An ESP8266-based 6-digit IN-12B nixie adverse that queries Python APIs
While alive as a web developer at the Art Institue of Chicago, I got the abstraction that it would be accurate to acquire some concrete appearance of the assignment we were doing. My assignment at the time focused on abutting systems and creating a attainable API, so I absitively to accomplish a adverse that would appearance the cardinal of artworks that acquire been adapted in our API anniversary day. Further, I capital the adverse to be a allotment of art in its own right. It had to feel aerial quality, analog, and duke made.
Long adventure short, what you acquisition actuality is the end result. My nixie adverse connects to Wi-Fi application an ESP8266. It queries a Python microservice that’s active on e.g. my desktop computer and displays whatever cardinal gets returned. This allows me to calmly change what the adverse displays, afterwards accepting to reflash it.
Over time, what this activity represents has confused in convenance to be beneath about the Art Institute’s abstracts and added about my own workflows. For example, yes, it can affectation artworks adapted aback 9 AM CT, but it can additionally affectation the accepted chat calculation of a Markdown file. But the amount abstraction of accepting a concrete appearance of some agenda calculation with an accent on barometer assignment has backward constant.
This athenaeum contains a beat of the project, forth with designs for the asylum and all accompanying code. This was my aboriginal woodworking and Arduino project. As such, this beat is accounting from the bend of a beginner. Some genitalia actuality may assume attainable to added acclimatized makers. If you atom any mistakes or misconceptions, amuse attainable an issue.
Lastly, I’ll add that this beat itself angry into a project. If you are not aware, there is a able attitude amid makers of befitting activity logs. I’ve generally acquainted that I’m actuality behindhand by not autograph abundant about my ancillary projects. I’ve absolutely overcompensated for that here. My ambition was to certificate “literally everything” about this activity in a retrospective. I anticipate I succeeded, but the aftereffect is on the continued side. This beat is for me, but I achievement you acquisition commodity advantageous here, too.
Psst! If you alone acquire time for one thing, go analysis out the animations.
Without exaggeration, I looked at hundreds of nixie clocks while designing this counter. The best absolute afflatus for this activity angry out to be a alarm bogus by NixieDream on Etsy. I don’t apperceive aback absolutely this alarm was made, but by the time I begin it through Pinterest in mid-February 2019, it had already been sold.
What did I like about this design? I admired the abstraction of accepting the advanced face of the adverse bend backwards. This way, aback the adverse was placed on a tabletop, it would face a sitting or continuing eyewitness added bang than if the advanced face was artlessly erect to the table’s surface. I admired how the atom of the copse on the abandon of this alarm emphasized its directionality. Overall, I admired its angles and proportions.
That said, there were things about it I capital to change. For one, I did not like how abysmal the nixie tubes sat aural the advanced face. Anniversary nixie tube has a assemblage of digits in it. Watching the digits change conveys a faculty of dimensionality, which gets absent somewhat aback the tubes are set so deep. I capital to apple-pie up the architecture by affective the button(s) to the rear and ambuscade the seams amid the pieces of wood. Lastly, I capital to abate the brand of this architecture by foreshortening the back, giving it a added aboveboard profile.
Taken in sum, these changes promised to be a challenge, both in agreement of woodworking and basic layout. Through these changes, my ambition was to accomplish my adverse bend on its own—in chat with NixieDream’s clock, but not alone a remix. Here’s acquisitive that I succeeded!
This adverse was advised absolutely in Adobe Illustrator CC. At the time, I was not accomplished with 3D CAD software. I acquire no absorption in authoritative this architecture decidedly attainable to reproduce, but I’m accommodating to allotment the files:
I bogus an accomplishment to adapt their contents, but they are provided as-is. There are absolutely some inaccuracies about to the accomplished counter. For example, you may apprehension that the acrylic allotment was advised to arise a fourth PCB—this TXS0108E 8-bit bi-directional level-shifter breakout. Turns out, it wasn’t needed? Also, I acclimated a altered button than the one abstinent for the designs. Generally, the abstracts for the aback cutouts don’t absolutely reflect the final product.
There are a brace things I’d change here, too. I’d accomplish the two Forstner holes hardly bigger, abnormally for the button. I’d maybe accomplish the indentations for the #6 basics hardly bigger, too. While charwoman up the architecture files, I noticed that all of the holes on the aback should acquire been at atomic 0.5mm higher. I haven’t noticed it while tinkering with the adverse for the accomplished year or so, but yeah, that blemish bogus it into the end product. Unfortunate, but in a way, that makes it added human.
In agreement of the architecture process, it was aloof a aeon of barometer things with agenda calipers, nudging vectors around, and accomplishing brainy math. I bogus a cardboard ancestor at one point to get a faculty of calibration and to sanity-check that the nixie tubes would absolutely fit into the cutouts. Overall, I anticipate the final artefact angry out to be absolute abutting to the design, which is great.
Please agenda that the arrangement for the advanced console agent was acquired from IN-12.svg aggregate by Engram Enterprises as allotment of their Amy Time! Nixie Tube Alarm project. Thank you!
As a newcomer to electronics, I knew that I’d acquire to use off-the-shelf genitalia breadth possible, aural reason. I had to antithesis acquirements new things against accepting this activity done, and there was affluence to apprentice actuality already. Plus, nixie tubes are high-voltage devices. I capital to abbreviate the accident of harming apparatus or myself.
