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I have been looking for reliable vacuum needle valve for a long time. It should not be to expensive, it should allow me to control the flow fine and not cost much. I tried glass system, cheap valves from China and more, but I was not satisfied with any of these. But as usually, Ron […]

The last part of the manifold was the pressure gauge, I had the 0-100 torr baratron, but no controller. The baratron needs supply of +15V and -15V. It gives linear output of 0-10V for 0-100 torr. So I build a simple power supply using two zener diodes (15V) and two 15Ω resistors. If You are […]

Just a short test.. The digit height is around 6 cm, voltage 400V, current limiting resistor 8kΩ. The needle valve is very very fine, it is possible to increase the pressure in the 10-2 torr scale, much finer than necessary for nixie tube work (tens of torrs)!

I finally made a progress in making my new gas filling manifold. I finally made it modular instead of brazing it together. I had really big problems with brazing the aluminum, I use the “Castolin 190 FB” solder and had to learn how to use it.. It is necessary to heat the aluminum sufficiently (approx. […]

I have just made first test with the glow tube I made yesterday.. It works, all seals seems to be vacuum tight, or at least good for my purposes (short-term test). It turned out that making the glow even along all the number is pretty difficult, I will have to form the anode grid flat […]

Finally! Something more like a nixie tube 😉 I made a test tube what will be possible to pump and fill with gas and than isolate by a glass high vacuum valve. I will test with it right pressures, gas mixtures, electrode distances and many many more.. Pictures of glowing numbers will follow soon!

I spent some time on the leak detector recently. There are two fans, AC 230V, one for the diffusion pump, one for cooling the electronic box. Both started to make loud noise, so I had to replace them. I was surprised that the new fans are absolutely identical to these original 30 (or how many) […]

I started to build gas filling manifold, the previous solutions were not satisfactory 🙁 This manifold should have these features: all parts brazed together (by AlSi compound) kf-25 flange connection baratron connection evacuation tube connection valve for fine control of neon valve for fine control of argon valve for fine control of vacuum, when the […]

I have just finished first chuck for the glass lathe. The last part – worm holder – turned out to be much more easier than I had originally thought. I just drilled a hole into U holder cut (laser cut), cut a half of the hole and got a groove for the worm axis. All […]

I started training glassblowing, the glass tube mounted in my metal lathe. It is not so easy as I had thought! Right flame, right temperature, right pressure on the glass.. Many aspects of the working with glass to learn.. By this simple project, I want to practise: Making the leak-tight stem Sealing the previously prepared […]