Nixie clock -- and other questions

[ophello]

Hi EEVbloggers,

I'm a newbie to electronics, but a long-time fan of Dave's videos. I watch them even though I have no idea what most of the components are or how they work. But I do love teardowns, so it satisfies that need for me.

I've become obsessed with the idea of making a Nixie clock, but the kind of clock I want does not really exist, nor can I find plans for one...at least, not with the physical features I want.

I don't really know where to begin on this journey of 1000 miles, so I thought I would start by asking some basic questions about my options, which are (I think) as follows:

1. Find a nixie clock kit and hack it to work the way I want using a painstaking process of trial and error
2. Hire someone to work with me in designing a circuit and PCB for me according to my specs and give me instructions on how to solder it
3. Learn all about the electronics from the ground up and basically start a new career in electronics engineering, and make this clock myself from scratch.

Option 3 is, frankly, off the table. Option 1 seems overly daunting, since I don't have the equipment, space, or time to devote to the electronics part (the case, however, is totally within my control).

So, I feel like I'm only left with one option: hire someone who knows what they're doing, get the parts, and be in charge of programming functions and performing final assembly.

Which brings me to another question: how much would that cost? I'm guessing the answer is "it depends!" which I am totally fine with. But I would at least like to get some basic ballpark figure in mind (or maybe someone is interested in doing this pro-bono, with the promise of their very own clock in the end). I do have a very specific list of features and physical requirements for this clock design, which I will share below.

Feel free to berate me with questions, concerns, or advice! I realize the sheer stupidity of dumping this idea here while admitting that I have zero background in electronics. My hope is to learn as much as I can in order to make this dream a reality.

Thanks in advance for your advice, insight, nerdy discourse, or newbie shaming.

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4-digit nixie tube alarm clock:

Four top-view circular matched nixie tubes
Blue LED backlights behind tube mounts
Built-in power supply
GPS time receiver
Piezo-electric alarm buzzer...or perhaps something more interesting?
1 alarm on/off switch
1 snooze button
1 pull-on rotary encoder

I'm not sure if that last part goes by another name, or what other options there are for it. Basically, I want a smooth rotary encoder that becomes active when pulled, much like how you pull out your wrist watch crown to change the time. I'd also like this encoder to have some ticks to it -- feedback that translates to one tick per digit increment. Basically, it's an incremental rotary switch.

Also, I will provide the function schematics and help to program these functions if necessary. I have a clear idea of what functions and features I want this clock to have, and also what features I don't want it to have. I'm going for simplicity here.

[danadak]

Google "nixie clock kits", many hits.

To hire someone at $ 50 - $70 / hour seems crazy unless you have really specific requirements.


Regards, Dana.

[BMack]

By far the easiest(using that term extremely loosely) way would be to hack an existing clock that checks all the boxes minus display and whatever you can live without. This wouldn't be cheap or easy, honestly, I'd drastically lower expectations. Dana is right, I charge $70/hr with a 2-hour minimum...and I wouldn't touch this. If you find someone willing to work on it they're going to want a big deposit and you'll dump a lot of money in a hole while they figure out how to get everything to work and create a package that is halfway worthy of the end cost. I'd be really hesitant if anyone offered to take on this task without seeing a lot of their work...there are a lot of people that can and will make big promises and take some big money from you but fail to deliver.

It certainly would be an awesome clock to see!

[Towger]

I built this open source Arduino clock project. It would be a good starting point.  Once built all your hardware changes would be soldering a gps module and and rotary encoder on to pins on the microcontroller.   Just check there are enough spare first.  Then hacking the existing code to support them.

http://m.ebay.ca/itm/6-Digit-Nixie-Clock-Kit-Easy-Build-No-Tubes-Open-Source-Arduino-/131740553919

[CJay]

PV Electronics offer boards that fulfil almost if not all of your requirements.

No connection with them.

pvelectronics.co.uk