No two words can turn off the average Hackaday reader faster than “Nixie” and “Steampunk.” But you’re not the average Hackaday reader, so if you’re interested in a lovely, handcrafted timepiece that melds modern electronics with vintage materials, read on. But just don’t think of it as a Nixie Steampunk clock.
No matter what you think of the Steampunk style, you have to admire the work that went into [Aeon Junophor]’s clock, as well as his sticktoitiveness –he started the timepiece in 2014 and only just finished it. We’d wager that a lot of that time was spent finding just the right materials. The body and legs are copper tube and some brass lamp parts, the dongles for the IN-12A Nixies are copper toilet tank parts and brass Edison bulb bases, and the base is a fine piece of mahogany. The whole thing has a nice George Pal’s Time Machine vibe to it, and the Instructables write-up is done in a pseudo-Victorian style that we find charming.
If you haven’t had enough of the Nixie Steampunk convergence yet, check out this Nixie solar power monitor, or this brass and Nixie clock. And don’t be bashful about sending us tips to builds in this genre — we don’t judge.
[Horatius], thanks for the tip.
That Los great – I like that style as long as it’s a bit more than gluing a few cogs to something
Yup, fails the glue some gears on it test. ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFCuE5rHbPA
Important things to remember: brass is (currently) 10% lead.
And car batteries are 99% lead, what’s your point?
Which brass? Brass refers to a family of alloys of copper and zinc. Some, like c360 brass contain lead (At 3%) typically to aid machinability. Others like c260 brass have only trace amounts (around 0.07%, it’s hard to get all the lead out) because the lead reduces the cold workability. I’m unaware of any brass that’s 10% lead.
Lead-o-phobia? So don’t chew on it — if it is some brass alloy with a significant lead content.
Whatever you do, don’t eat it — regardless of the lead content. And stay away from solder also.
Beautiful clock build. Also I misread the title and was very confused until I saw the L I missed.
Brass Clock with a Vintage Ook?
Why the inherent hate for Nixie tubes? I don’t understand. Do people hate zener diodes too?
That’s not hate. A lot of people will skip an article if they see certain keywrds or features.
Yet another case-mod, yet another LED cube, yet another Pi videogame emulator…
…yet another Nixie clock.
I think it looks fantastic, though the copper is too clean for my taste.
Bah! Don’t even _say_ the Z word!
With their smug little voltage drops, and always strutting around like they’re _so_ much better than the honest, hard-working “normal” diodes. Like a 1N4007 has something to prove? And their ziggley little circuit symbol?! Puh-lease!
1+
I think it’s just because if one starts pondering, “I’ve found some Nixie tubes – what can I do with them?”, usually the first thing that comes to mind is “I can make an old fashioned clock out of them.” It’s one of those things that can be a bit of a cliche, but it’s a cliche because the results can be great if done right. Such as with this build.
Clocks are the default low effort project when hackers encounter four or more numeric digit displays, and inexplicably anything that has an orange neon glow in an evacuated tube automatically gets shoved into a case featuring lots of wood, brass, and copper.
Interesting enough, you rarely see Nixie clocks in more period-appropriate cases. Where are the hammer tone sheet metal cabinets, rubber grommets, chrome toggle switches, and jeweled indicators?
I will take note of that last sentence. ;)
Yes, some people do, zenerphobes.
Niiiiice! It came out beautifully :)
H.G. Wells would be very impressed, it looks like something taken from “The Time Machine.”
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35