/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Bumping, I'm building a clock with some IN-12's right now, they're pretty rad.

love anything tubes. make a cheep tube amp with WAY too big a transformer and blow it up, looks awesome when the tubes are glowing purple

>>12372
Forgot pic.

Anyone else into tubes?

i/diy/ots

I love Nixie Tubes, but I can't get into working with them sadly.

>>12376
It looks amazing when they glow purple/blue.

>>12376
a bigger transformer than needed shouldn't make it burn, a smaller than needed should

>>12396
Why not? Not enough time / hard to acquire tubes?

>>12407
smaller than needed burns the transformer. larger than needed supplies too much current to the tubes and when biased correctly runs them hotter than they should

>>12389

Steins;gate and an earlier thread here have me pumped to build a nixie clock. Getting most of the parts within the next week

Also, idea for /diy/ at large: wouldn't a marketplace for your older projects and possibly requests for certain things be sort of awesome? Wouldn't fit in with the 4chan system too much, but its a project worth looking into

>>12430
Sounds right. Its been a long time since I've done anything with audio tubes. Last thing i built was a portable amp that ran on two 9v batteries, powered on a 12ax7 and the Analog Devices AD8065. Only had a headphone jack for output, I had a hard time finding small high quality speakers without butchering some headphones.

Every kit I see is over $75 which is a little hard to justify for a clock on my desk. Is there a quality kit or DIY instructable place that would have all the necessary parts for cheap?

hmm surprised no one has mentioned vinyl in here

>>12339
anyone have a link so i can start working with these cause these seem awsome

>>12487
I'm building mine from scratch, total cost will be about $50 without the enclosure. The tubes and the high voltage decoders are the expensive parts.

>>12520
How high of voltage are we talking about for these little guys anyway?

>>12508
Just google around, there is a ton of stuff on them. Kits, schematics, tutorials, parts, etc.

I wish I could get my hands on some of these tubes, they're gorgeous.

>>12524
250-350v

>>12524
Anywhere from 100-200 apparently, the IN-12 nixies I'm using fire at 170v. (extremely low current though, like 2.5 mA

Radiofag here.

>2011
>still using vacuum tubes

You're doin' it right. Although I'd be pleased if you'd stop destroying the Nixie market. You're making it very hard to restore old HP frequency counters and calculators.

>>12503
just hooked up my parent's old turntable to our entertainment system, its too bad the stereo system sucks ass.
Took my an hour to figure out the little cable coming out the back was just the grounding cable ><
besides that it was just regular RCA cables coming out for sound + the electrical plug

>>12541
I haven't seen any tubes that run that high, but I may just be ignorant.

>>12588
Hey man, there are plenty of NOS to go around..

---------------------------------------------------------------------
IN-13 in the pic, awesome for making thermometers. They fire at 140v and sustain <100 i believe

>>12614
your entertainment system has a phono plug? If not, then you're not doing it right.

>>>12627
WANT

>>12641
Yeah, super awesome. I'm thinking of putting on the face of my clock, horizontally. My avr has more than enough GPIO's to drive all of the tubes I want.

>>12653
AVRfag too? brofist.

Someday I will see if this powers up

>>12662
Yup. I got some atmega1284's for messing around with. Overkill for this project, but that just means I can expand.

>>12539
Yeah dude, we've heard of google too, problem is half the nixie tube suppliers are in europe and the US based sites are kindof expensive. So if you've done the research for this exact project, how about you help the /diy/ board by sharing that info?

>>12679
For nixie tubes specifically? I grab them off ebay, cheap and they work. There are a lot of ebay stores outside of the US that sells them NOS.

When looking at your guys' projects, I don't know what to google and how to get started. For example, I've been wanting to make a glowing thermometer (or clock) but have NO idea where to start with this. What things should I be googling?

>>12671
Replace the old dried out electrolytic, and power it up.

Then go through testing the resistors. There's usually 1 or 2 bad ones.

Good luck on your restoration project. I'm currently trying to restore a US Army Air Corps BC-348Q.

