Vacuum Tube Clock Kits

How about a clock made out of glowing Russian fluorescent vacuum tubes?

They look groovy. They’re retro. And not everyone has one.

Yes, you too can own such a clock.

But you’ll probably have to build it yourself, because such unique clocks can almost certainly not be found in normal stores.

There are also several different kind of Vacuum Tube Clocks that you can build. We’re going to show you two different kinds of Tube Clocks in this blog post. (So don’t rush us, OK, Junior?).

The first are known as Nixie Tube Clocks. Nixie Tubes are technically not vacuum tubes, but they are very similar. So what’s a Nixie Tube?

This is what the innards of a Vacuum Tube found in a Nixie Clock look like.

Nixie Tubes are glass tubes which contain a wire mesh anode and several cathodes. Usually the cathodes are shaped into different numbers (or letters), and the numbers are all stacked in front of each other.

There is also a wire mesh wrapped around all the cathodes. This wire mesh is called an anode. (See the diagram image above, duh!)

Finally, neon mixed with other gases (including a small amount of mercury) is used to fill up the tube containing the cathodes and anode.

When an electric current is applied to the area directly in front of one of the cathodes displaying a number, the gas covering that number dissipates a bit, resulting in a glowing orange light surrounding the number. Though the tubes are filled with gas they’re not technically vacuums (as aforementioned)…ahh, but who cares?

The entire atmosphere of a Tube Clock is of something high tech and old-fashioned at the same time…somewhat quaint and definitely more than a little “steampunk” in nature (look it up, Junior).

Translated: Tube Clocks are friggin’ cool.

A Nixie Tube Clock looks like this in action:

If you’re interested in owning your own Nixie Clock, you can either purchase one ready made via this online shop or else purchase a Nixie Clock Kit and put one together yourself.

Another kind of Vacuum Tube Clock is called the Ice Tube Clock.

Unlike the Nixie Clock, this clock must be assembled…there is no option to purchase one that’s been already made for you.

You have two different options here regarding making one of these. You can research the open source documentation on the subject and then go out and separately acquire all the clock-building materials that you’ll need and build it yourself. Or you can purchase a ready-made kit that contains everything in it that you need to make a Vacuum Tube Clock, other than a soldering gun and a bit of dexterity.

For the true geeks in our audience, making one of these will be no problem, because there is ample documentation here that you can even download that’ll show you, in great detail, how you go about building an Ice Tube Clock. But, if you’re a wuss, go ahead and purchase a complete kit that will probably make it much easier for you.

Some of the features of the Ice Tube Vacuum Tube Clock:

It has an alarm function!
A vacuum fluorescent tube in glowing blue and with 8 digits, a PM dot and alarm on/off indicator
The brightness and alarm volume are adjustable
The clock uses a precision watch crystal to keep the time with up to 0.002% accuracy
Clear acrylic enclosure
Battery backup that will keep the time on the clock for up to 2 weeks without power
You can choose from a 12 hour (AM/PM) or 24 hour (Military Time) clock display
There’s a button that will show you the date and day of the week when pressed
A snooze function (although these are evil)
You can use a simple power adapter to run the clock with any country’s power system
Open source hardware and software that you can adapt to your needs