The Return of the Nixie - New ZIN18 Tubes & Clock from Millclock
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- Опубликовано: 2 окт 2024
- Against the odds Nixie tubes are being manufactured again. In this video I look at the new ZIN18 tubes and clock from Millclock.
Millclock Products on ebay (Affiliated link) ebay.us/3yYNgX
Millclock Website : millclock.com
The clock shown in this video has been provided free of charge by the manufacturer.
The PAID PROMOTION indicator has been added to this video as I got this clock for FREE.
No payment changed hands but I got a FREE CLOCK - so that’s a form of payment.
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If you want to skip past the intro - Click Here: 04:11
As always there are links in the video description text box.
There's also a new comedy skit available here: ruclips.net/video/9_c4zKtYQpE/видео.html
Hey man I love your videos, Ive been watching for awhile and your the reason I actually restored a PC JR! Great job and keep up the great work!
i would never skip a second.... except maybe the credits to see of theres an extra bit ;)
How much you had to pay in taxes (in %) ?
Why would I skip? That part was interesting too.
Why exclude the puppets from the end? (I like em - it's a great epilogue device)
How much I need this on a scale of 1 to 10 0
How much I want this on a scale of 1 to 10 11
How much I can afford this on a scale of 1 to 10 0
I had this scale of 1 to 10 custom made; this one goes to eleven.
@@mattgies What if it's binary?
I mean on the need scale you can give it a 2, it's a clock after all, who doesn't need a clock at least a little bit?
Need:2
Want:11
Can afford: 7
Will buy:0
While I can afford it, I come from proper working-class stock. There's no way I could bring myself to pay that kind of money. That would require a lottery win.
I really hope they get off the ground. It is great to see high quality craftsmanship in today's disposable society.
Well said!
Gonna be slow, given the price
It was disposable then too. All of it is gone due to being thrown away. You only see the highest quality, well maintained things from long ago usually.
The tubes themselves are the magic. A little handywork and a Raspberry Pi and you could make whatever you wanted.
A Nixie clock with internet time sync? Thats a wet dream come true for cyberpunks!
Had I the capital, I would buy a couple clocks just to pledge my support to the manufacture of the tubes.
Beyond that, the features of the clock appear pretty wide in scope, including wifi hotspot mode found in smart TVs for app connectivity. Frankly (assuming the tubes price), it's hard to argue against this clock being worth every dollar, for what it is made of.
I do hope it wins an award in engineering somewhere.
Honestly, I've seen people spend $1000 on worse things.
This one will at least be quite unique.
Someone at work spent £1000 on tatoos on his arm, and now doing the other one...
Or a monitor stand with a fruit logo!
@@teresashinkansen9402 certainly true
It is $1000 today because it is literally *"handmade"* by _artisans_ (no "mass production").
-> If there was an actual INDUSTRIAL system (either entirely roboticized, or just some "helping" for the mounting/handling), this complete set could probably be sold in the $150~$400 range [international shipping & taxes not included].
Yeah I've done it (In-18s) probably the most interesting thing I own. I love it.
Nice to see someone in Ukraine manufacturing anything, really.
There’s lots of beautiful women being manufactured there
boggisthecat Yeah, hopefully their industrial and technological sectors become more prominent like Poland’s have over the past little while.
Nice to see the Ukraine is building the latest in technology 😂
Vulpes Inculta
There is plenty of talent there, as there is in Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe. The trouble is that those people tend to get drained away to the wealthier countries, which harms their home countries.
Robert Hayes
Yes, well, the USA is pretty much lagging China in most areas today - despite their vastly greater wealth.
Laugh it up.
Didn't expect to see a newly manufactured set of nixie tubes, interesting video
@Yannick 73 Yes, it's Dalibor Farny, as he mentioned in the video. I bought a clock off of him earlier this year, and I love it to bits, these new, giant nixie tubes are just beautiful. (I think The Farny-Tubes are even a bit bigger than the Ukranian ones)
I bet Dalibor Farný is kicking himself for revealing his manufacturing process in a video so somebody else could copy it
@@bombtwenty3867 His goal is to prevent the knowlage of nixitubes and their manufacturing process to get lost to time.