>>12725
http://www.elektronika.ba/800/warm-tube-clock-v2-nixie-clock/
is a good link I found on hackaday.com, they have some good stuff on nixie clocks, and one article featuring a thermometer. I learned a lot by looking at nixie clocks that are for sale by looking at their schematics, board layouts, etc. The schematic and board layout from http://glowingtech.com/kits.html really helped me learn also. How I'm controlling my clock is just by a microcontroller, that stuff can be learned on sites like avrfreaks (for avr stuff)

Hopefully that was a little helpful.

>>12725
google nixie tube clock schematic
There are a bunch of schematics out there.
Now for every term you don't understand, look it up on wikipedia, or a book that teaches electronics.

>>12389
/diy/nosaurs

some /a/non is building a nixie tube divergence meter from steins gate. Seems like he's making some progress
http://divergencemeter.blogspot.com/

I'd go into nixie tubes but they're expensive as fuck

>>12830
Here's some of his photos

>>12802
and for tube info just google IN-18 datasheet, or whatever the tube you want to find more info about. Also this site: http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/nixie-tubes.htm has some awesome stuff on a ton of different tubes. Very helpful.

>>12633
most new stereo's don't have a phono plug. but if you have a nice older one it should. also most new turntables have a digital pre amp built into them so they can be played on any stereo. kind of ruins some of the purist aspect though

>>12830
If you don't mind the look of the IN-12's you could get some of those. <20 bucks for 6 of them on ebay with shipping to the US.

I've always been into audio tubes!
>anyone used a Motherboard with tube audio
>mfw

I was looking forward to design a fully analog/discrete/tube based nixie VU meter, but I'm guessing all that work would be too much of a hassle.

Might take upon that project again sometime, perhaps after completing a fair ammount of stages of the modular (i've been planning to make a tube based filter array for that, too, because tube VCOs sound just too squeaky for my taste)

Any idea where to get adjustable capacitors?

I have no idea what these are, but from my automotive training they look like diodes and coils

>>12894
Lol wasn't that Biostar that designed that mobo with the preamp tube on it?

>>12895
There are appropriate designs out there. Some company makes a kit, but also supplies PDF schematics. HAHAHAHAHA! THE FOOLS!

>>12903
Any parts site will carry them.

>>12903
Air variable caps?

Have a DIY article:
http://www.eham.net/articles/5217

These are outdated, expensive and not necessary.
You're welcome.

>>12895
Wow that would be a project.. What would you use for the display? Tubes as well?

>>12953
They're also fucking cool.

>>12953
so are all of the operating systems we use, it doesn't mean that we should all switch to plan 9

>>12953
>implying I'm not building this for fun
>implying this isn't a thread for this shit

>>12903
Do you mean variable capacitors in trimmer format? Those are fairly common, although the ranges they cover are not too great and usually measureable in pF-nF, from what i've found. Now, air variable capacitors, like the ones used in regen radios... those are fairly uncommon, though with a fair ammount of patience, knowlege, and googling skills they could be homebrew.

A similar effect could be achieved by using a potentiometer, some resistances and capacitors, although I have no schematics at hand right now. Nevertheless, shouldn't be too hard to design.

>>12953
Your mum is outdated, expensive and not necessary. Now please stop wasting the oxygen of real makers.

>>13008
+1

I've only seen variable capacitors in my electronic catalogs for low capacitance with a small range. I was thinking of something with a potentiometer..

>>12627
HOREY SHET
/r/ing sauce/schematics.
NICE base for it too. Strong work.

how terribly inefficient. i love it

$20 well spent. I love the sound of this fucking thing, makes radio entertaining again.

>>12836
that is so rigid cool man. Looks like something i woulda dreamt up as a kid. Love it.

>>13037
That one isn't mine, sadly. Here is a link to a similar one with sauce.
http://www.tubeclockdb.com/forum/Builders-Forum/1280-Nixietherm-IN-9-bargraph-based-thermomer.html

>>12917
Wow, are those fully discrete kits, or are they PIC based? Anyhow, it amazes me some for-profit kit vendors just throw away pcb patterns. Schematics are okay though... infosocialism and shit.

