chrisr's non automotive Nixie, electrical and random stuff barrying thread

[chris r]

Promptly put that Nixie stuff in the drawer with the other Nixie stuff and forgot it existed. 

I've been wanting to build a nice ish (not quite audiofool Barry spec) pair of speakers for a while. Mrs got me a set of speakers the diy speaker Barrys rave about. 

I've had some mdf kicking around for ages and was thinking about having a go at doing a veneer onto the mdf. 

Stated having a look around at veneers and had a couple on the short list. Decided kauri would be a nice colour.

Had a poke around on trademe and saw a kauri table for $1 reserve. Chucked a bid on and forgot about it 

Turns out so did every one else. Nearly 2 hour round trip and I've got my kauri 

Carefully dismantled it,measured it up and cut it into squares 

Assembled the squares into a box and somehow it all fit together nicely 

Cut some circles in the squares and a friend have them a tickle with the router 

And now after a few hours I've got enough leftover wood from the table to make a pallet 

Kauri sawdust smells amazing BTW 

[chris r]

The cat approves

Should look nice enough when done. 

 

[chris r]

Started sanding, immediately regretted it as it looks way better and means I've got many more hours of sanding to go to finish the rest 

That's the first round with 120 grit. Some barries say to go up to 600 or finer to really show the grain and detail but that seems excessive. 

I'm still deciding on which oil or stain to go for, leaning toward boiled linseed or similar as I cbf with varnish or urethane. Oils will most likely take just as long in the end 

[h4nd]

On 29/07/2025 at 21:40, chris r said:

So be I've no longer got night class I can use that brain power for projects and learning other stuff. 

I've managed to smash a couple tubes so had a look on ebay for replacements.

I've also been thinking about and other case/mounting structure for another project 

I've got a bunch of bases already but this caught my eye and was cheap enough and the seller combined shipping on this and some tubes. 

 

Just need to be patient and wait a few months for it to come from Ukraine

 

I also found a couple cool driver boards which can be controlled via arduino or similar so have some of them on the way also. Super simple to control (I just need to learn how to code) 

I've still got a bunch of 70s/80s era nixie driver ic somewhere in my hoard but have to dig them out. They are easy enough to control, just 4 inputs for the 9 digits on each tube. But that adds up Fucking quickly when using multiple nixies 

 

That lot looks like it's begging for a PCB to replace all those fiddly wires...

[chris r]

5 hours ago, h4nd said:

That lot looks like it's begging for a PCB to replace all those fiddly wires...

That'd be nice but it's above my skill set to design a PCB that'll work. 

And would still need to connect it to the driver board somehow or get REALLY good at PCB design and make it so ita

[tortron]

15 hours ago, h4nd said:

That lot looks like it's begging for a PCB to replace all those fiddly wires...

Maybe some r3liable economic blue LEDs too?

 

 

Think of the purity!

[chris r]

Blue led under nixies can gtfo imo. Not in this household 

[Thousand Dollar Supercar]

But it makes them modern and high tech! 

My nixie clock is still going after nearly 11 years. I have it set to power the tubes only at times when I'm typically home and awake.

My valve radio has been less successful. I've replaced the capacitors which take the ripple out of its DC power supply several times now, and for the most recent replacement I finally used a higher voltage rating. This stops the 50Hz hum, but the radio's tone is still fairly unpleasant and it soon starts doing random fits of loud crackling. I guess I need to replace all the wax paper capacitors too. Unfortunately the motivation has reduced - Gold Sport, the last AM radio station playing western music, switched from classic rock to modern country .. I hope they know that was the final nail in the coffin for valve radios. 

[chris r]

Completed a new more hour of sanding. That's all done to 120 grit, still a few marks and blemishes to get out. Then more sanding 

[chris r]

2 hours ago, Thousand Dollar Supercar said:

But it makes them modern and high tech! 