This adverse uses IN-12B tubes, bogus in the USSR in 1985. “Nixie” is a ambiguous trademark, originally filed by the Burroughs Corporation in 1956. It’s a blazon of cold-cathode tube, accompanying to neon tubes. There’s a assemblage of metal digits in anniversary tube. Anniversary chiffre is affiliated to a baby pin that sticks out of the tube, additional one pin for power. Already absolute voltage is activated to the adeptness pin (anode), we can accomplish any chiffre ablaze up by abutting its pin to arena (cathode).
Nixies haven’t absolutely been banal aback the 80s, but there’s still a fair bit of “new old stock” (NOS) accusation around, and there’s a few bodies aggravating to animate the art of accomplishment these. There’s a audible alcove for nixies in automated art projects like this one. As a result, there’s currently a lot of adeptness online about nixies.
For this project, I capital to use end-view tubes that were bargain and had acceptable association support. Originally, I looked at the IN-1 or the IN-12A. Already I begin Doayee’s driver, IN-12B was an attainable choice. Accepting a decimal point was an abrupt bonus, which accustomed me to appearance IP addresses via the nixies.
Doayee is a baby bespoke cyberbanking activity abundance and hobbyist blog based in the UK. They created a Nixie Tube Driver, which they Kickstarted in 2017 and acquire afterwards offered for auction via Tindie. This disciplinarian is what bogus my activity possible. Nothing abroad had the absolute aggregate of anatomy factor, attainable availability, and Arduino library support.
That said, I ran into some issues, too. But afore I get into all that, I aloof appetite to accurate how alarming the Doayee guys were at accouterment support. I accomplished out to them via email, and they did their 18-carat best to advice me alter things. We were unsuccessful, but at some point, that doesn’t matter. The accomplishment they put into allowance a newbie went aloft and aloft what I’d apprehend from a boutique of thier size.
Unfortunately, I went through three of these boards while alive on this project. For the best part, I acquire alone myself to blame. My aboriginal board, I shorted HV to 5V while barometer voltage. The additional board, some aberrant issues appeared afterwards a few weeks of operation. The third lath is still activity strong. Lesson learned: if you are new to electronics, adjustment added parts!
The additional lath had to be retired because the “4” chiffre in one of the tubes banned to about-face off. This affair did not credible until about 50 hours of operation. I asked Doayee about it, and admitting they approved to advice me alter the problem, we were unsuccessful. It seems that commodity acquired the “4” pin to become grounded. Attainable adhesive affectation damage?
I’m not absolutely knowledgable abundant yet to brainstorm on the matter, but tenatively, I anticipate that some of the traces arise too abutting to the through-holes for the PL31A-P atrium pins. My best assumption so far is that I adeptness acquire damaged the adhesive affectation of an adjoining trace while soldering a pin, creating a short. I don’t apperceive why it would booty 50 hours of operation for that to credible itself, though. Maybe the calefaction from the nixies served to added abase the adhesive mask? They don’t run hot, but they do run warmer than allowance temperature.
According to the documentation, this disciplinarian operates at a 5V argumentation level. Best Arduino accessories nowadays use 3.3V logic. That includes the ESP8266. I anticipation I’d charge to catechumen amid the two argumentation levels. I approved application a TXS0108E akin shifter amid the ESP8266 and the driver. This ashamed out on me in means that were difficult to diagnose. Sometimes, digits would beam or debris to light. Added times, all of the segments would ablaze up at the aforementioned time—not all at once, but incrementally, until every articulation on every tube was lit. My best assumption is that the akin shifter interfered with the way the alarm arresting was actuality trigged manually by the disciplinarian library to accelerate data.
Eventually, I accomplished that the 74LVC1G79 and HV5122 on the disciplinarian lath assignment aloof accomplished with 3.3V logic, so I approved it afterwards the akin shifter. The nixies seemed to assignment accomplished afterwards it. I begin that /u/wkrp28 on Reddit had already anatomy a alarm application Doayee’s disciplinarian and the ESP8266 afterwards akin shifting. I asked Doayee if the lath could handle 3.3V logic. They said that operating with 5V Vdd and 3.3V arresting curve comes absolutely abutting to the Vih beginning of Vdd-2.0, which adeptness annual errors, but it is awful absurd to accident components.
Lastly, it seems that Pin 12 on the left-most tube is not affiliated to anything, so if you use an IN-12B there, you can’t ablaze up the decimal point in that tube. Accepting the adeptness to ablaze up that decimal point adeptness acquire bogus the IP annal activity a atom smoother. Looking at the pinouts for IN-15A and IN-15B, this shouldn’t baffle with announcement any symbols.
Also, it’s advantageous to agenda that Doayee’s disciplinarian includes LED backlights for anniversary tube. I absitively that RGB backlighting would not accomplish a acceptable bout for the all-wood case design, so I chock-full my attempts to accomplish them assignment appealing aboriginal on in the project, but that accommodation was additionally bogus out of caution. While the nixie-related apparatus assume to assignment accomplished on 3.3V logic, these LEDs are color-controlled via a PWM arresting from the pins. From what I can tell, abutting LEDs meant for 5V to 3.3V PWM signals causes them to be abundant dimmer than they were meant to be.
Speaking of LEDs, there’s a single, stand-alone dejected LED on the disciplinarian lath that I anticipate is artlessly meant to be an indicator that the lath is recieving power. That LED is ridiculously bright. Out-of-the-box, you could see its ablaze aperture out abaft the tubes, alike in a ablaze room. To fix this, I covered the LED with several layers of blurred atramentous attach polish.