I guess the greater appeal is to design everything by myself, therefore I'm leaving it on hold. Tube related stuff is too expensive/precious to just randomly experiment with it.

>>12958
Well, yes, I thought of expressing +/-dB values in numerical form through the nixies. I wouldn't be aiming for much resolution (no decimals), but the expense of the whole deal makes me think i should better just stick to magic eye tubes and buy an oscilloscope with the rest (let alone finish the mod synth...)

>>12588
I wouldn't worry, the Russians will just make more of them.

>>13037
Also look how cheap the tubes are
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-IN-9-NIXIE-BARGRAPH-TUBE-ORANGE-fld-NEON-TUBES-/150625367467?pt=Vintage_
Electronics_R2&hash=item2311f8b5ab

About 10 bucks for two of em.

>>13103
Depending on the tube it could be inexpensive, but yeah. Don't forget to look at the awesome nixies with symbols. (Ohms, Hz, V, etc) It temps me to build a multimeter with a nixie display. Too bulky though.

>>12953
Then don't build or buy one, faggot, and get the fuck out of this thread. Asshole.

I love tube radios, they look so cool in operation

I got one tube radio in a huge ugly wooden box that was 5 times bigger than it needed to be (made to be like a piece of furniture apparently), I broke down the wooden box and threw it away, and after a few weeks of using it, an uncle said that tubes are known for exploding spontaneously? I haven't used the radio since then because theres no case, is that true?

>>13140
How about gutting a moderate quality meter and replacing the display circuitry with that of the nixie? Sure, recallibration would be as painful as bulkyness, but that thang would look dandy next to an oscilloscope. Large numerals are a big plus, too!.

>>13179
I haven't heard of exploding radio tubes before, but don't take my word for it.

Notice to all:
If you're looking for variable capacitors for front-panel tuning purposes, google "air variable capacitor".

>>13186
Yeah that would be fun, it would look great in a big enclosure next to my power supply on my desk.

Maybe something like this?
I would make my own enclosure though.

>>13179
Completely untrue.
If anything, they'd IMplode a little if you cracked them.

>>13179
I'd be more worried of the radioactive elements in some of them, and that's already saying a lot.

And voltages, of course. Crazy high, ungrounded voltages. You don't get a respect for tubes until you have at least seen the sparks 350VDC produce. Beware of big electrolytic caps when putting your fingers into the chassis and you should be fine, and consider adding safety features to the circuit (removing the "death cap", mains ground connections., etc).

>>13220
Right, because those are vacuum tubes, unlike stuff like nixies which are filled with neon, and lightbulbs that are filled with whatever. (argon?)

>>13275
Properly designed high-voltage circuits have bleed-off resistors across the big caps, but yes, respect the voltage. Nothing quite like getting thrown across the room by 500 volts that you accidentally brushed your finger against.

>>13275
Primary amplifier tubes are typically 1500 to 3500 volts.

>>13328
Shit, is that for transmitter amplifiers? How many amperes to drive one of those tubes?
I am left only to guess how deadly the filtering stage for those tubes might be...

>>13303
This. Do not trust your life to a $0.10 component. Always check the filter caps have bled througly, and build a bleeding tool as well, which is basically a couple of crocodile clips and a huge ass resistor.

>>13394
>crocodile
ALLIGATOR clips.

>>13394
For sure. I have a couple 1.7F electrolytic capacitors sitting next to my bed, they haven't been used in probably more than 10 years, but they serve a nice reminder. You could easily fit a coke can inside of one of these..

Pic is similar to what I have.

>>13415
I certainly hope you've got a piece of wire running across the terminals, because they can and do accumulate charge just sitting, just like a CRT does.

>>13404
Tomato, tomato. It pinches stuff, resembles a member of the Eusuchia clade and has prevented electricians to waste their roaches since the beginning of time. For what it's worth, they could even be named Gharial clips.

>>13431
I did not know that, thanks for the heads up.

