1
Apr
Numitron Tester
I found this great little RCA DR 2000 / DR 2010 tester on eBay. For $4.99, it was worth every cent. I cannot find much information on this device other than the markings on the markings on the device itself. ”RCA Numitron Digital Display Device Demonstrator 1g1308″
The controls are pretty simple – the knob controls the brightness and power. The switch has three positions. In the center position, the numitron counts through the digits. In the upper position it illuminates all of the segments of the display while in the bottom position, it only illuminates the decimal point on the display.
The power supply itself is odd. I cannot tell what type of cells it uses. The internal mechanism supports 5 cells that seem to be narrower and longer than a C sized cell. To make it work, I wired a 9V battery to the internal terminals. (Oddly, this thing draws so much current that a single 9V battery cannot actually power the device. As the display begins counting, it seems to reset at the 8 position. To get around this, I had to wire three batteries in parallel to support the load.)
Click to enlarge
25
Mar
Unknown Packard Instruments PCB
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 seems to be driven by an EL-RAD X72-333. There is also one AMD IC with the markings 930159x 7317 and a TI M 7523 SN7446AN. Read more
6
Mar
Segmentus clock concept
Segmentus clock (concept)
By Art Lebedev – $n/a
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/segmentus/
From the guy who brought us the Verbarius clock comes the Segmentus. (Is anyone else noticing a naming pattern here?) This concept clock was built to address the challenge of creating a digital clock with hands. While clocks have addressed this challenge before, this one brings the usual Art Lebedev polish to the final product. The only thing I want to know is how noisy would this be to operate? With dozens of little motors and mechanical parts, this might not be a clock that you would keep in your bedroom. Read more
10
Aug
MSM-5A Mosaic Readout Indicator
Note: this is a follow up from post: http://www.ineedcaffeine.com/content/2009/08/ebay-find-msm-5a-incandescent-display/
I received my MS-5a Mosaic readout displays from the Vintage Technology Association today. Not only did they include the two displays, but there were also a few other extras included as well. Nice work, guys!
The units themselves are rated for 3v, 50 mA but I can’t tell if that is 50 mA per segment or total. Powering them is simple, all you need is two AA batteries and a few alligator clips. The top set of fingers provide the common connection and the remaining connectors power the individual elements and the decimal point. Read more
3
May
Nixie, Numitron and VFD Tester
I am considering building the following tester based on my own design. I’d like some feedback:
Features:
- Clearly labeled inputs for power (VFD, Nixie and Numitron)
- On board batteries for Numitron power (no other power needed)
- On board batteries for the filament for VFD Displays (only +30v needed or 3 9v batteries)
- Outputs for up to 18 elements: should handle any type of display you will encounter!
- Buttons for each element to allow for testing of each element individually
- A black finish on the board with white silk screened text
- Fully assembled!
- Probably more as I go
Price: Est. $50. Read more
27
Apr
Display Tube Database
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
7
Apr
Matrix Cube Alarm Clock
By ThinGeek (OEM Unknown) $35
This is another gimmick clock but it is well executed and it looks nice. Each HH MM SS display is separated in to its own cube with the controls on the HH. They are teathered with a small wire and the whole device is powered via a mains transformer.
More…
20
Dec
E-ink watch concept / Tima Watch
by Julien Bergignat
This is a neat watch concept by industrial designer Julien Bergignat. The display looks sharper than any e-ink based display I’ve come across but the strong formal elements in this rendering make up for any criticisms I can come up with 
Given the flexible nature of this medium, I don’t see why something like this would be difficult to produce. It is functiaonally a braclet with an e-ink display wrapped around it. If one with sufficient resolution can be produced for the hands, I think this woud be easily produced. If Esquire can do it – why not a watch manufacturer?
Esquire example after the break:
18
Dec
A truly geeky clock (Epoch Clock)
Epoch Clock – By ThinkGeek (OEM unknown)
I love this clock. It is nerdy on so many levels but manages to keep a good formal arrangement. Who says geeks can’t be designers?
The Epoch in this case refers to the Unix Epoch (AKA POSIX Time) of 00:00:00 UTC Jan 1, 1970. Basically, computers count time as an integer starting at that time. That integer is converted to HH MM SS by the computer and then displayed in a human readable format. This clock displays the raw vale for the time. Additionally, this clock can display time in hexadecimal, octal, binary or roman numeral formats. I still can’t read roman numerals so I don’t think I will be using that one too much….
19
Nov
Cleaning the Apple Keyboard
Here is a short utorual I wrote a while back to document cleaning the older white and clear keyboard. This does not apply to the newer think keyboards Apple released in 2007.
I love the design of Apple keyboards. The clean while surface supported by clear plastic looks great. However, after a few weeks of use (and eating at my computer) the keyboard became quite dirty. After a while, the device became so dirty that I purchased a second one. Since I could sacrifice one keyboard to experimentation – I did just that.
I have managed to clean both keyboards several time with no ill side-effects so far. I can’t say that this won’t destroy your nice keyboard, but here are the steps I take. Read more