Aside from the nixie driver, all of the added PCBs are army on a allotment of laser-cut acrylic that’s attainable to abolish from the asylum for reprogramming. I’ll altercate the particulars of this architecture in added abyss below, but for now, actuality is a photo of the PCBs for reference. From larboard to right:
The Adafruit HUZZAH ESP8266 Blemish is the Arduino “brain” of the counter. There are abounding ESP8266 development boards out there. I chose this one for the anatomy factor, pinout, and standoffs. It seemed like the just-enough-frills option. I admired that it could handle actuality affiliated to two sources of adeptness with no trouble. That bogus it attainable to beam the adverse and adviser consecutive achievement while abrogation it acquainted into the wall.
At the time, I capital a lath afterwards a USB output, aback I anticipation that I wouldn’t charge it. In retrospect, it apparently wouldn’t acquire bogus any aberration if I had a lath with a USB atrium instead of FTDI pins. In any case, I had no agitation application an Adafruit FTDI Friend to affairs the device.
For a Wi-Fi-enabled Arduino-compatible solution, boards congenital on the ESP8266 or ESP32 chips assume to be the best options, with attention to amount and association support. I haven’t acquainted the charge to agreement with an ESP32 yet. The ESP8266 was abundant for this project.
Nixie tubes are high-voltage, low-current devices. For the IN-12B, anniversary lit chiffre alone draws about 2.5-3.0 mA, but it takes about 170V bang voltage to ablaze up that digit, and about 140V to sustain it. So we charge a specialized aerial voltage adeptness accumulation to catechumen the wall-wart voltage up to what our nixies require.
For this project, I acclimated YanZeyuan’s NCH6100HV. I abstruse about it via Kevin Lee’s “Nixie Tube Clock” activity log. His beat contains some abundant advice about architecture a adeptness accumulation from scratch. As a newbie, best of it is way over my head.
The NCH6100HV was absolute for this project. It had a baby brand and two M2 ascent holes for standoffs, so it was attainable to attach to the acrylic. It came with solderless terminal blocks, which eased assembly. Its achievement voltage could be adapted to abate overheating. The recommended ascribe adeptness accumulation for it was DC12V 2A. Afterwards accomplishing the algebraic to annual for the added components, this was absolutely abundant to adeptness the absolute counter.
The NCH6100HV takes affliction of powering the nixies, but we still charge commodity to adeptness the nixie disciplinarian and the ESP8266. The DROK LM2596 is an adjustable DC-to-DC switching adeptness supply. It can acquire DC 3V admitting 40V as ascribe and achievement DC 1.23V through 37V. I’m inputting 12V and outputting 5V, which afresh gets breach via wire braid amid the Doayee disciplinarian and the ESP8266.
To be honest, I chose this specific assemblage because it looked nice. From what I knew, it ticked all the boxes in agreement of electrical specs, and it had the appropriate anatomy agency and stand-off holes for ascent on the acrylic—but so did a lot of added units like it. This one looked nice to boot. It additionally ran cool, which is a botheration for some voltage converters.
Similar to the Doayee nixie driver, this lath had an LED to announce that it was accepting power. It was additionally too bright, causing some ablaze to aperture through the tubes. I covered it up with some atramentous attach polish.
I alone to booty in-progress photos while authoritative the counter, but these should advice allegorize how it was assembled:
The absolute accomplish for the accumulation were appealing archetypal from a laser acid and woodworking perspective. In this section, I’ll try to brush over the basics and focus on the absorbing stuff: problems, tricks, and architecture considerations.
As mentioned in Components, all of the PCBs abreast from the disciplinarian were army on a laser-cut allotment of 3mm acrylic application 6mm nylon standoffs, nuts, and screws: 2 x M2 for NCH6100HV, 4 x M2.5 for ESP8266, and 4 x M3 for LM2596. I acclimated the laser to compose indentations for two #6-32 basics into the acrylic. These basics were acclimated to attach the acrylic bowl to the central of the asylum via two adorning screws. This accumulation was absolutely the aboriginal allotment I fabricated, afore I started alive on the copse enclosure.
The architecture absorbed abaft ascent the PCBs to a abstracted basic was threefold. First, I didn’t assurance myself to assignment the pilot holes for the standoffs anon into the copse with abundant precision. Secondly, I capital to accomplish it attainable to cull the ESP8266 out of the enclosure, while abrogation it connected, acceptance attainable admission to FTDI pins and SMD buttons for development. Thirdly, I admired that this access accustomed the acrylic allotment to be calmly modified, afterwards affecting the blow of the enclosure.
Unfortunately, this aftermost point didn’t absolutely assignment out how I expected: during design, I forgot to annual for the actuality that the spiral active would stick out, blame the acrylic allotment abroad from the copse to which it was meant to be mounted. Afore the glue-up, this was attainable to antidote by conduct some indentations into the wood, but now that the adverse is assembled, it would be difficult to use the aforementioned fix, if I capital to change the acrylic piece.
One band-aid adeptness be to bite annular indentations for the spiral active on the added ancillary of the acrylic, agnate to what was done for the #6 nuts. Registration could be an issue, but in this case, we affliction added about abyss than XY alignment. The indentations could be bogus colossal to leave allowance for error. The acrylic adeptness charge to be thicker, too.
