LENS- Time and date obtained from
the internet - Colour and brightness of LED
backlights can be easily configured by
the user - 12/24-hour display choice
DESIGN
My first thought was to go with what I will
politely refer to as the Trump Aesthetic –
‘Versailles-built-in-Blackpool’ perhaps sums
it up best.
The big drawback to this approach
was that I intended to display the clock
in my own house. I have nothing against
Blackpool – I am from there – or even
Versailles, which is quite nice too. It’s
simply that combining two equally
wonderful things does not necessarily
square the output.
So in the end I elected to give the clock a
more Cold War beaten-up military vibe with
a repurposed B&K A/V systems controller as
an enclosure.THE BUILD
Components – driver board
and tubes
As a newbie to Nixie tubes, I wanted to
cut down the risk of a total project failure.
I also wanted to complete the project
fairly rapidly.
For these reasons, I decided to base the
clock on a pre-built driver board which was
designed as an Arduino shield. I bought
mine from GRA & AFCH in Ukraine. The
board came pre-populated with IN-14 Nixies
and was under $100, shipping included.
The enduring appeal of using Nixie
tubes in clock displays is not difficult to
fathom. Despite their ineffable beauty,
they are an obsolete technology, aphysical embodiment of the passage of
time, and a reminder of all things lost
and irretrievable.
Using the B&K as an enclosure was
meant to amplify this theme. Solid and well-
made, it might have provided many more
years of service, but the lack of internet
connectivity and HDMI connections simply
overwhelmed it.
The one thing that didn’t quite fit in was
the faceplate of the B&K. It was far too
nice. Fortunately, removing this exquisitely
machined chunk of aluminium revealed a
utilitarian steel panel ideal for my purposes.
In all likelihood, you do not have a spare
B&K Reference 30 A/V System Controller
lying around. Do not despair. Just about any
new or repurposed metal box will do – I’d
recommend something at least 250 mm ×
150 mm × 75 mm though, especially if you
intend to include a four-line LCD and the
other features I ended up with.Above
Nixie tubes have ten
elements, one for
each digit, but only
light one at a time