http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/ Food Living Outside Play Technology Workshop Lantern Clock by hellboy on August 22, 2011 Table of Contents Lantern Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Intro: Lantern Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Step 1: Finding the way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Step 2: Direction found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Step 3: The wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Step 4: Electronics, buttons and stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Step 5: Closing her up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Step 6: Here it is... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Lantern-Clock NIXIE LED
Oct 04, 2014
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
Food Living Outside Play Technology Workshop
Lantern Clockby hellboy on August 22, 2011
Table of Contents
Lantern Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Intro: Lantern Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Step 1: Finding the way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Step 2: Direction found . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Step 3: The wood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Step 4: Electronics, buttons and stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Step 5: Closing her up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Step 6: Here it is... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
Intro: Lantern ClockHello Allhere is my first Instructable, It’s a beautiful Nixie Lantern clock, A little steam punk and a bit Victorian, made up of mostly of found componentsI tend to communicate better when there is something to show so please look at the images and tags, they sometimes will hold more info than the body of text.Here is a parts list....-large slab of walnut 2" thick by 36" long and 12" wide-large slab of maple 1.5" thick by 30" long and 12" wide, both found on eBay-2" diameter clear acrylic tubing .125" wall about 12" long, any plastic store and eBay.-an assortment of gears and gauge faces / bezels, knobs and metal bits,- A nixie kit, I highly recommend a seller on ebay who goes under the name...petes_kits, here is a link... petes_kits,http://shop.ebay.com/petes_kits/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562 he has to my knowledge the only nixie prototypers board out there that gives the experimenter options of screw terminals, solder pads and designated nixie patternedmounts for leads, not to mention he always answers and is there to help you out.-you will need some basic electronic skills-a multimeter with a continuity function (prefer an audible function).-3 Blue leds-A mill and lathe for custom parts, machining skills are very helpful-lots of brass and aluminum-all sorts of hardware and locktite-12 conductor 28AWG ribbon cable-9VAC transformer, wall wart-assortment of gears, shafts and collarsand finally... lots of imagination.....
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
Image Notes1. done, has a glassy finish
Step 1: Finding the way
first step was to gather all your resources and mix and match, try to figure what works and which direction you are willing to head in.my original concept was to have each Nixie in it own chamber. but through trial Realized I did not want the clock to be lengthy.after finding the diameter i was going to work in, i made sure the 2 Nixie tubes would fit side by side within the acrylic tube, this required a custom circuit board to bemade to not only physically hold the nixies in place but to allow all the terminals to be easily soldered to, this also allowed me to place where I wanted the wires toterminate into the circuit board, out of site.for the circuit board you will need....-copper clad single sided circuit board material-etching solution http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/ER-3/DRY-CONCENTRATED-ETCHANT/1.html-circuit board transfer http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/TEK-5/TECHNIKS-PRESS-PEEL-PC-BOARD-KIT/1.htmlall materials were purchased here http://www.allelectronics.com/etch cut drill mount.....
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Image Notes1. nickle plated gauge bezels, got quite a few of them...2. one of the first setups, just playing around
Image Notes1. micro drill index and zero chuck2. etched circuit boards, drill them out and check continuity. used a band saw tocut the out and a sander to clean it all up, make sure that you include your outlinein your etching
Image Notes1. drilled out2. I designed it so all the wiring is out the back of the board3. nixies wire to these terminals. the underside is shown here, wire through andsolder, then snip the extra length
Image Notes
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1. 24 conductors will hide behind a photo etched panel. this is a rear view of thecircuit board2. the 2 nixies facing forward
Step 2: Direction foundfigured out all the components.the hub of the thinner gear was cross drilled and a steel shaft was inserted as the swing pivot (pic 2), same thing was done in the above attachment using an assortmentof gears and spacers, a woven wire protective sheath was used to hide the 24 conductor ribbon wire harness.Idea was to have the fixtures swing, have a friend who owns a yacht and the clock rocks perfectly with the motion of the ocean
Image Notes1. all the components of one fixture2. assembled fixture3. pair of nixies assembled on the circuit board with a long length of 24conductor ribbon wire
Image Notes1. upper gear2. swing pivot3. swing pivot, an assortment of gears, spacers and cams
Image Notes1. ribbon cable though colorful needed to be shrouded, found this woven cableprotection sleeve2. acrylic tube3. base circuit board4. gauge bezel nickle plated.each fixture requires 4
Image Notes