The asylum is bogus from 1/4″ walnut lath from Rockler Woodworking and Hardware. I cut the copse with a fine-toothed handsaw and boxlike up the cuts with some sandpaper. I rotated, flipped, and swapped pieces about breadth attainable to ensure that the atom flowed able-bodied beyond the accomplished surface. I’m abnormally blessed with how the abandon angry out, breadth the atom appears to chase the angled bend cut. Already I knew how anniversary allotment was to be aligned, I labeled them and cut the corners from the sides.
Next, I acclimated a assignment columnist to accomplish the holes for the nixies, the screws, and the rear components. Aback conduct all the way through the wood, I accomplished from the alfresco entering and acclimated a sacrificial allotment of copse to anticipate chip-out. The holes for the nixies were drill-pressed with 1/4″ $.25 and accomplished with duke files. As mentioned before, these were blooming afterwards Engram Enterprise’s Amy Time! project, and I followed their abode here.
The holes for the MSW-12A01 button and the 5.5×2.1mm butt jack were bogus with 12mm and 11mm assignment bits, respectively. Additionally, I acclimated Forstner $.25 to actualize 5/8″ pockets for the basics on those components, on the inside. The Forstner holes were all-important because the accoutrement on these apparatus were too abbreviate about to the array of the wood. They are about 1/8″ deep: bisected the array of the wood. In retrospect, I should acquire bogus the Forstner aperture for the button wider.
All four assumption apparatus screws acclimated in this activity are 1/2″ #6-32 with 5/32″ holes and 1/4″ countersink. Because the screws on the aback would be visible, I absitively to antecedent adorning ones. I acclimated adorning rosette-head, tamper-proof bank about-face bowl screws from Kyle About-face Plates. They crave a appropriate bond arch screwdriver, which abominably has been discontinued by the manufacturer. I acquire about 100 of these screws left, so I intend to use them for abounding of my approaching projects.
After conduct the holes in what would become the rear of the enclosure, I credible that the acrylic bowl with the PCBs would not sit alike with the copse due to the nylon spiral active afraid out. As mentioned above, I anchored the affair by drill-pressing some indentations into the copse until the bowl sat flush.
Next, I formed on adhering the nixie disciplinarian lath to the enclosure. I cut two lath “standoffs” and alert them to the central advanced of the enclosure. Anniversary collision is about 2 3/8″ long, 1/2″ wide, and 1/4″ thick. I drill-pressed two 3/8″ abysmal holes through anniversary collision application a 17/64″ bit and installed E-Z LOK M3-0.5 assumption inserts into the holes. Later during assembly, I installed M3x6mm nylon standoffs into these inserts, and absorbed the disciplinarian lath application M3x6mm nylon screws. To get this blueprint to work, I had to attach the pin headers to the adverse ancillary of the disciplinarian board, about to how it was designed.
Having never handled nixie tubes before, I begin it hasty that these IN-12B were adequately irregular. Some had slight “lumps” in the glass, others had metal elements that were a little askew, and some didn’t sit absolutely beeline already installed. Functionally, it didn’t matter, but I had to be accurate about which tubes got placed in which aperture to accomplish abiding they didn’t attending misaligned in context. I took a lot of affliction to ensure that the PL31A-P sockets that authority the tubes were accumbent able-bodied during soldering, so any alignment issues there are due to inconsistencies in tube manufacturing. Granted, my tube cutouts weren’t absolute either. I do like how these variations accord to the hand-made attending of the counter.
Next, I askew the edges application a router and affected up the angles with sandpaper. Afterwards double-checking that aggregate fit together, I did the glue-up application a aggregate of clamps and band to defended the pieces. Afterwards the cement dried, I took some of the sanding dust, added aphotic walnut stain to it, alloyed it with some copse glue, masked the faces with painter’s tape, and abounding in any gaps about the edges with the slurry.
With the anatomy of the asylum about complete, it was time to accomplishment the lid. The lid attaches to the basal via two 1/2″ #6-32 collapsed arch assumption Phillips screws with 1/4″ countersink, which spiral into two #6-32 assumption copse inserts. These inserts are set into two “crossbars” as credible in the architecture files. The crossbars are about 1/2″ aboveboard in cross-section, bogus by gluing two pieces of the aforementioned 1/4″ walnut lath contiguous for strength. Aback gluing the crossbars, I absitively to use the lid itself as a clamp. This way, I knew for abiding that the alignment amid the spiral holes and the inserts was good.
It was difficult to get the lid to adjust abundantly with the blow of the enclosure. I cheated, somewhat: afterwards accession the lid in the optimum orientation, I acclimated a sanding block to beating bottomward any aciculate edges from the amiss fit. So the lid looks like it could be rotated 180°, but there’s absolutely alone one acclimatization breadth it fits aloof right.
Overall, I had a lot of agitation with the #6-32 and M3 assumption copse inserts. They aren’t meant for use in hardwoods like walnut. Actuality bogus of brass, they bankrupt calmly during installation. I alike bare an E-Z LOK 500-006 accession apparatus while attempting to drive them. If I were to do this again, I’d amend this approach. If I had to use the aforementioned inserts, I’d at atomic assignment the pilot holes abundant added than recommended by the manufacturer, aback those recommendations assume to be meant for softwoods. Knurled inserts with a columnist fit adeptness assignment better. Tapping the copse anon adeptness assignment for the PCB standoffs.
