Nixie Clock (2017)

Back in 2007, I hopped a $1 bus from Chicago to Indianpolis to visit my IRC friend Kevtris. His place was filled with electronics projects and hacked video game consoles. One of the projects he showed me was a clock he built using nixie tubes, weird glass tubes that displayed selected numbers inside using high voltage. I knew I wanted to build one too.

Building your own nixie clock seems to be one of the geek rights of passage. Unlike Kev, I wasn't going to hand-wire all of the electronics, instead I found a PCB board that someone already designed and fabricated. That just left soldering, finding the actual nixie tubes and building the encosure.

Nixie tubes are no longer produced, but were easy to find on ebay. These ones came from Ukraine in very good condition and I also purchased a second set of tubes from the same seller. Nixie tubes don't last forever unfortunately, eventually they dim and then burn out.

Like most of my wood projects, this one used offcut walnut pieces from my shop and was finished with tung oil.

As of writing this (2025), the clock is still running and keeping decent time. Switching to daylight savings time is a hassle, so it always stays on summer time. So far only 1 tube has been replaced.