>>13431
HOLY FUCK I JUST WENT OVER TO TEST ONE WITH A SMALL WIRE AND IT BLEW OUT OF MY HANDS. JESUS FUCK THAT WAS A HUGE SPARK.

>>13437
*shrug* nothing quite like using the wrong name for something common to give people the impression that you don't know what you're talking about.

Just sayin'..

>>12830
God Speed. I looked into Nixie tubes just because of the anime, I'd be interested in getting a desk clock as well, but luck to all you makers out there. Keep the building spirit alive!

>>13450
Well, in the future you'll never forget to check them with a voltmeter first, will you? Sorry, figured you'd think of doing that first.

>>13358
3-500z is a popular tube.

Filament is 5v @ 14.6a.

>>13464
My multimeter was out of batteries, and I didn't think there would be negligible power stored. The more you know..

>>13477
>>13477
Those look like final amplifier tubes. How many watts can you push with those?

>>13485
If it's 1.7F, it's not even the terminal voltage, it's the total charge accumulated, which must have been HUGE. Now figure in what the ESR must be. Did it completely melt the wire in two? What gauge was it?

BREVIROSTES CLIPS

>>13488
That they are!

~100w in, ~1.5kw output. Or more. I don't know the design of the amp, I just thought the picture was cool.

>>13498
It was 18 gauge wire, just a scrap I had on my desk. The wire flew off somewhere, it probably melted the insulation. My hand is sore, but I think thats just from my reaction..

>>13485
>tester without batteries
duuuude.

>>13453
You know, this jest has quite a meme potential, calling crocodile clips "alligators"

>>13275

thanks for the advice, i've been shocked enough by that radio that there's another good reason not to use it, i had no idea that the internal antenna was running at high voltage until i got shocked, wonder what dangers i created by hooking it up to my antenna system.. i must study electronics moar

the tubes might be radioactive? like release radiation? i don't think the wooden box would have done much to protect the user if so, is there somewhere i can look up to tell if a tube is radioactive?

>>13533
Ran out of AA batteries a couple of days ago..

I vote in favor of this crocodile meme thing.

>>13404
Wait.. What country are you in?

>>13534
>>13534
I don't think you have anything to worry about with the tubes, unless you're in the habit of breaking them open and putting the metal bits in your mouth and sucking on them. I'd think that if anything they'd be emitting alpha particles.

>>13534
Some older tubes had cesium or radon, which are gamma emmiters and that might or might not seriously fuck you up. But such tubes are rare. Most tubes which have radioactive elements (which are the least) contain low beta emmiters, which shouldn't be much of a problem if kept inside the glass. I think microwave oven tubes used thoriated filaments, but that's negligible, too.

Then again, pretty much everything produces ionizing radiation, so you'll die of cancer anyway.

I'm off to bed, I'll probably start another one of these threads in a few days, I'm a regular here now.

>>13580
>>13602

thanks for clarification, i wonder what era radio would have to be from to have these tubes in them, most of mine are from the 40's and 50's but i've had tube radios from as far back as the mid 30's

>>13477

Tubes are still in use today. Listen to clear channel AM, powered mostly by huge ceramic forced-air cooled tubes of awesome. Vintage radios like heathkit, Collins, etc are still in popular use by Amateur Radio ops, still chirping out morse code on the shortwave bands.

Tubes Rock.

I love this thread.

Source: Broadcast engineer.

OK, so how about a list of still active valve manufacturers? The only one I know about is the old TESLA factory in Slovakia, running as JJ Electronic nowadays.

>>13713

broadcast engineer, that means you maintain broadcast transmitters?

>>13876
It varies, most are a jack of all trades that do everything from climbing towers to replacing shorted components.

I wish I knew some in my area. They're often a good hookup for dumpster electronics. A fellow ham of mine got a Bauer 707 transmitter...for free. It was the station's backup of their backup, and they were going to scrap it.

He bought it for scrap value.

>>13876
It varies, they're a jack of all trades usually.

I wish I knew some more personally.

A fellow ham of mine got a Bauer 707 for almost free. They were going to scrap it, as it was the station's backup of their backup. They had just converted their primary to solid state, so out with the old...

