The ultimate 6-tubes clock

Based on the 4-tubes design (described here), I have created an ultimate 6-tubes nixie clock, and 3 different PCBs.
  • One PCB with the tubes in the front

  • nixie_front

  • One PCB with the tubes in the middle

  • nixie_middle

  • One PCB with 2 connectors, for socketed tubes

  • nixie_connector

The clock firmware has been enhanced too, and it is now even more versatile. Amongst the features, it supports
  • 4 or 6 tubes
  • high-voltage set in software
  • tubes with or without decimal point
  • each tube gets its own brightness / fading / value
  • each tube setting can be set at any 1/64th of a second on a weekly basis...
  • multiple effects, such as cross-fading with different speeds, blinking effects, rotate, shift, etc...
  • IR receiver (optional)
  • DCF77 (optional)
Since the microcontroller had a few pins left, they are brought to a connector for possible extension (digital or analog). The PCB is smaller than 160x50mm, so you can fit 2 PCB on a standard 160x100mm board.

6 clocks have been made, and are running fine for over a year now.

The hardware has evolved from the previous design : double-sided PCB (made by Olimex), as small as possible with through-hole components. The FET is now driven by a dedicated chip, MPC1402 from Microchip. The later takes less space than discrete components, and is even cheaper. The FET remains cold at all time. It's a traditionnal 3x2 multiplex clock, using 2 74141 drivers (actually, their Russian equivalent). The amazing display is obtained by clever software, running in a PIC18. The latest design uses a PIC18F2420, because the 18F2321 was getting too small for the code (all written in assembly for speed and size).

nixie_mid_checkplot

An album with many pictures can be found here. The complete design (software, CAD files) is found in the download section. I am happy to answer eventual questions. Email me !