Unusual / old tech displays

[0b01010011]

I have been working on building clocks from different display technologies - have already done LED, LCD, and VFD ones, and have a Numitron and OLED one on the way. Not a great fan of Nixie tubes so haven't gone there yet.

I know that mechanical displays like flipdot arrays and 'flip-segment' 7-segments were (and are on buses etc) still used but can't find many sources of these - apart from one guy selling the petrol-pump style 7-segments I can't see much else in the way of older displays.  I found http://www.flipdots.com/ but they are yet to get back to me about distributors etc.

Can anyone think of other display technologies that still available?

[coppice]

Flipdots were used heavily on buses until recently. New buses are using super bright LEDs (often with a dumb system that doesn't turn them down at night). I wonder what markets flipdots have left?

[RJFreeman]

The Minitron? (although I guess technically that is a smaller Numitron)
Then there were the light pipe displays, but these might not be available any-more as they weren't around for long.
and there is CRT of course.

[mikerj]

A laser projection clock would be pretty neat

[Alex Eisenhut]

A Charactron display or those giant round radar CRTs on the SAGE system would be awesome.

[0b01010011]

I have noticed they have just started going to LEDs on buses now as well - used to be all flipdots and large flip 7-segments but no more   Would love to know where all those flipdot displays are going though - I suspect it's the bin.

Minitrons are a DIP package Numitron I believe - Mike has some here http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/count.html#filament

I like the laser idea but I think a CRT will not have a great wife acceptance ranking.

[Fungus]

EL wire? El panels?

Spark generators?

[calexanian]

A Charactron display or those giant round radar CRTs on the SAGE system would be awesome.

My friends father designed and developed the Charachartron. The very first one sits on her display table. She has many interesting things on display at her business her dad worked on in the 50's and 60's for Heughs electronics and Convair. The people who made a lot of the sage systems.

[wine+dine]

There were plenty more designs around ... see e.g. http://w140.com/tekwiki/wiki/5031 or http://hpmemoryproject.org/wa_pages/wall_a_page_11.htm

[McBryce]

Lots of people have made some nice clocks from old Scope CRTs: https://blog.adafruit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/CIMG0004edit.jpg
Also you could make a spinning LED bargraph clock: http://www.red5.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/e/led-usb-clock-fan1.jpg

A little less adventurous: Clocks made using nummeric reels like this: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Digital-Wecker-Retro-Schatz-original-/171827832806?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item2801bca7e6 or flip numbers like this: http://www.ebay.de/itm/Philips-440-Radio-Wecker-UKW-MW-mit-Retro-Klappzahlen-Uhr-/111700614003?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_77&hash=item1a01e01b73

McBryce.

 

[Rerouter]

Contact local bus companies, expecially any you see driving around Volvo B7R coaches, they are reaching 20 years old, so by the hundred the buses are just being cubed around aus, meaning you would be free to get at the flipdot display and controller before it becomes another part of the cube,

[george graves]

Fire is always fun?  How about something with individual little flames?  Closest thing I can think of is this: 

....but in a 7 segment matrix?  You'd need to make it out of glass and metal or something (plaster?) and lots of pumps or valves.

[Muttley Snickers]

I recently went into a Subway food store for lunch and it was only when I went to pay at the cashier that I really started to drool over the HP VFD on the counter. This thing was huge and separate from the main register, will go back for a photo.


Muttley

[LukeW]

Those 20x2 HP VFD displays used on cash registers in shops are actually one of the most common, easy to obtain, low cost VFDs, if you want to find a VFD to play with. They're pretty easy to talk to, just serial.

[PA0PBZ]

http://www.rurbanlife.net/amazing-water-fountain-in-osaka-station-city-japan/
https://twitter.com/marcan42/status/610982254630666243

[amyk]

Flipdots were used heavily on buses until recently. New buses are using super bright LEDs (often with a dumb system that doesn't turn them down at night). I wonder what markets flipdots have left?

I've seen a lot of buses with bad LED signs - usually a whole row/column area is affected and is either permanently on or permanently off - might be the driver circuitry and not the LEDs themselves.

[richard.cs]

Filament 7 segments, edge-lit displays. The latter is very easy to diy.