I would love to own a Bauer 707... set it up with a VFO for 160m (~1.8 mhz) and 75m (~3.8 mhz) phone. Coupled with a Hammarlund SP-600 receiver, it's a force to be reckoned with on AM mode.

>>13906

What a lovely machine!

>>13908
They're monsters on the inside.

You may recognize the tubes...Four 3-500zs!

>>13919
Scratch that, they're 4-400s.

>>13906

hmm.. that in your pic there is something like what i'm looking for, i'm in an area of canada outside of industry canada and the CTRC's jurisdiction, want to set up a transmitter just never had the right advice, searching the internet for dealers of this equipment has proven difficult

>>13933
There really aren't dealers.

It's such a niche market, you contact the manufacturer, and they build you one.

Surplus transmitters that are 500w to 1000w capable typically are about $1500-$2000.

I need some push-pull monoblock schematics using 6N2P and 12AT7 tubes. Any suggestions?

i can realy recommend the IN-8-2 kit from PV electronics. i have it on my desk right now. but i still need to make some nice enclosure

>>14046
here's a scaled down version of it, here running in test mode and without the neon dots. the original plan was to make it with a bunch of 4017 but when i stumbled over this beauty with DCF77 date, slotmachine protection etc etc etc i couldn't get myself to make a ghetto one. still needs casing though

>>14085
I wouldn't even case that it just looks fucking beautiful as-is...

>>14126
yeah and run 175 volts on a bare PCB. if it isn't me who gets zapped it'll be one of my ZOMG NICE AWESOME CAN I TOUCH IT friends (even non electric loving people are amazed by it)

>>14147

Touche, such a shame. I don't actually know anything about electronics, so don't hate me if this is retarded, but couldn't you just coat the top of the PCB with something non-conductive so it isn't an electrocution hazard?

>>14085
http://www.pvelectronics.co.uk/

i can recommend him, very fast replies to email (most of the time within minutes), cheap, looks great bla bla bla

>>14160
It would probably easier to make a transparent case from plexiglass or something.

>>14147
Could always just get the PCB conformal coated.

>>14160 this:
>>14165

>>14165
True but from an artistic point of view it would make it seem so much less dynamic.

Maybe I'm just a faggot though.

>>14173
You could always spray varnish the PCB, but it would still need some sort of casing to keep their grubby mitts off the leads. Also, it's more stable.

>>14085
i am however wondering what waterjetting 2-3mm stainless steel would cost. lets assume a workpiece of 20cm by 8cm with six holes of 2cm diameter to keep things easy, anyone knows what it would cost?

I need some help deciding what tubes to get for my guitar amp.

It runs on 2x el34 and 3x ecc83 and right now iv'e got telephunken's in there.

I want the normal channel to have a nice clean sound even when cranked, and the bright/dirty channel to have more gain without sacrificing the bottom end.

It has no gain or master volume control, just volume bass and treble.

I didn't "make" the Hammond but I refurb'd it. The speaker cabinet on the left was an old transistor Hammond that was all shorted-out, so I chopped it down and turned it into a Leslie that runs off that stompbox. It's neat *shrug*

>>14249
Where do I send my application to apply for the position of fellating you, and is the waiting list as long as I think it is?

>>14255
haha oh you :]

bump

nobody else made a nixe clock?

Speaking of nixies.... I just brought a Fluke 8375A 5 and 1/2 digit multimeter with 4 wire resistance with uses 6 nixies!! works fine too.

>>14549
post some pics

>>14556
Wat I'll have to go all the way to the garage - is it really worth it?

It looks like this

>>14594
what a beauty

i've been wondering, nixies arent vacuum, theres neon in them. but what kind of presure, higher or lower than outside?

So how hard is it to bias new tubes? I've got a couple of KT88's for my guitar amplifier, but i can't find a good amp tech.

tubes and vintage gear (solid state or tube) look cool, but it all sounds virtually the same new, old, tube, solid state, analog, digital.