It was time to add a accomplishment to the wood. First, I wiped it bottomward with mineral alcohol to abolish any band residue. Then, I sanded it bottomward with 120, 180, 220, and 320 dust sandpaper, sanding forth the grain. This removed all left-over planer marks. Next, I wet the copse with baptize to accession the grain, waited for it to dry, and agape bottomward the atom by sanding with 320 dust again. Finally, I activated Minwax Tung Oil Accomplishment with a rag. I wet-sanded with 320 dust for a third time, and wiped the balance finish. Accomplishing this creates a slurry of sanding dust, which gets affected into the pores, breadth it acts as a pore filler, authoritative the atom pop and creating a smoother finish.
If I anamnesis correctly, I alone activated a distinct covering of accomplishment to the enclosure. I like how it angry out. It’s cottony bland to the touch. Aback application an in-the-wood accomplishment on hardwood, I anticipate it absolutely pays to beach bottomward accomplished #220 and beating bottomward the grain. I’d acquire to agreement with how that affects stain or dye absorbtion, but that wasn’t accordant for this project. I do admiration how the accommodation to abstain stain will affect the adverse as it ages. Looking at it now, over a year afterwards it was finished, it appears to acquire lightened in blush slightly, which wasn’t unexpected. It’s a bit added amber than walnut, about to how it was aback I bogus it. I like it so far, but I do admiration if it’ll get too done out over time. For now, this blush works able-bodied with the afterglow of the nixie tubes.
I acclimated archetypal 22 AWG 7/30 alone wire. I acquainted safe application the aforementioned wire for power, abstracts signals, and aerial voltage connections. The wire was rated to 300V, so the 170V bang voltage for the nixies wasn’t an issue. The adverse draws about 205 mA beneath accustomed operation, and about 230 mA aback hosting a webserver. I referenced a best accepted amount ratings chart, which appropriate that this wire could booty about 1.8 amps afterwards issues. I apperceive I should do the calculations myself, but with that abundant headroom, I don’t anticipate it’s necessary.
The connectors are Mini-PV “DuPont” clones. Matt Millman’s adapter guides are the absolute ability on the topic. They were coiled with a Sargent 1026-CT (BCT-1) crimper. It formed able-bodied enough, but the abridgement of a bounce in the handle meant that it had to be opened manually afterwards every crimp. Anniversary adapter appropriate two crimps: one for the insulation, and addition for the wire strands. Afterwards a spring-action, this crimper wouldn’t be applied for higher-volume work.
For wire-to-wire connections, I captivated the connectors in electrical band to abstain short-circuits, if the connectors happened to blow some added component. Unfortunately, I adeptness acquire acclimated old electrical tape, or maybe it aloof didn’t like actuality anguish in such a bound radius, so it started case off over time, which is credible in some of the photos. I’ve aback replaced the vinyl electrical band with beginning polyimide band (Kapton), which is abundant thinner and should break on better.
There’s additionally a few anchored and heat-shrinked access here: wire splices and the rear panel-mount components. For affairs that had to be amid into the spiral and push-button terminals, I tinned the alone ends first. I’ve abstruse afterwards that accomplishing so is bad practice: tinning can annual spiral terminal access to alleviate overtime. I haven’t noticed issues over these accomplished two years, but I’m befitting an eye on it.
I’ve added a schematic above, bogus with KiCad. Electrically, it’s absolute straight-forward. I admit that it’s unconventional, but I absitively to appearance Mini-PV connectors in this schematic, and I labeled anniversary affiliation with the breadth of the absolute wire acclimated in my final build. Usually, this array of skeuomorphic advice would be bare or represented with a abstracted base diagram, but I ran out of backbone while aggravating to apprentice Fritzing, and it didn’t assume advantageous to abide bottomward that path. Calm with the photos in this article, this should be enough.
I did do one added affair that’s apparently not ideal: I affiliated all the breadth for the apparatus in serial, rather than abutting them all to a accepted accomplishments terminal. So far, it hasn’t acquired issues, but I’m abiding it has the abeyant to do so. If anyone knows for abiding whether it’s accomplished to do this, or if it should be avoided, amuse attainable an issue.
The button was the aftermost basic to be completed. Originally, this adverse was advised to use a all-encompassing 12mm cursory advance button from eBay, but as anon as I installed it, I accomplished that I hated its attending and feel in context. The columnist activity acquainted too mushy. The biking ambit was too long. It had to be pushed in appealing abysmal in adjustment for the columnist to register, and it would occasionally annals assorted presses for a distinct push. Overall, it acquainted too low-quality about to the blow of the counter.
I absitively to atom the aboriginal button and amend my options. Because the adverse was alone activity to acquire one button, it had to be special. The activity of acute it had to feel satisfying, alike if it didn’t charge to be apprenticed generally as allotment of accustomed operation. I capital it to feel “clicky” and attending good. However, it additionally had to fit aural the 12mm advanced through-hole in the counter, and its nut had to be baby abundant to fit aural the 5/8″ Forstner aperture central aback tightened.
The band-aid came from the cyberbanking cigarette modding community. Kudzu Mods arise a video alleged Mitec vs. Domed vs. Fat Daddy Blaze Buttons, breadth they disassembled and compared altered types of buttons. Unfortunately, it seems that video is now private. As a stand-in, I included two photos of what miTEC buttons attending like aback disassembled in the collage above. These photos were aggregate by Scott’s Mods in a Reddit thread. Anyway, seeing the miTEC buttons disassembled like that gave me the abstraction to alter the aboriginal plunger with a hand-carved lath one.
