Projects's archives

Projects: My Nixie Clock

by Tyler | December 19th, 2008

My wife and I attended Maker’s Faire 2008 in California. It was a blast. Unfortunately, it was also expensive because I felt the need to buy every project kit I could get my hands on. One such kit was a beautiful Nixie clock offered at the Servo/Nuts and Volts booth. A picture of my completed clock is shown below. My wife has trouble reading it since it’s in HH:MM:SS format, but lacks the “:” between the Hours, Minutes, and Seconds. The picture was taken at 1:59 (forty seconds before 2pm).

Servo/Nuts and Volts appear to get their kits from Glowing Tech out of Canada. I had some trouble with a few of the tubes in my kit, as well as with the power connector (it was the wrong size for the supplied power supply, and had been used (soldered and de-soldered) prior to me opening the kit). I think Nuts and Volts sold me a previously used/abused kit. I was able to purchase the correct power connector at my local Radio Shack, but finding extra Nixie tubes was going to take a bit more effort. I contacted N&V and didn’t get a reply, so I contacted Glowing Tech and was pleasantly surprised with the support I received from Andrew Argyle of Glowing Tech.

If I had to make a recommendation, buy your kit through Glowing Tech, not Nuts & Volts. It will ship out of Canada so it might take a few extra days to get to you, but the level of support you’ll receive if you have a problem is well worth it. Also, Glowing Tech offers several different kits with different styles, so the selection beats Nuts & Volts as well.

The Project was a challenge (my soldering skills are a bit rusty), but it was also a lot of fun. If you have previous soldering/electronics experience (even if it’s basic) this kit is well within your abilities to complete. Just take your time and follow the directions.

Nixie Tube Clock Kit-YS13-3