"audiophile" with way to much money in gear who has heard lots of very expensive and not so expensive gear, new and old, tested blind. fyi.

my 30's marconi, removed from wooden housing, all of the insulation on the wiring to the speaker and everything else crumbled when i took it out there.. it looked as if it had been rewired several times by someone who didn't know what they were doing.. really want to get it going again

>>14654
audiophile shit is just a scam. ok a 1000 euro amp wil sound better than a 2 euro ipod speaker thing. but beyond 50 euro it's all the same

>>14696
what a beauty, got moar pics?

>>14703

i think that's the only one, i'll look though, my camera is flaky right now, somethings wrong with it and it drains the battery, it's probably dead right now and would take a while to charge it, i'll remember to get some more of my radios next time i have it working

I also made a mic out of an old telephone carbon element, old lamp part, and a radio shack mic stand
>>14249

>>14711

can't find any more of that one, but there is this one, 30's HRO, not mine but one of the best radio's i've ever used, yeah it drifts but it's a hell of a lot of fun to tune

>>14724

inside view

>>14728
haha that is awesome. love them crazy oval 16Ω speakers you always find in vintage gear

>>14736

that speaker was way too close to those tubes, it created this weird feedback if you brought the audio up too high, made it pointless, made more sense to use the audio out of the headphone jack into a separate stereo amp

>>14696

do you have the knowhow to get it working again yourself?

>>14749

not yet, i'm not going to touch it until i know how to properly and so i don't electrocute myself again on it, i feel bad enough for taking it out of the case and damaging it farther than it had already been damaged

i'm slowly studying what i need to know, have alot going on right now

>>14761
you don't happen to be dutch are you? because i know a forum where they could help you. with these old things always power them with a lightbulb in series. lightbulb doesn't light--> good. lightbulbs lights up --> prob some short. and be careful with old caps, prob dead.

but what did you damage yourself?

>>12339
fix'd

well it IS 4chan afterall :]

radiofags, i buy old radios and smash em into pieces of which i make guitar amps, fuck you and your radios

>>14772
Good for you. Would be more efficient to buy the tubes and build your amps from that, you massive faggot.

>>14770
derp the non lit digits are upside down now and the horizontal position isn't right. (nixies hop back and forth in their cage)

>>14778
oh come now

>>14777
do you even know how much transformers cost? also i get tube stands, tubes, chasis (sometimes) and soldering boards for a price of 30$

>>14785
You can buy defective tube radios and salvage them for parts. New tubes hold longer anyway.

>>14796
nah, I enjoj the crackling sound of tearing the insides of it too much

>>14765

just the wiring from the metal casing to the speaker, but that speaker was like.. an electromagnet speaker? i hadn't seen anything like it before, and it had been rewired in a way that i couldn't tell which wire was connected to which, and when i tried to take it apart all of the ancient shielding on the wires broke rendering it useless

it did work before that, but only for receiving mediumwave, shortwave didn't work at all

>>14809
too bad, i hope you can repair it some day.

attached is a pic of the pcb of my nixie clock, pre tube stage>>14085

1960s Thunderbass Guild Amp

>>14845
circuits

I am a ham too and have a project idea. I want to make a desk gadget from a wooden base and an old transmitter tube. Obviously just needs to light up and glow. What would be a good small power supply to use for this? The more user friendly the better. I don't want family or curious friends to electrocute themselves. I want a nice big tube too, like 3 to 4 inch diameter and the brighter the better so I would like a recommendation for the tube too. Preferably an Eimac since they look nice but I will consider others. I had an 872B and base that I was going to try but I broke the tube on accident. Base is in OK shape though. So another bigger tube that would fit that base would be best.

my dad made one of these. shits fucking awesome.

>>14918
buy tube, check voltage and current required, buy psu for it

no more diy nixie clocks?

Wow these things are sweet as fuck. If only I knew a thing or two about electronics and circuiting. I'd love a clock or something made with these guys.

>>14085 do this : >>15268 anyone who can use a soldering iron and isn't a complete retard can build a kit

>>15251

There are whole sites dedicated for that stuff.
Too bad most nixie clock designs look like shit, nixies being the only nice-looking thing in them.