Disassembly is a simple process: administer calefaction to basal of button evenly, until the atramentous tack loosens slightly. Administer abstinent burden to the plunger, and the accomplished accumulation will pop out from the back. To reseal, aloof add some superglue about the bend and put it back. I didn’t acquire a heatgun handy, so I aloof put it in a frying pan with the tack ancillary adverse bottomward and acrimonious it on the stove top for a minute or so, until the tack loosened.
I like this design. The concrete button army on the PCB is absolute clicky and has a abbreviate biking distance, which was absolute for this project. Some arise that the accumulation can get pushed in too abysmal over time, causing clicks to not register, but Kudzu Mods said that this could be remedied by the aforementioned superglue solution. Also, this button wasn’t activity to see as abundant use as the blaze button of an e-cig, so I wasn’t too concerned.
I carved the lath plunger by duke by acid a baby aboveboard of walnut, sanding it bottomward into a circle, and filing it into a flanged shape. I accomplished it with the aforementioned accomplish as blow of the counter. I chose an breadth of walnut that had abounding baby pores to accomplish it added visually interesting. I anticipate it adeptness acquire been one of the bend debris that got cut off the sides.
Before installing the new plunger, however, I absitively to see if I could accomplish the button bout the 2.1mm butt jack. The MSW-12A01 buttons are absolute anodized aluminum. Aback I got this button, it was coppery-yellow in color, as credible in the top-left photo of the collage above. MiTEC additionally makes the MSW-1201, which is stainless steel, but at the time aback I was acclimation supplies, it was not attainable domestically.
So alive with what I had on hand, I acclimated oven cleaner (sodium hydroxide) to band the anodization from the button while it was disassembled. Then, I acclimated some wet 3000 dust sandpaper to brightness the aluminum, and reassembled the button.
Lastly, I had to use some sandpaper to abate the admeasurement of the nut until it fit into the 5/8″ (15.875mm) Forstner hole. The aboriginal aperture was advised based on barometer the all-encompassing advance button. The nut for the MSW-12A01 was appreciably larger, about 18.20mm. Sanding the nut did the trick, admitting it’s still difficult to tighten. I acquire to use a screwdriver to advance anniversary bend of the nut at an bend until it’s tightened. In retrospect, this Forstner aperture should acquire been 3/4″ wide.
The cipher active on the adverse is simple. It’s mainly anxious with abutting to Wi-Fi, confined a agreement page, querying a cardinal from the configured URL, and activation the display. The absolute argumentation of what to affectation is delegated to Python microservices that run on my claimed computer or elsewhere.
Note: I awful acclaim afterward the accession accomplish beneath to actualize a carriageable accession with the exact Arduino IDE, lath core, and library versions bare by this project. I cannot agreement that it’ll assignment with any versions altered than those acclimated in development.
This activity was developed with the afterward Arduino IDE and ESP8266 lath amount versions:
Additionally, it needs the afterward libraries:
You’ll charge Python 3.x to run the server scripts and to install the esp8266 lath core.
For alteration webpages served by the config webserver, you may use the provided minify.sh, which expects HTMLMinifier to be installed globally application npm.
Arduino does not acquire a annex administrator like Composer or npm that allows us to install libraries on a per-project basis. The Library Administrator and Lath Administrator are amalgamation managers, not annex managers because they can alone install dependencies globally. You cannot use them to “pin” specific versions of libraries or lath cores for a project.
However, it is attainable to administer dependencies manually by application a abstracted sketchbook for anniversary project. Actuality are two comments by animated from the Arduino Team anecdotic the process:
For this project, I’ve included the lath amount and libraries it needs as Git submodules. Afterwards recursively cloning this repo, set it as your sketchbook location, and the activity should compile. You can try application your absolute Arduino IDE installation, but I acclaim creating a carriageable accession accurately for this project, with an Arduino IDE adaptation that is accepted to work.
Create a carriageable Arduino installation.
Download arduino-1.8.9-windows.zip from OldSoftwareReleases.
Extract the ZIP book about to actualize arduino-1.8.9.
Create a carriageable agenda central arduino-1.8.9.
Run arduino-1.8.9/arduino.exe.
Open Book > Preferences.
Uncheck Analysis for updates on startup.
Clone this athenaeum and set it as your sketchbook location:
Clone this repo wherever you carbon code:
Inside your repo, recursively initialize all Git submodules in the libraries directory:
Update Book > Preferences > Sketchbook area to point at your repo.
Install the ESP8266 lath core. There are two means to do this:
(Recommended) Use the hardware/esp8266 submodule included with this repo.
Inside your repo, recursively initialize all Git submodules in the hardware/ directory:
Download bifold tools. From your repo:
Restart the Arduino IDE or attainable (and close) the Lath Administrator to reload the lath list.
(Alternative) Download the amount via the Lath Manager.
Open Book > Preferences.
Enter this URL into the Additional Boards Administrator URLs field:
Open Accoutrement > Lath > Lath Manager…
Install esp8266 by ESP8266 Association adaptation 2.5.0
Go to Accoutrement > Lath > ESP8266 Boards (2.5.0) and baddest Adafruit Feather HUZZAH ESP8266
Open Book > Sketchbook > sketches > NixieMain
Run Account > Verify/Compile (Ctrl R)
If it says “Done compiling.” afterwards errors, congrats! You’ve got a carriageable accession of the Arduino IDE that’s tailored accurately for this project. However, if you did not chase these steps, amuse do agenda that alike admitting this activity adeptness abridge with the “wrong” versions of libraries or the lath core, abrupt errors may action during runtime.
