I like it, it matches my time traveling microwave

You did it. You made me want something I've never even thought about wanting before.

I worked for Burroughs in the 1960s. These came out in desktop calculators, we were impressed. Our 5s looked much better. Didn't think I'd ever seem them in use again.

I love the look of these things. From the more elegant shape of the numbers themselves to the glow fade from digit to digit to even the basic "blown glass" shape of the tube itself. They have rather complicated circuitry and use a lot of energy, but I do like them aesthetically.

it must be the will of Steins;Gate

Hey, ThioJoe thank you very much for this fascinating video. I went to the link and was amazed at the quality of work and the painstaking skills needed to complete the manufacturing of the tubes. The speaks to my OCD! Thanks again, keep up the great work.

my old ass remembers nixie tubes

STEINS: GATE

TUTURUUUUUU :D insiders will know

steins gate anyone?

Good day. I ordered a lamp clock in Past Indicator. I really like the watch. Stylish, bright, unusual. The seller answered all the questions. Fast shipping. Great store, good service.

Divergence meter

During my time in the Air Force did maintenance on a air defense computer that had 50K vacuum tubes. And there was 2 of theses one ran air defense and we worked on the standby one. And yes I saw a lot of Nixie tubes in my days. Enjoyed your video and yes an old guy like me tries to keep up with what’s going on these days.

I wanted to buy one....but i just made mine. Designed the circuit board and all in eagle. Took a while, took 2 revisions, but worth it. Turns on when you enter the room to save the life of the tubes. Also Niche is not nich, its neesh.

Steins;Gate?

look like from steins gate

I like the PCB design

tuturuu~

I bought one of these clocks a couple years ago. Love it. Fantastic clock.

Incredible!! You are an artist with incredible attention to detail.

We had NIXIE Tubes in the old AN/SQS-26CX SONAR on the Destroyer Escorts on the US Navy back in the 70s.

You keep referring to the numeric elements as "filaments" and that is absolutely wrong. They are NOT filaments in any way, shape or form. You stated that when the electricity is applied, it heats up the "filament" and causes it to glow. That is absolutely wrong; NO heating takes place. You also said that the electricity causes the "filament" and the gas around it to glow. That is one HALF wrong; only the gas around the cathode glows, the cathode itself does not heat up and glow. And "cathode" is the proper name for the numeric element, not "filament". The neon gas around the numerals glows when bombarded by electrons just like in a common neon lamp, such as a pilot lamp. If you are going to post statements about a technology, the least you can do is to learn and understand the technology about which you are talking. All information readily available on the internet with a simple search.

Good camera ! Nice macroshoot ! Thanx for rly good description

This is so cool. I love the theme of these.

I wish I had one of these

At 63 I used instruments with these in high school and junior college and also at home via used equipment purchases. My first technician job working my way thru college was repairing magnetic tape drives and disc drives for HP that had.......2.5Mb per platter 1 fixed and 1 in a cartridge for a total of 5mb.....Wow.... 8008 slice processors. I and any other older tech guy could wax on boringly. Oh yea, repaired tube tv's in a tv shop also. Ok I will stop. Fun video.

“For people who think they’re cool” Weird thing to say

How is it powered and how do your connect to power ?

I think youtube need that clock. They didn't give me a notification of your video 'til now!

Steins;Gate

If you like that clock then you should watch anime steins gate.Second reason, you bought that clock just before new season to be aired. And last reason it's all about science just like your channel.

