int {UH MN acuaqfttt HN ( Pt.2: Design by DAVID WHITBY Last month, we gave some of the history of Nixie tubes and described the design of the NX14 clock and its circuit. This month, we give the assembly details and describe the optional blue LED up-lighting which we think that most constructors will definitely want, together with the attractive see-through Perspex case. ir two current limit hi x 60mm, The upper PCboard is coded NX14U. and holds the six Nixies and their id current limiting 1 p king the boa ) che siliconchip.com.auron: a- ioe ES Se oe CC SE EEEEEGES PSECECEECESEREEEE CE s/o TORS CONRIECT SEWER} INES PADS ANDSIONS AQNG OMTGr [OWEEBOATO) 1-044 AL 2N6517/19SAda/MFSAAD) ESCEGEEEEC ESE 5 BEB Peers Thitite HE Fig.1: install the parts on ‘wo PC boards and run the wiring connections as shown here to assemble your Nixie clock, Note that the six blue LEDs for the optional up-lighting (ie, LEDs 1-6) are installed on the rear of the top board - see photo. Switch S1 and the 1F supercap ¢ installed on the rear of the bottom board, fas bridged tracks or blocked plated- through holes, begin by installing all 17 resistors in the board Before soldering the resistors and cutting their pigtails, double check thal you have the right values in the right holes. If you are unsure of any of the resistor values, double check them with adigital multimeteras the colour codes can be difficult to read Next, install the three diodes and the zener diode. These are all different, so take care to place them in the correct positions and with the right polarity. D3 (1N4148 or 1N914) and ZD1 will be inssmall glass packages while the other twoare in black plastic encapsulation ‘These might look the same but they are siliconchip.com.au not! D1 is acommon 1N4007 1A power diode while D2 is a UF4004 1A high speed switching diode, for the high frequency HT power supply. Make sure you read the labelling before you install them. Ifyou get these mixed up the HT supply may not work at all or it might got very hot. The three small plastic TO92 tran- sistors can go in next and once again, these are three different types so take caro to place each of them in their correct positions. It is particularly easy to mix up Q46 and Q47 which are mounted next to each other in the HT supply area, Q46 is a BC397 and {goes nearest to the edge of the PC board ‘while Q47 is a BC327 which goos next to it but faces the other way. Don't fit Qa5 at this stage. It's the same type as used on the upper PC board; it could be a 2N0517 or MPSA4z or MPSA44. Similarly, the only other transistor ((Q48 ~ IRF740 power Mosfet) is not installed at the moment. This disables the “bitey” HT generator until after the clock DG sup- plies and circuitry are tested, It’s not good idea to have 200-280V around while testing the CMOS clock circuitry and handling the board! Next, fit the small non-polarised capacitors. Those are the three small rectangular MKT capacitors (Ink, 47nF and 100nF) and asmall 100pF ce capacitor near the crystal oscillator (IC. AuGusT 2007 73Pe es bee Coa 7), They're all fairly straightforward — all you have to do is to get each value in right place. Next, fit the oscillator trimmer capacitor, VC1. It’s not polarised but should be installed with its metal screw slot going to OY, for stable ad: justment with a metal tool. ‘he last of the small components are the small 32.7 68kHz watch crystal (X1) and the two test-point pins behind IC7. Now install the larger component ‘arting with the diode rectifier bridge (BR1), Take care to match the markings with the PC board component overlay. Install the power socket (CON 1) and 74 Siuicon CrP Take car switches $1, $2 and $3, making sure that they are all pushed all the way into the board before soldering. Th fit the four electrolytic capacitors which are polarised and must go the right way around. The CMOS ICs can go in next, start- ing with tho six 4017s (ICs 1-6), the 4060 (IC7) and the 4013 (IC). Double- check the orientation of the ICs before Note that IC7 and IC8 face in the opposite direction to IGs1-6 Sovers not sol dered in until the main power supply Istested. These are the MC34063 (ICO), 1, the 1F supercap, $1 (the blue LED solderin ‘omponents aro ‘The lower board carries the power supply, crystal oscillator and all the dividing/counting circuits. to ensure that all polarised parts are correctly oriented. switch) and the previously mentioned Que. Testing the lower board Itdoesn't matter ityou dothis before or after you assemble the upper PC. board. After thoroughly checking the board to ensure that you have every- thing in the right place, connect the lead from the 10V AC plugpack into the powersocketon the done, measure the DC the OV test pin and the “+’ rectifior BR1. This should be between 11V and 14VDC, depending on the AG mains voltage. ‘The underside of the lower board carries switch S1 and the 1F supercap. i) 5 > amy bor ey siliconchip.com.au‘The upper board carries the six Nixie ‘tubes, the two Neons and the 44 segment Griver transistors. Make sure the Nixie tubes are seated correctly before soldering their leads, Next, check the voltage between OV and pin 16 of IC7 ~ it should be between 5.4V and 5.5V. Ifall is OK so far, check that the crystal oscillator is working. IF you have an oscilloscope or frequency counter, look for 32.765kHz at the test point. Otherwis multimeter. look for 2Hz,(5V) on pin 3 of IG? or 1Hz.on pin 13 of IC8 (on an analog meter you can see the pointer flicking at these rates). This will con- firm