Ladyada has just published a complete how-to, with design document, on making your own open source Russian vacuum fluorescent clock. The vacuum fluorescent tubes aren't as dangerous as (high-voltage) Nixie tubes, and there seem to be more of them available in the world. If you're not interested in building a clock from scratch, you can also pick up a kit version. All the schematics, source code, and files are available on the project's page.
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it's beautiful!
I love this bit of info in the description of the kit:
"Clear acrylic enclosure protects clock from you and you from clock"
HA!
"Keeps time with 0.002% accuracy"
It's right twice a day?
#2
all joking aside 0.002% is 1.74 seconds a day or 52 seconds a month.
buddy of mine does the same thing here: http://www.arduinix.com/
@anon and @drtwist -- it's actually the following:
"Precision watch crystal keeps time with less than 20ppm error!"
@#5
In point of fact on the page ( http://www.ladyada.net/make/icetube/ ) it's :
"Precision watch crystal keeps time with 0.002% accuracy!"
which is the same as 20 ppm
but if I told you that a clock was accurate to within 0.002% or to within 52 seconds a month, which sounds more accurate, even though they're the same figure?
better words...
precision watch crystal keeps time with under 20ppm (0.0002%) error (
odd, the comments didn't like my cut/paste...
precision watch crystal keeps time with under 20ppm (0.0002%) error, less than 2 seconds a day. pretty much every time-keeping clock in your house runs on 20ppm (or so) crystals.
I had a part made by a plexiglass company 20 years ago. They had been making plexiglass boxes for a company making digital clocks. The company went bust so in payment they took some of the parts inventory and got into the clock biz themselves. I used some of their boxes to make clocks. It was a high voltage display but I don't recall the details.It's a fun project.
I asked one of the few remaining parts stores how many kids they get coming in with parts lists for projects. Zip was the answer.Make of that what you will.
#9.
Probably because people are shopping online for their parts rather then going to a physical shop.
Wow! Nice clock!
I bought a box of those tubes about a year ago to make one myself, and after completely over-engineering it (32-bit microcontroller, PC RTC), I got about 70% done and never finished it.... Like all my other projects.
But now I can copy his!
Voltage != danger.
Hah: good thing I bought one *yesterday*. After /. and BB posted this, they're out of stock for the next few weeks.
Are these retro now as well? I like the Nixies, but this just looks like electronics to me. Probably because I had video games with vacuum fluorescents when I was a teenager.