This looks awesome and I kinda want one. What happens when the filament burns out? Would that ever happen? Are they easy to replace?

looks very beautiful

Hi Joe, Welcome to the amazing world of obsolete technology. Appreciate your post, but there are a few zingers to clear up here, in the interest of accuracy of transmission to a generation we will not see :-) #1 Nixie tubes are still broadly classified as a subset of vacuum tubes, even though they are technically charged with a small amount of ionizing gas after being evacuated of all atmosphere. Specifically, they are called a "Cold Cathode Gas Tube" (or valve, if you are English) #2 You repeatedly describe the Nixie's numerical display elements as "filaments", and this is a very poor word choice. Why? Conventional vacuum tubes actually do have a specific internal component officially known as a "filament". It's job is to heat the cathode and thereby create a copious cloud of available electrons which are then directed to the anode or plate of the tube to do useful amplification or rectification work. But Nixie tubes do NOT have filaments. They have ANODES and CATHODES. This is why they "don't get very hot", as you mentioned. More to the point, this is precisely why they are called "cold cathode gas tubes" too. There is no filament to heat the cathode, because it is not needed in this application. So, what are those numerical shaped thingies called? They are called CATHODES. The way a Nixie tube works is that the anode is supplied with a high voltage (typically between about 170 and 300VDC) and those electrons present inside the partially evacuated tube jump the physical gap between anode and cathode, releasing energy as they approach the cathode. That energy release ionizes the small amount of gas present in the vicinity of the cathode when the circuit is completed for THAT cathode. That effect is what makes the "glow"...period. There is almost no heat involved, which is why they are "cold cathode gas tubes". The numerical shape you call a "filament" is therefore a cathode, and those parts you keep calling "filaments" are actually the cathodes! Many Nixie tubes have nine of them, shaped 1-9, though there are some other variations, including symbols, decimals, and even letters. #3 Size. While there are many types and sizes, there are not "hundreds of them". The vast majority of US Nixies fall into one of just five categories. Those are called: miniature, standard, super, large and jumbo. The highest quality Nixie tubes were manufactured in the United States by the Burroughs corporation. Burroughs pretty much wrote the book on Nixie technology. Read a simple but thorough primer, here: frank.pocnet.net/other/Burroughs/616.pdf Most Burroughs Nixie tubes are "top address" tubes, with the connection pins located 180 degrees opposite to the numerical cathodes. US made Burroughs tubes are scarce and expensive. English made Nixies are nice, but a fair number have an unfortunate manufacturing defect which causes them to leak and fail. Most Russian tubes are side address tubes, which are simpler to build. Side address tubes have the cathodes 90 degrees offset from the connection pins. Yes, Russians also made some front address tubes, but they are not as common because they were harder to build and cost more. #4. Side address Nixie tubes from Russia are what you have on your clock. The Russians kept making them for quite a while and probably stockpiled millions for purely military uses, as did the US. The US supply disappeared and/or was destroyed. The Russian supply continues to leak out onto the market. #5 Nixie tubes wear out, like every vacuum tube. They actually eventually just won't glow any more -for a variety of reasons I won't get into. Read the Burroughs paper I posted herein to understand what causes that. You will discover that there is an entire subcategory of OEM equipment that supported Nixie tubes, including sockets (now scarce) "Trixie" drivers (another Burroughs device), counter memories, plus frames, power supplies, and so forth. Again, all of that is covered in detail at frank.pocnet.net/other/Burroughs/616.pdf Thanks to Frank for his great service to the entire vacuum tube community, by the way! Finally, the remaining Nixie tubes are a wasting asset. There are fewer today than there were yesterday, and there will be fewer tomorrow. Tens of millions were made, but many millions were used up, and many more ended up in landfills along with the supposedly obsolete equipment they serviced. Burroughs built Nixies are exceedingly rare now. Joe, most of all get this. While it is technically possible to hand build a few examples at great cost and expense, the days of buying a Nixie tube for $1.98 are as long gone as the moonshot which gave rise to their dominance in high-end technology of the 1950's and 60's. This is something for casual clock builders to consider as they burn up Nixie after Nixie for these little trinkets. There is no vacuum tube "industry" to somehow call back to action to build more, either. The tools, jigs, fixtures and factories, plus the supporting materials suppliers such as specialized glass and tungsten makers, and indeed the general worker skills, supply and distribution networks and the market itself simply do not exist. They are long gone, and they will never reappear in our lifetimes. Even more, the knowledge itself is disappearing with the passing of those of us now in our 60's and beyond...which is why I posted my long screed about your video. I hope that some young person - even perhaps yet unborn as of this writing - will find the Burroughs document link and decode it's science to the benefit of themselves and others.

el psy congroo

I use vacuum tubes to master music... it has a certain sound that cannot be replicated by electronic hardware

How long do nixie tubes last?