that all is well up to the input of the clock counter/dlivider chain, Ifyou do have a frequency counter this would be a good time to sot th oscillator to exactly 32.768kHez The only simple way to test the counting/dividing circuitry is with the display in the finished clock so now you can fit the remainder of the HT supply components ~ ie, IC9, 1, the 1F supereap, $1 (the blue LED switch) and Q48 The HT supply With the HT components installed, wire the supplied coloured leads to the board. A 22kQ 3W test resistor will be supplied in the kit to make tosting the HT supply safer. Connect this temporarily between the red HT wire and the blue OV wire, Be careful: the HT is around 220- 230V DC! This can give you a strong shock if you come into contact with , so don't handle or work on the project when the plugpack is con- nected to the PC board. Wait at loast two minutes after disconnecting the siliconchip.com.au power for the 4.711F 250V capacitor to discharge bofore handling or working on the board. So having taken all care, connect the power and measure the HT voltage. It should be between 200V and 230V DC across the 22k0 test resistor. If all is well, then remove the power, wait two minutes and fit the 1F supercap and the blue LED switch S1 (ifrequired) to the undorside of the PC board. ‘The 1F supercap is polarised, so take care to getit the right way around. The markings are sometimes not ob- vious ~ the negative lead is the one that is folded over from the metallic patterned side of the capacitor. A self adhesive pad will be supplied with the supercap for insulation and spacing Its terminal pins need to be soldered on the underside of the PC board, Si, the blue LED switch, is also mounted under the PC board but sol- dered from the top side. ‘This completes the construction of {1] Complete NX-14 kit wth frished meta baseplate (does not include housing or blue ED upleting components: $179.0. (2} Diecast aluminium housing: $33.00 in plain Fish ready fr polishing or panting, $545.00 supplied powder coated (shoji whit) (3) Transparent polished Perspex housing: $64.06. (4) Blue LED uplighting kt: $19.00. (6) 10V AC plugpack supply: $14.50, the lower PC board so now let's move on to the upper PG board. The upper PC board Asbefore, solder in the resistors first ‘There are six 68KE2 1W, two 330K 1W and two 1800 0.25W resistors (if the blue LEDs aro used). Incidentally, the 1W resistors are used not because we need their power rating but because of their higher voltage rating (the HT can exceed the voltage rating of lower ‘wattage types) After the resistors, fit the 44 high voltage transistors, which may be 2N6517 or MPSA42 or MPSA44 types. All have the same pinouts and all mount with their lat side parallel with the righthand edge of the PC board. To make a neat job of fitting the transistors use a piece of stif, flat shoot material such as cardboard, larger than the PC board and temporary spacers made from two 3mm x 8min scrows and nuts (supplied in the kit). Fit (8) Sartor esi or 12 0¢ pron: 4.50 Spare 1N14 Nixie tubes: The NK14 Nate Clocks also avalble uly buit and ested. Erqures to: Ges Aco, 7 Lyonsile Ave, Preston, Vc 3072. Phone {03} 9442 3991; 0403 065 374, Ena glesstron@msn.com Note: the PC board patterns fortis project are copyright to Gless Audio, Avevsr 2007755 “The top and bottom boards are fastened together via 25mm spacers, with the 44 27KO resistors strung between them, The bottom board sits on 10mm spacers. the screws from under the PG board through the two mounting holes clos: est to the Nixie tubes and fasten with the nuts, Place all the transistors as far as they will go into the PC board in the irection shown on the component overlay and using the flat sheet to hold all the transistors into the PC board, flip the PC board and sheet over so that the board is upside-down, supported by all the transistors and the spacer screws, Carefully solder one outer lead on each transistor and then you'll be able to lift up the PC board without any transistors falling out. Straighten any wonky transistors before finishing the soldering and cutting their excess pigtails. Then re- move the temporary screws and nuts (the 3mm screws are used in the final assembly) You can now fit the two noon tubes to their appropriate positions on the board (N1 and N2). Their height above the board is up to you but as they represent full stops around the bot tom of the Nixie digits, they should be nounted about 8-10mrn above the surface of the PC board Neons are not polarised but do operate from a high enough voltage to warrant short lengths of spaghetti 76 SiicoN CHP insulation over the wires feeding down tothe PC board, At short lengths, their wires are more than strong enough to have them stand up without any other support. Fitting the Nixie tubes A significant part of the visual ap- peal of the clock is the alignment of the Nixiotubes themselves. Having six Nixies at different heights and/or an- gles certainly would ruin the impact. First though, you have to get the Nixie ‘wires into their respective holes. That might seem easy but in fact, it's quite difficult. The bost method involves cutting the leads first First straighten the leads as best you can and then locate the anode lead. This has @ grey/white coating on it, inside the glass envelope. Hold the tube with leads facing you. Leave the anode lead uncut and then go- ing clockwise, cut each lead 3-4 mm shorter than the ono before it until you have cut 12 leads, The result will be a