In the mean time, I've been thinking of doing another project. I've made a board of ideas, and the one that's been top of that list for a while was a nixie tube clock. If you've never seen one before, you can see what I'm thinking of here and here.
Being poor, I can't afford the expensive pre-made ones, but they look awesome and I really do want one for the living room, so I'm going to make one instead!
I'll get to do a little more electronics work which is exciting, I'll (hopefully) get a cool looking clock at the end of it too.
My main list of requirements are:
- 6 tube clock (HH:MM:SS)
- I don't want buttons on it, or manually have to set it, it should just sync with a timer server online
- Run self-tests to make sure the tubes are all good at are start up.
- Because of requirement 2, it'll have to involve something connected to my wifi to control it - so a raspberry pi or arduino - possibly a CHIP?
- Run on a standard 5v usb supply (I have lots of these)
- It needs to look nice. I am thinking scavenging an old broken vintage radio, or using a joiner friends workshop to make something out of a decent bit of wood.
Optional extras might be:
- Voltmeter or gas discharge tubes to display temperature / humidity readings (so sensors too)
- Because we'll have a scriptable system with sensors attached, I'd like to be able to store a log of these readings against time - so I can look at historical trends.
I need to do some research, and work out what parts I'll need to build this thing, once that's figured out I'll post something new up going through what parts I think I'll need to order and what they are.