Joe keep them coming really enjoy your channel. very informative

Theo: Back in the 70's my family had a next door neighbor who had a Nixie tube calculator and it was off the charts cool.

those are nixie tubes (neon inside, no vacuum). Those ones with with upside down 2s for 5s are annoying! haha! what you call filaments are actually just electrodes

i have 1 nixie from an old tv. seeing them glowing makes me want to try making mine work. i also have some russian "cash register" toy with real working calculator with miniature nixies behind a strip of lens to make them look bigger

Nixie Tubes are soooo cool !

@ThioJoe - could you please provide the name of this product? The amazon link does not work

You should make a hate comments video again!

cool clock joe

These look like the black ops 2 zombies prison map thing

Steins:Gate!

Wow - what a nice treat!!! Thanks!

A Nixie tube does not have any filaments or heaters. A Nixie tube's operation does not depend on thermionic emission of electrons from a heated cathode. It is therefore called a cold-cathode tube. The glass tube contains a wire-mesh anode and multiple cathodes, shaped like numerals or other symbols. Applying power to one cathode surrounds it with an orange glow discharge. The tube is filled with a gas at low pressure, usually mostly neon. So there.

I like that piss yellow, it contrasts well with the red digits

There's quite a nice one on display in Sheridan college, Ontario

Dr.Thiojoe back at it again with a new interesting video! xD

El Psy Congree !!!

Reminds me of like Fallout or Bioshock style

For only 299$

Divergence meter to keep a track of world lines 😌😌😌😌

You said there would be a link to ebay below, but there is no link.

Glow discharge glows better in black light or UV light.

El Psy Congroo

Cathode not filament

I grew up in the 1960s, and have never heard of them. Musta been big city rich people stuff.

Yo thats from Steins Gate

So they don't make nixie tubes anymore but they still make nixie tube clocks? I did just go to Amazon. You can still buy some nixie clocks, but they're kind of expensive. With the tubes not protected by any enclosure, you got to be careful with your clock.

STIENS GAAATE, MAAD SCIENTIST

my young ass wasn't even a thought back then

I want to give making my own a try...

This seems like a pure commercial.

Wish it had the most accurate time but that's not the case yet I just remembered that Einstein's experiment with two clocks

this must have been made by some mad scientist...

These are so cool!!

I just know someone would say EL PSY CONGROO😂

That’s really cool 😎 👍🏼

Hey look it’s that thing from tomorrow land...

Very cool

Is that the one that's like a kit you make yourself?

Hey ThioJoe, Why is your rIght speaker on your table always fallen?

Tuber Tube!

Your link dont link the actual product.

Steins;Gate Divergence Meter?

I made one myself at the local hackerspace! :)

Gazatron factory also is making them

Vacuum tubes are electronic components. Before solid state circuitry they were in everything.

Just a minor correction: There are many digital display technologies, and Nixie tubes are digital displays as well.

Nice. What about durability of these tubes? How long will these last?

Is it supplied by an AC Volts?

Didn't they use them in old Tv's in the 60'sand70's

Dont they burn out easily?

I saw you post this on instagram :)

They look good but burn out quick. Not ideal for being On 24/7

Steins gate

what is the power consumption?

Who is stein gates

You sound exactly like idubbz. Are you two related?

Is this what dying feels like?

I did it and my cat went to the jurrasic time

What is the exact model he has?

cool, very cool

that clock is cool... but wow $299.99!!!

Good times

How long do the tubes last