Six Tube Clock with IN18

Designed by Claus Urbach, and built from a kit available from www.nixieclocks.de, this clock is comprised of two PCB's: a 'clock PCB' (here V1.06) with PIC and high voltage power supply components, and a 'Tube board' (here V1.08B) to which the nixies are mounted. The two boards sandwich together. The perfectly machined alu KLOK K7 case comes from Mike Mayberry.

Front view of the finished clock

Six tube in18 clock, front view.


In more detail

The pictures below show the two PCB's, and how they're mounted in the case. The black wire, seen below, connects to a DCF77 receiver which automatically sets the time and date. There are 66 mouser pins used on the Tube PCB to socket the nixies.

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The two status LED's look through cutouts in the bottom plate.


Close-up View

Six tube in18 clock, closeup view.

IN18 nixie digits are 40mm high by 18mm wide, very clear, and beautifully shaped. With the K7 case, I think this clock is a real stunner. From version 6 software, the date is shown for 5 seconds every minute, and a tube-save feature, can switch off the tubes at a selected time to extend their life. The Russian IN18 tubes look great, but like most nixies they are becoming rare, so a tube save function is sensible.

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