spiral pattern of ever decreasing lead length Now fit the tube to the PC board by inserting the anode lead (the long- est) into the hole marked 1, which is closest to the resistors. You can ther simply push the tube down allttlo un- til the next lead reaches the PC board surface and place that in the next hole. Continue working around until all the leads are in. This method also works ly if the white plastic bases have come offany of the Nixies (you'll need to put the base back on before putting the Nixie on the PC board!) hen the tube is in place, hold it firmly down onto the PC board surface and as vertical and straight as possible bofore soldering the leads. Solder the anode lead and one directly opposite it first, check that the tube is still vertical and then solder another two at right angles to the first. Don't solder any ‘more until all the tubes are inserted and soldered the same way. Now check the tubes for alignmon with the PC board and with each other. With only four leads of each Nixie tube soldered so far, itis easy to straighten the tubes by unsoldering the appropri- ale lead and then gently adjusting tho tube position by hand. When all tubes are correctly lined up, your can solder the rest of the leads. Fitting the blue LEDs ‘Tho blue LEDs are optional but they give the Nixie clock real charactor siliconchip.com.auThis rear view of the unit shows the three pushbutton time-setting switches, the DC power socket and the on/off ‘switch for the optional LED uplighting. LEDs poke up through the upper PC board from underneath, through the white Nixio bases (which have been drilled to suit) and rest against the bot tom of the Nixie tubes themselves. The LED leads are bent into a very broad “U" shape as shown in the pho: tos and the leads are soldered to the copper side of the PC board, Beca they clear the board by 2mm or so, we didn’t bothor insulating the loads, except those which go above inductor Li. Here we used some short lengths p insulation. The LEDs are a friction Ait inside the white Nixie bases so no further support is required tic wi Inter-board connections Apart from the 44 resistors connect- ing the two boards together, there are four PC board inter-connecting wires to be soldered into place. The LED power wires (Iwo of them) connect to the bottom board next to the LED switch and to the top board at the back right corner (see the component overlay). These must be long enough to allow comfortable soldering while the two boards are still disassembled ~say about 80mm long, The other two wires, marked siliconchip.com.au “CONT” and “HT shorter but must also be long to solder, The “CO! jomm long, the “HT” wire about 70mm, The two PC together using four 25mm hexagonal ss which have male (external thread) and female (internal thread) ends, The female end goes towards the top PC board and is held in place by on the overlay, are nough wire can be boards are fastened Peony tube are cut into a spiral Prrroirerey ed ome sons ‘one into the PC board. ‘a. 3mm round-head screw, while the male end passes through the bottom PC board, where an 8mm internal thread spacer screws onto it, The lower end of this 8mm spacer sits on the clock case bottom and is held in place by a 3mm countersunk-head screw from the outside of the caso. Don't put the case bottom on just yet because you need to solder the resistors in place. Make sure that the upper board is ust 200777Here's how the optional blue LEDs are fitted to provide the up! LED leads clear of the Nixie tube solder joints and be sure to insulate the two wing ~ see text, leads shown with plastic sh oriented so that the Nixie tubes are jowards the buck and the two rows of transistors are towards the front. Ori- entation of the lower PC board is moro obvious — the switchos and power socket are all toward the rear, This ‘means that the resistor holes on the edge of the upper board line up with the row of slots on the lower board. Now you get to solder the row of 44 27k metal film resistors between the two boards, It is not as hard as it Tooks due to the slot and hole design on the PC boards If you are Perspex case for the clock, take extra care and get the row of resistors as using the transparent are fitted with short lengths of spaghetti insulation to insulate their lead: 78 Sic ing. Keep the straight as you can and all in line for best appearance, Start at one end with the first resistor, by feeding one lead up into the end hole from under the upper PC board. That done, contralise the resistor between the boards and solder it in place on the top board, from above Drop the other resistor lead into the slot on the lower board then bend the ead down over the board and solder and cut it. Using the first resistor as @ guide for position, continue to fit and solder all the other resistors in the That completes the electronic as- sembly of tho clock. All that’s left is to scrow it to the base with 3mm countersunk head screws and after testing, fit the case according to the supplied instructions. Separating the boards Ifyou havea problom and you need to check or change any of the com- ponents on either PC board simply Tomove tho screws from the upper PC board and gently open out the boards until tho components are accessible. Time-setting The three time-setting buttons at the rear of the lower PC board are: left stop, centre (S3) slow and right fast. If you overshoot by a little when iting the time, the Stop button can frecze the display until the moment itis correct: se siliconchip.com.au