrical equipment of all sorts, also very inexpensive) and a couple of plastics places where you could get all sorts of sheet Plexiglas and various molded parts retail. I also remember a radio place on west 42nd (or 47th or 48th St), a third or fourth floor walkup, crammed floor to ceiling with musty boxes of WWII radios and components, lit by a single fluorescent tube of dubious parentage. Only went there once, as the prices were high, and the owner wouldn't let you browse. With current real estate values in Central Manhattan, I doubt that they would still be there. When I was there, it was better to take the train than to drive. There was nowhere to park, and no one ever stole a subway car. ;o) Don't know how safe the neighborhood is now. Let us know what you find. I spent many a happy Saturday afternoon there. Dave On 3/11/2015 3:13 PM, Nick wrote: I'm in New York (actually, New Jersey) for the next two weeks... ...any surplus stores or good radio places I should visit? I have a car... ...mostly, I'll be living in a stonking great data centre (for the full 14 days, including weekends), but the engineers I'm taking over there don't really need me standing over their shoulders, so I may get some free time... I'm hoping to visit Leeds Radio in their new location in the Bronx... [url]http://leedsradio.com/[/url] ...bought off them several times - nice guys... Nick -- 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/5500D07B.6050507%40davidspeckmd.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are
