VFD clock (ends the world)
posted Dec 26th 2009 12:00pm by Jakob Griffithfiled under: arduino hacks
We honestly thought [Jason's] VFD clock was some form of new terrorist attack when we came across the RSS. Thank goodness our relations with Russia aren’t as MAD as they used to be.
The main components are an IV-18 VFD with a MAX6921 driver, which to an untrained ear do sound surprisingly threatening. However an Arduino settles our hearts down and assures us this only has as much potential as blinking a VFD. While the main code, schematics, and CAD aren’t available (open source coming to a theater near you soon) at the moment – you can check out [Jason's] inspiration, the Ice Tube Clock, which runs many of the same components.
Enjoy a video of it in action after the break. We love the ‘countdown’ feature the most.
[via Make]
ooh, nice! :)
Didn’t know they made VFD displays in this format.
Maybe use an old test tube and a display removed from a WEEE bin-condemned VCR?
You can still get the VFD drive chips (UFD58something) from CPC last time I checked, or perhaps salvage some nixie drivers from a defunct calculator or ancient geiger counter (typically the tubes go bad not the drivers)