Category Archives: Neon

Neon Lamps Make For The Coolest Of Nixie Clocks

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Revisiting old projects is always fun and this Nixie Clock by [pa3fwm] is just a classic. Instead of using transistors or microcontrollers, it uses neon lamps to clock and drive the Nixie Displays. The neon lamps themselves are the logic elements. Seriously, this masterpiece just oozes geekiness.

Inspired by the book “Electronic Counting Circuits” by J.B. Dance(ZIP), published in 1967, we covered the initial build a few years back. The fundamental concept of operation is similar to that of Neon Ring Counters. [Luc Small] has a write-up explaining the construction of such a device and some math associated with it. …read more

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A Relay Calculator With DIY Neon Displays, Just Because

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This looks like one of those projects that started out as a glimmer of an idea and led down a rabbit hole. But it’s a pretty cool rabbit hole that leads to homebrew neon seven-segment displays on a calculator with relay logic.

It’s a little thin on documentation so far, but that’s because [Mark Miller]’s build is one of those just-for-the-fun-of-it things. He started with a bag full of NE-2 tubes and the realization that a 3D-printed frame would let him create his own seven-segment displays. The frames have a slot for each segment, with a lamp and current limiting …read more

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Relive Radio Shack’s Glory Days by Getting Goofy

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The Golden Age of Radio Shack was probably sometime in the mid-1970s, a time when you could just pop into the local store and pay 49 cents for the resistors you needed to complete a project. Radio Shack was the place to go for everything from hi-fi systems to CB radios, and for many of us, being inside one was very much a kid in a candy store scenario.

That’s not to say that Radio Shack was perfect, but one thing it did very well was the education and grooming of the next generation of electronics hobbyists, primarily through their …read more

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Flashing Light Prize 2018: This Time with Neon

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The Flashing Light Prize is back this year with a noble twist. And judging from the small set of entries thus far, this is going to be an interesting challenge.

Last year’s Flashing Light Prize was an informal contest with a simple goal: flash an incandescent lamp in the most interesting way possible. This year’s rules are essentially the same as last year, specifying mainly that the bulb itself has to light up — no mechanical shutters — and that it has to flash at 1 Hz with a 50% duty cycle for at least five minutes. But where last …read more

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Touch Sensitive Cement with Just a Dash of Neon

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For quite some time now we’ve seen people casting their own countertops and other surfaces out of cement. It’s a combination of mold-making and surface finishing that produces a smooth and durable surface at quite a low cost, if you don’t factor in damage done to your back when lifting the thing for installation.

This offering is a little bit different. [Elliott Spelman] built his own touch sensitive cement table top. When you place your grubby hands on the polished surface, a loop of neon lighting is switched on. This is thanks to a 4:1 mix of quick setting cement …read more

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