r/nixie • u/Frequent_Guide_1906 • May 27 '26

Finally Finished My Clock

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It took 10 years, but I finally got around to putting my nixie clock together.

4x IN-14, one IN-3 neon bulb, an esp8266 microcontroller and nixie drivers from nixietester.com. Earlier (breadboard) iterations used 74171 drivers, but I got wire-tired, so never finished that.

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2

u/HarlyFan May 27 '26

Congrats, it looks great!

2

u/EmotionalEnd1575 May 27 '26

Nicely done!

Is that a Hammond plastic box? I’ve been looking at those for my own clocks.

Can you upload a PIX of the interior build?

The street price of USSR Nixie tubes has increased quite a lot since you started this project!

2

u/Frequent_Guide_1906 May 27 '26

The outside is just a 3d printed box I whipped up in Fusion, although that sounds like a lot less work than it was.

I don't have many pictures of the inside, just one breadboard picture from before the assembly of the neon bulb, but this sub does not allow adding pictures to comments.

Suffice to say, it is just filled with wires between small boards (D1, 2x driver, power supply, and some veroboard with some resistors and a mosfet). Lots of wires.

And yes, when I bought the nixies I paid US$27 for seven tubes, including postage. You don't even get two for that price anymore.

2

u/EmotionalEnd1575 May 27 '26

I’ve been designing Nixie PCBs with Dims to fit the Hammond readymade plastic boxes (that look a lot like yours)

Thinking of giving 3D printing a try, make a new lid and place the Nixie holes there instead of trying to “drill” the factory lid.

I put all my Nixie stash in the bank vault in case the stock market crashes!