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1. large gear trapped by two nickle plated gauge bezels, acrylic tube is the exactdiameter of the gauge face so bezels srves as the mount for the tubes2. four of these hold the whole thing together. 4-40 brass pan heads throughbezels/ trapped gear to the opposites assembly times four3. another smaller thickness /pitch but same diameter brass gear, use the smalleron top and the thicker on the bottom,kinda gives it the correct visual weight
Image Notes1. brass hardware holding the nixie circuit board in place, front and back2. turned a few of these used for fixtures and
Step 3: The woodfound some great slabs of wood on ebay, bought some maple and walnut.I planned on sandwiching the two contrasting colors of wood.rough cut the shapes I needed, using a disc sander and a spindle sander I shaped the outside and inside curves.I registered and drilled some through holes common to all the slabs, Inserting all thread rods, with washers and bolts allowed me to mechanically tighten and physicallylock the slabs together so they can be mounted together into the mill and machined as one piece later to have the ability to disassemble and wire,components are temporarily mounted on pegs and posts and the clear coat process begins.make sure you are in a well ventilated spaceI brushed on 1-2 coats of clear catalyzed lacquer (cardinal), letting it all soak in. after it hardens start the exhausting sanding processbe cautious not to use a heavy grit, the rule is not to sand through your clear coat layers, if you get to wood you have gone too far.also be carefull not to let clear dropsharden, dont spray too heavy, to spray I used a cheap ($14) harbor freight HVLP spray gun and it worked as good as one of my Binks guns.I used 400 -1500grit through the sanding process.later used automotive polishes of varying grits, hand and machine buffed parts2 coats brushed- sand- spray -sand -spray -sand -spray -sand -spray -sand -spray- polish buff.very time consuming took me days to complete but the more work you put into this step the better it looks in the end.....keep it up
Image Notes1. templated2. rough cut walnut form3. maple form
Image Notes1. dogs holding the walnut to the rotary table. cutting the wire slot, making sureto mill far enough down so the electronic recess to be cut will intersect thusallowing the wire path to open to the electronics chamber2. love my bridgeport
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Image Notes1. all thread, temporarily locks the components together2. machined slots3. wire feed hoes behind pivot
Image Notes1. not a through cut, It would severely weaken the shape after the baseelectronics compartment is cut out.
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Image Notes1. outline based on the circuit board and additional space for wires. circuit boardto be mounted with clearance spacers, take these and the tallest component onthe circuit board and then a little more to determine depth
Image Notes1. cutting electronics compartment
Image Notes1. maple ends, small counter sunk holes will hold the brass button head finishhardware. piece will cover the large nasty all thread holes .2. wire slots and compartment visible
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Image Notes1. openings for the wires to enter the compartment.2. cut a recess to allow cover to sit flush when compartment is closed up, mycover is .125 thick, I milled to .1403. Electronics compartment4. when using clamps use wood blocks to protect the wood
Image Notes1. first layer catalyzed clear lacquer
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Image Notes1. 1st layer of laquer is brushed / soaked in be aware of drip ad thick spots, lotsof sanding ahead
Image Notes1. thorough sanding between clear lacquer coats, sand dry and between eachcoat... 5- 6 coats total then polish...whew
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
Image Notes1. done, has a glassy finish
Step 4: Electronics, buttons and stuffusing a 3mm led, each acrylic tube is edge lit, the fact the tube ends above the bottom of the bezel allows me to hide an led here (see pic).painting edges white allows for a uniform bounce for the light.make sure to insulate the led conductors due to the brass gear that sits above itgetting things together, here you start sorting and testing all the leads coming to the electronics compartment, using spacers for the circuit board, mounting the switches
Image Notes1. nice uniformed glow
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Image Notes1. white paint applied to both ends of tube to bounce light2. 1- 3mm blue led to be embedded here3. white paint
Image Notes1. hell2. switch block in the making3. petes prototypers board
Image Notes1. button assembly
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Image Notes1. snooze2. adjust3. set4. cherry Micro switches, hidden when mounted to the bottom of clock
Image Notes1. in its final position under the clock
Image Notes1. finding the final position for the foot
Step 5: Closing her upThe components are now together, using a multimeter check continuity from tube circuit board to wire end.circuit boards (seen in step 1 pic 4) have a lot of traces in a small are, each tube has 12 terminals, the old board i had from pete required all 12 wires to connect to theboard, his new prototype board has GREATLY simplified this, cathodes all tie in to the corresponding number cathode across the set of nixies for example cathode 1 tube1 connects to cathode1 on tube 2 and so on, only the anodes (6 one per nixie) have to be connected one by one, not that hard at all
in picture 3 you will see the three pairs of wires to power the blue leds used for tube illumination, since the clocks board has a power in range of 9VAC to 15VAC. I chosea 9VAC transformer, allowing me 3VAC per led, so I wired the leds in series and connected the two wires directly to the AC input jack. since with AC polarity isn't an issueat 60 cycles they illuminate the tubes perfectly....try and find an adapter with a 90 degree plug so you can drill and mount the power input plug facing down on the bottom cover plate.the cover plated can be any thing from plywood to fiberglass circuit board material, i chose the later.bear in mind the recess you milled this depth will be your materialthickness for the cover plate.