Here are some errors you adeptness see during compilation, forth with their best acceptable causes:
If the adverse is ashore on 83770, it’s in a restart bend because it’s encountering an barring afore it can retrieve the aboriginal number. Best likely, this is accident because you acclimated the amiss adaptation of the ESP8266 lath core. See Requirements.
You can try application the Consecutive Adviser and the ESP Barring Decoder to alter the barring actuality thrown.
Lastly, if the adverse runs into issues while attempting to concern the API, it will appearance an absurdity code. These absurdity codes are displayed left-aligned, while accustomed numbers are displayed right-aligned. At the moment, they are all single-digit numbers, so there should be no confusion. Actuality are the accepted absurdity codes:
Most likely, you will alone anytime see the aboriginal error. If you do, actuality are some things to check:
Is the Python microservice running?
Are the API host, port, and aisle in the config webserver correct?
Is the adverse on the actual Wi-Fi network?
This activity uses tzapu/WiFiManager to abstain hardcoding Wi-Fi credentials. If the adverse cannot affix to Wi-Fi on startup, it’ll barrage WiFiManager. It’ll actualize a new arrangement alleged “Nixie”, and the affectation will appearance 10.0.0.1. If you affix to the “Nixie” arrangement and cross to http://10.0.0.1, you’ll be able to baddest which Wi-Fi arrangement the adverse should affix to for accustomed operations. Your arrangement alternative and accreditation will be adored to anamnesis and acclimated on abutting boot.
If you charge to change the Wi-Fi network, you can additionally barrage the WiFiManager at any time by triple-clicking the counter’s button. I acclimated PatrickGlatz’s angle of mathertel/OneButton to abutment triple-click.
If you double-click the counter’s button, it will barrage a webserver with a agreement webpage. It’ll additionally appearance its bounded IP abode via the nixies. If you are affiliated to the aforementioned arrangement as the counter, you can configure it by abyssal to this abode in your browser.
Via this webpage, you can set the host, port, and aisle that it will concern to get what cardinal it needs to display. You can additionally set how generally the screensaver runs and whether the config webserver should consistently be running, rather than alone aback its IP is displayed.
These settings get adored to EEPROM. Aback the adverse is restarted, it reads these ethics from EEPROM, or avalanche aback to defaults. Because we alone abode to EEPROM aback the ethics get updated, we don’t charge to anguish about anamnesis wear.
The antecedent cipher for the two routes on the server (/ and /update) is hardcoded into the sketch. They are minified to abate the amplitude required. For my workflow, I accumulate two aboriginal files, index.html and update.html. I accomplish my edits in those files, and run them through minify.sh, for example:
This produces minified arrangement code, which should be pasted into the indexHtml and updateHtml variables. There adeptness be a cleaner way to do this application SPIFFS, but this works able-bodied for now.
This was a accurate exercise in exploring how the HTTP request/response aeon works on a lower akin than my assignment usually entails. Agenda additionally that the best to use HTTP instead of HTTPS actuality is absolute intentional: HTTPS uses too abundant anamnesis and processing power, and I’m artlessly not anxious about anyone concern on the adverse communicating with its microservice. All that’s actuality anesthetized is a cardinal with no absorbed meaning. The microservice is accepted to accomplish all its outbound requests for alien abstracts via HTTPS.
In adjustment to actuate what cardinal to display, the adverse queries the configured URL via HTTP every 5 seconds. It expects a simple acknowledgment comprised of a 6-digit bond followed by n. The abaft newline prevents a 5-second delay.
Using Python 3.9.1, I’ve accounting several microservices that admeasurement assorted things and acknowledgment a number. They are meant to run either on my claimed computer or on one of my alien servers. They all extend nixie.py and get invoked like so:
Here are the microservices I’ve accounting so far:
One of the accurate genitalia of this activity was accepting to architecture and cipher a array of animations for the nixies. Motion architecture is not commodity that generally comes up in my work. Figuring out how to architecture animations that advertise the altered attributes of nixie tubes as a average was a air-conditioned challenge.
On startup, the adverse says “hello” in leetspeak: 83770. The greeting charcoal displayed while the adverse connects to Wi-Fi and queries the microservice for its aboriginal number. The alteration activity is afresh acclimated to transform 83770 into the alternate number. Appealing straight-forward.
One of the altered aspects of nixie tubes is their semi-three-dimensional nature. Anniversary nixie tube has a assemblage of digits in it. Digits abreast the basal (back) of the assemblage arise acutely further abroad than digits abreast the top (front). Aback a cardinal appear the aback of the assemblage is lit, it is somewhat blocked by the aphotic segments in advanced of it. Overall, this creates a faculty of ambit that is absent from multi-segment displays. Aback cerebration about how to alteration the affectation to a new number, I capital to use that alteration as an befalling to highlight this dimensionality.
When the adverse queries a microservice, it saves the acknowledgment as the abutting cardinal that should be displayed. Every 75 milliseconds, it will morph the currently displayed cardinal one footfall appear the abutting number. Starting from the left, it finds the aboriginal tube that is altered amid the accepted cardinal and the next. It takes the digits in that abode from both numbers and compares their positions in the chiffre stack. Finally, it advances the accepted chiffre in that abode one footfall forth the chiffre assemblage appear the abutting digit. By accomplishing this repeatedly, we actualize an activity wherein numbers assume to bore into and acceleration out of the tubes.
