My clock is cooler than your clock

[Spork]

Well, I finally built it. I designed and put together this beauty using TTL and CMOS logic. It keeps time from the 120V 60hz signal that comes out of your wall. It f*ing rocks.

oh those things are called nixie tubes, they run high voltages, they are basically the bastard child of vacuum tubes and neon lights and 7 segment leds (but they predate 7 segment leds by about 20 years).

click for full size

 

[sharpshooterklj]

Get a patent, now...go!

 

[Spork]

Get a patent, now...go!

patents are for wusses. but seriously, i cant get a patent for this. it's not unique, and other people helped me with the circuitry. also nixie clocks aren't new.

 

[Nimsky]

Nice, but the first digit doesn't work

 

[Spork]

Nice, but the first digit doesn't work

ummm no?
it's ~2:50

edit: the name in your signature is very fitting

 

[Nimsky]

Damn right it's fitting, and in case you didn't know, the rest of the world uses four digits to indicate time

But it's very cool

 

[Spork]

Damn right it's fitting, and in case you didn't know, the rest of the world uses four digits to indicate time

But it's very cool

don't you see 4 tubes?

when you look at your watch at 3:30 in the afternoon, does it say 03:30?

 

[Skew]

One crucial mistake.

You forgot 24 hours!

 

[odin1899]

Yep, it does.

But, way cool clock! Any pointers to a DIY guide? I'd love to build one =).

 

[Mr._Kong]

my clock read 5:43 now, it does not say 05:43 sorry guys his thing is right. and its also awesome nice work.

 

[Spork]

Yep, it does.

But, way cool clock! Any pointers to a DIY guide? I'd love to build one =).

i chose to make a 12 hour clock. and a 24 hour clock still wouldnt say 03:30 in the morning.

what kind of watch do you have?

also thanks for all the compliments. if you want to build one, it will likely cost well over $100 and take a lot of time, patience and soldering. nixie tubes and the circuit board were the most expensive part. I got to use the awesome soldering irons at work to do the soldering. it also takes a lot of testing. for which i had oscilloscopes and voltmeters. also note that it is pretty dangerous because of the voltages involved (straight out of the wall, and doubled to 350), and can kill you if you are not careful. at the best it will hurt like a ***** if you get zapped. (i was touching the workbench with one hand and accidently got zapped, it hurt a lot more than the other times i got zapped from this)
plenty of guides can be found by searching for nixie clock on google.

I decided to build this one out of solid-state components, meaning that there is no CPU controlling this thing (just TTL and CMOS chips [decade counters/dividers and d-flipflops]. I beleive that makes it more authentic and old school. i will probably build my next one with a pic microcontroller or some old xilinx microcontrollers i have lying around, if i can find a programmer for them or can figure out how to build one.

 

[Helmi]

Well, I finally built it. I designed and put together this beauty using TTL and CMOS logic. It keeps time from the 120V 60hz signal that comes out of your wall.

Probabaly not as accurate as a quartz clock then

It f*ing rocks.

Definately!
Abso****inglutely awesome.

Got a circuit diagram for that so we can build our own or is that Top Secret?

 

[fiftyone]

Can you make it go "tick toc" ?

Anyhow nice clock, well done !

 

[Spork]

Probabaly not as accurate as a quartz clock then

actually, over the course of a month, far MORE accurate thatn quartz clock. as for day to day, that can vary. if the frequency of the AC moves forward, then the power companies will move it back for as long as it was ahead to compensate. this is because a lot of clocks keep time with AC cycles.

Definately!
Abso****inglutely awesome.

thanks!

Got a circuit diagram for that so we can build our own or is that Top Secret?

again, google is your friend.


and yes, i could make it go "tic tock", i'd just have to hook a speaker and a bunch of HUGE resistors to the flashing neon light in the middle. but that would also get incredibly annoying.

 

[Ska Wars]

As a big fallout fan I give this A+ and demand one for my Vault!

 

[odin1899]

i chose to make a 12 hour clock. and a 24 hour clock still wouldnt say 03:30 in the morning.

what kind of watch do you have?

A Siemens C72 =). It is actually quite usual to note 24-hour time as xx:xx here. I.e. 3:41 am would be 03:41, and 3:41 pm would be 15:31. It would confuse me when I see a digital clock in the afternoon showing something not beginning with a 1 =).

BTW how readable are those tubes in daylight? It looks quite dim on the second photo.

 

[Mr. Cheese]

As a big fallout fan I give this A+ and demand one for my Vault!

--

 

[Tak]

As a big fallout fan I give this A+ and demand one for my Vault!

No lie. This post would win the thread, if the original post wasn't full of so much asskickery.


Awesome jerb!

 

[Kong99]

Awesome, very cool. You have now reached 'uber geek' status. Curious, how does the alarm work??

 

[{YBBS}Sage]

That's awesome. Would it be hard to make it work as a 24 hour clock? I like the .mil time.