My

Yeah true, but you don't have led headlights a laptop and a link in the jaaagg to make it more modern 😜 

[chris r]

Pva and the angle brackets have been the most exensive part of this box so far

fucked arouund with brackets, screwing and gluing the box toghether this afternoon. Dropped it midway through so had to start again

Cbf with finding a sealant and waiting for it to dry so shoved some sound deadner stuff on the back.

Scored some wool stuff from my mate, was for packaging or something but ti'll do as damping material

Didnt think through attaching the wool to the side, I've smeared glue on it and have hoped for the best. 

I realised after assembling the first half I had the side pieces on the wrong way. Oh well the old dowles are now a feature on the front

All clamped together waiting for glue to dry

Nice compact "bookshelf" sized speaker

 

[chris r]

I twisted and taped it onto the little amp I've been using for the existing computer speakers and I'm happy with how it sounds. I'm not enough of a audiophile to notice or care about the kauri wood warming or cooling the sound stage or how the wool adds to the depth of the vocals or whatever they say. 

It sounds good so I'm happy, now to spend another couple of days sanding, routing, planing and oiling so they look good. 

I soldered the amplifier stuff together and rand some test wires. I'll need to make a box for that as well. 

Temtped to go similar style to that clock but will see how the mood takes me on the day 

 

[chris r]

Here is a link to the Speakers I used if you want to go down that rabbit hole 

[chris r]

Assembled another box 

Attacked them with a belt sander with not very much success. Good for bulk material removal but leaves ugly marks where I ran out skill and the belt split 

Sanded one face with 120 and smeared some filler on the other. 

Will get more sandpaper and continue sanding 

[chris r]

I found a pre made enclosure /box for the amplifier gubbins. It was the right price (found in the scrap bin) was a old transformer enclosure but transformer is long gone 

The transformer, power supply and amplifier boards all fit relatively well inside that footprint. It's way too tall but that's a easy fix with some careful marking and a cut off wheel.

I'll see how I feel about it once it has been shortened and I've got switches etc mounted. 

[chris r]

Let the sanding mission begin 

That's 5 sides to 120 grit. Need a bit more filler in some spots and more sanding. I ordered some tung oil which arrived the other day. Should really do a test piece on a offcut first but probably won't as I've already got the tin of oil and may as well use it 

[chris r]

Nearly 4 hours sanding later 

That's all sides sanded to 240. I was going to hand finish the edges but got lazy/impatient and wanted to oil them 

I don't hate the dowels that were meant to go on the back but I durped and forgot about 

[chris r]

Went to bring them inside to dry and promptly knocked one onto the concrete 

Ffs

Turns out I did have to hand finish the edges after all 

Didn't get all of the dents out but it's less noticeable now 

Sat the Speakers in for a indication of how it'll look 

I need to finish sanding the vent ports but that can wait until I'm in the mood for more sanding. 

[chris r]

The lighting inside just doesn't do it justice. 

Found some brass and made a couple of plates for the terminals 

Was getting ready to install the speakers, Durped and managed to dent a cone which ripped my undies. 

Not tooo noticeable and thankfully doesn't sound shit so I'll have to get used to it 

[chris r]

Amplifier time 

I thought about making a kauri box to match the speakers but found a transformer box in the scrap bin so used that instead 

The heat sinks need to be electrically seperated from the body. I found and some plastic sheet in the bottom. Drilled and tapped for the heat sink brackets and the circuit board stand offs. Butchered a hole for the 230v socket 

Mounted the transformer on the back of the box. 

That's about when my cable management caring ran out 

Mounted the pre amp board and wired it in. Connected the 230v stuff in. (yes the metal case is bonded) 

I attempted to keep the ac /power  wiring across from the audio stuff to try and minimise interference 

Attempted to cut the same plastic for the rca inputs but the saw shit the bed and made a curved cut. It's on the back so it'll stay curved. 

Had a shit time soldering one of the rca jacks in got it too hot, swapped it with another one and all is good again 

Not exactly a compact setup but sounds good so I am happy