From aback to front, the chiffre assemblage adjustment of IN-12 tubes is as follows: 1, 6, 2, 7, 5, 0, 4, 9, 8, 3.
When the button is double-clicked, the adverse will appearance its IPv4 abode aural the bounded network. If addition on the aforementioned arrangement visits that IP abode via HTTP in their browser, they’ll see the counter’s agreement page. The IN-12B tubes accommodate a dot cathode, which is absolute for IP addresses.
This IP abode is generally best than six digits, so it may not be attainable to appearance it all at once. I had to add a annal activity to fix that issue. This activity is agnate to the old HTML covering aspect with the “alternate” behavior to accredit bouncing text. The six-digit window starts by assuming the aboriginal six digits of the IP address. It afresh scrolls to the appropriate until it alcove the end of the IP address, rests there a moment, scrolls aback to the left, rests, and repeats.
It’s advantageous acquainted that aback the adverse is in the Wi-Fi Administrator state, rather than the Config Webserver state, its abode will consistently be 10.0.0.1 aural the arrangement it creates. This abode is displayed right-aligned and does not use the annal animation.
Nixie tubes tend to advance “cathode poisoning” on digits that are not in approved use. Aback a nixie chiffre is lit, it sputters material, which sticks to the bottle envelope, causing it to darken, and to added digits, causing them to be lit unevenly. It’s attainable to ascertain cathode contagion afore it becomes arresting and to alleviate it by afire it away. It can additionally be prevented by occasionally cycling through bare digits. This is a abundant alibi to actualize a accurate “screensaver” animation.
For my screensaver, I bogus a “wave” animation. Like the alteration animation, this activity plays with the actuality that there is a assemblage of digits in anniversary tube. First, the affectation transitions into a bare state. Then, starting with the leftmost tube, anniversary chiffre in the assemblage is lit up one at a time, from basal to top. Aback the advanced chiffre in the leftmost tube is lit, we alpha accomplishing the aforementioned for the tube to its right. Aback the advanced chiffre of that tube is additionally lit, we alpha decrementing the tube to its left, aloof as we alpha incementing the tube to its right, one chiffre at a time. Repeat this for all tubes, and we get an aftereffect of a beachcomber that moves from larboard to appropriate beyond the display.
Nixie tubes can aftermost for years of connected operation, but cathode contagion will become credible continued afore that afterwards able prevention. Dalibor Farny recommends a arrangement of 300:1 for cathode cycling their R|Z568M tubes. The arrangement adeptness be altered for IN-12 tubes, but it’s a acceptable rule-of-thumb. My activity could be slowed bottomward to accommodated that ratio.
They say a activity is never finished, alone abandoned. I acquire several improvements I’d like to make, someday:
Make a custom adeptness cord. Borrow some account from bodies who accomplish custom audio cables. Currently, I’m application an Adafruit ADA1125 with a 12V 2.0A AC/DC adapter. It works, but it boodle the aethetic. Some specifics:
Hard-fork mathertel/OneButton. Or aloof carbon it from scratch. I’m beholden to its columnist for creating and advancement this library, but I’ve run into a few issues with it while authoritative this project. These issues are axiological to the actuality that it is a finite-state machine, which is in about-face a axiological aspect of this library.
Abstract the activity of extenuative ambit from the config webserver. Currently, I acquire to clue the admeasurement of anniversary capricious manually. We could additionally aeon breadth we abode to EEPROM to abate anamnesis wear, aloof to be perfectionist.
Swap in an IN-15A or IN-15B tube. I’m decidedly absorbed in the /− symbols on the IN-15A. Adeptness be accurate to use them to clue e.g. cardinal of curve added/deleted in a git alive directory.
Add a temperature sensor (e.g. TMP36). This would be a acting change. I alone to add any aperture holes to the enclosure. I did try to aces out apparatus that ran cool, and there is some airflow through the tube cut-outs in the advanced face, but it’d be nice to apperceive how hot it absolutely gets in there.
Give it a alarm mode. It was consistently meant to be a nixie counter, not a nixie clock, but why not?
Use the RGB LEDs on the Doayee disciplinarian for backlighting. For that 100% Completion feeling.
I bogus this adverse while active at the Art Institute of Chicago. The activity was originally aggressive by my admiration to advance the barrage of its attainable API. I appetite to admit that bequest and booty this befalling to advance the assignment actuality done there to accomplish their institutional abstracts added attainable to the public.
However, this activity was not organized, funded, or accurate by the Art Institute of Chicago. This adverse was bogus absolutely on my own time, application my own materials. And over time, this activity acquired to be added about barometer my claimed work, rather than annihilation activity on at my abode of employment.
Therefore, I accede the assignment that I did for this activity be absolutely my own. I’m absolution it beneath the afterward licenses:
In short, you can do whatever you’d like with my cipher and designs, but (1) I booty no albatross if commodity goes wrong, and (2) it would be nice if you could acclaim me and articulation aback to this project. Agenda that the authorization agreement for the libraries and apparatus acclimated in this activity may alter from my aboriginal contributions to the final product.
Thanks for afraid about and/or scrolling through. See you abutting project!
How To Write Sum In Python – How To Write Sum In Python
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