I need some help.  I have a PCB that I can’t identify and I am hoping someone can shed some information on this. It is a Packard Instrument PCB from 1971.  It has the numbers 7100398 and 5065082 on the board.  There are 7 RCA DR-2110 Numitron tubes soldered to the fron and each one [...]

This is a follow up to my post on the Alco MSM-5a from about a month ago. This is an unexceptional mosaic readout display but the major differences, that I can tell, between this and the 5A is that this one is a little bit smaller, it cannot be easily disassembled and it includes a [...]

MSM-5A Mosaic Readout Indicator Incandescent Display taken apart and photographed

I just ordered a pair of Alco MSM-5A incandescent indicators from seller hp2114b on eBay.  In retrospect, I should have purchased all 5 so I could make a clock out of them.  The remaining 3 units sold out within half of a day after I made my purchase.  At $10/each, these things were very reasonably [...]

Looking for more information on Nixie Tubes, Numatrons, or VFD displays?  Do you want to buy a Nixie clock?  Check out TubeClockDB.com for all of the above.  This content was not a great fit for INeedCaffeine.com so I am slowly migrating over to the new site. http://www.TubeClockDB.com

I just added a few more photos to the tube database. New photos below.

I’m working on creating a database of all of my Nixie, Numitron, and VFD display tubes. Below is the preliminary table and all of the photos can be found here.  Please let me know what you think. Changes? Suggestions? Last updated 04-30-2009 added IV-17, IV-22, photos

Magic Eye tube demonstration via eBay/ $75 / sold by Vintage Technology Association I just found this great little gadget on eBay.  It is a demonstration kit for magic eye tubes.  At $75, it is a pretty good deal and it is from a reputable seller.  Check out the video after the jump.

By John Smout / Clock-It / Price Unknown I found this clock while searching for clocks to feature and reminds me a lot of the Verbarius clock.  It is a large VFD display that spells out the time and appears to be able to display other information.  Sadly, it seems that only four of these [...]

A clock so unique it has its own Wikipedia entry I found one of these clocks on eBay a while ago and shamelessly stole the images from it, from Wikipedia and from one other source (below.)  They are old VFD Matrix displays that have become somewhat of a collector item.  Since Wikipedia has a good [...]