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Image Notes1. check the continuity of each terminal, you might need to make smalljumpers....use tape on the wire coming out the bottom to indicate thecorresponding nixie terminal2. using the multimeter, number these wires
Image Notes1. yes looks quite foreboding
Image Notes1. a visible screw terminals2. molex plug added to the switch assembly for easy removel3. 3 sets of wires (minus the 2 black ones center frame) are the conductors fromthe blue leds
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Image Notes1. me
Step 6: Here it is...this first picture is the correct color, in my other pictures tubes look a little more violet, this is due to the lit digits of the nixie and their contrasting orange color.Pete has included about 28 user settings, you can cycle through them using the adjust buttons, my favorites are the fading digits setting where all digits fade to the nextinstead of switching, the other is the slot machine function where user can set all digits to cycle every minute, hour or 12 hours..If you have gotten this far I thank you very much.and appreciate all your input.
Image Notes1. this is the correct color, in my other pictures tubes look a little more violet, this isdue to the lit digits of the nixie and the contrasting color
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http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
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Comments
26 comments Add Comment
mvieke says: Sep 15, 2011. 6:19 AM REPLYYou get my vote! Fantastic work
eXtremeSomething says: Sep 14, 2011. 1:45 AM REPLYThat is the best looking clock I have ever seen. I am really gonna look into making one now. If you couldn't tell I am quite fond of steampunk and this iscertainly that.
P.s. If you haven't already, you should enter into the clock challenge
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
hellboy says: Sep 14, 2011. 9:28 PM REPLY
Yes i have entered it in the clock challenge, and would appreciate all the votes i can get.Thank you for the kind words
eXtremeSomething says: Sep 15, 2011. 6:18 AM REPLYWell that goes without saying, good luck.
Conker-X says: Sep 14, 2011. 6:05 AM REPLY+1 on entering the clock challenge.
ZoDo says: Sep 15, 2011. 3:26 AM REPLYBest clock ever. Voted for you.
gweeds says: Sep 15, 2011. 12:50 AM REPLYWicked, love the glow!
MRCAB says: Sep 14, 2011. 11:24 PM REPLYNice one, bro.!
hhufalar says: Sep 14, 2011. 9:55 PM REPLYI'm happy to have seen it in person! it is truly pure awesomeness!
hellboy says: Sep 14, 2011. 9:57 PM REPLYThanks Hilda
FazJaxton says: Sep 14, 2011. 7:13 PM REPLYWow, Awesome! Reminds me of Zork. :)
cheezstake says: Sep 14, 2011. 4:10 PM REPLYThis is your first instructable?? This is one of the BEST I've ever seen. I wish I could make this.
jovolomo says: Sep 14, 2011. 4:06 PM REPLYvery nice!
pocketspy says: Sep 14, 2011. 11:25 AM REPLYI'd like to know if it is for sale or will be some time in the future.
marcos55055 says: Sep 14, 2011. 11:02 AM REPLYMy vote to the best project... thanks for the versatility.
ChrysN says: Sep 14, 2011. 10:45 AM REPLYAmazing and very unique, nicely done!
dimtick says: Sep 14, 2011. 10:13 AM REPLYReally Amazing!!Great Craftsmanship!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Lantern-Clock/
perez.orlando says: Sep 14, 2011. 9:46 AM REPLYOk so whats a good source for the lantern parts, bezel spacers etc. ?
mikeasaurus says: Sep 14, 2011. 9:01 AM REPLYthe colours make it really awesome!
buteomont says: Sep 14, 2011. 7:48 AM REPLYThat is by far the best looking clock I have ever seen. And I'm jealous of your Bridgeport.
richie_114 says: Sep 14, 2011. 6:40 AM REPLYWhoa. Gorgeous woodwork and creative use of the tubes. Thanks for sharing this awesome project!
killerjackalope says: Sep 14, 2011. 4:23 AM REPLYBeautiful, featured
Conker-X says: Sep 14, 2011. 6:03 AM REPLYI'm glad somebody did that.
>K<
kebmoore says: Sep 14, 2011. 4:17 AM REPLYThat, sir, is amazing!
Dream Dragon says: Sep 14, 2011. 3:44 AM REPLYI've seen some nice clocks and some cool steampunkish bits and pieces, but that is A-MAZE-ING! I want one!
Powered by PURE AWESOME!
I loose track of competitions and things but if it's eligible for anything you DEFINITELY should enter it, and let me know so I can come back and vote for ittoo.
Conker-X says: Sep 14, 2011. 3:42 AM REPLYOh, that is just a thing of beauty!
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