The more enities producing the tubes the better in his mind.
@@bombtwenty3867 I don't think so... even if I have seen the video, there is still a lot of Know-How that you have to get right in order to get consistent and good quality tubes, plus his clocks are in a different league (Price as well as Quality) in comparison to this russian one. And if you want to sell clocks for several thousand $ you have to show people the amount of work that goes into the product, so that they know why. What I like about the russian one is that you can controll more functions with the app, and also that it has Android support (Dalibor so far only has an iOS app - he wants to support Android as well, but he says it is much more difficult to programm for that due to bigger variety in devices, and he only has a small team).
@@tarstarkusz I said interesting, not cheap or affordable
5:55 I love the juxtaposition of such a gorgeous piece of craftsmanship and engineering being handled by a pair of good old Marigolds from the kitchen sink.
VWestlife oh yes especially after being softened by strong dish washing detergent at hand-hot temperature... perhaps a new pair will be ok? Hope so
For $1000, you'd think they've have a nicer hourly chime.
There's a few things that need improvement but jeez they're making their own tubes. Wow!
@Wallace The question is if they are still around would they even honour the warrenty after say 4-5 years or longer? I personally would only trust big established companies to honour these long term warranties such as perhaps Graphics cards manufactures like ASUS etc. In my experience these small niche operations can be very shy when you return waving your warranty card at them, I imagine this is especially true with companies like this because they are using very expensive handmade components, and the incentive will be to simply fob you off.
Right? It sounds like the same cheapo generic buzzer that's included in every beginner electronics kit on eBay..
Seems like a speaker would have been plenty worthwhile at this price point. Then you could even add new sounds to it through the app.
@@uberdude2555 Yeah, I bought a high quality needle bearing weightlifting bar from a small company that offered lifetime warranties. Then they went out of business a few years later, so my lifetime warranty became useless.
@@uberdude2555 I have numerous Nixie clocks and quite a bit of experience building and operating them. In my experience with IN-18 nixies for example, a cathode poisoning routine once a day may not prevent poisoning. My clocks routine every 10 mins. I have had good success with larger nixies doing a very regular routine. I have to agree with you uberdude25, if these custom tubes fail (say 5/7/9) years down the track, then what? Maybe Millclock will be around, maybe not. The problem will be that you WON'T be able to source replacements if they aren't around anymore. My humble suggestion would be to buy the clock if you wish and also buy numerous spare tubes too.
Could the recommendation of this video be the choice of Steins;Gate?
Ah, I see you're a man of culture as well
Careful! The Organization may have a hand in this. Stay safe. El Psy Kongroo.
steins;gate was honestly the reason i got obsessed with nixie clocks tbh
@@darksentinel082 as valid a reason as any other.
@@darksentinel082 same here my dude
Techmoan is the Internet's resident nixie-tube-clock expert reviewer 😊.
Great video once again. Your enthusiasm is contagious.
Watching Netflix:
Skips intro
Watching Techoan:
Doesn’t skip intro
You know what they say about guys with big hands!
They get fingerprints all over their nixi tubes.
Nixie*
notahotshot Dixon*
@@Chris5685 Nixon*
needs an ambient light sensor so it can auto-dim... otherwise REALLY nice
And an alarm that doesn't ruin your ears.
And potentially extend the life span of those beautiful tubes!
Based on what little I know of how Nixie Tubes work, I'm not sure there is a way to adjust their brightness.
@@KaityKat117 Just reduce the ON time;pwm style.
Iron Lightning Sending a lower amount of power can dim them, similar to how lights with multiple wattages work. Just automatically rather than on a switch.
There's something awestriking about this older technology. The attention to detail for being able to offset fast/slow seconds is admirable that many non-quarts clock makers miss. These look well made. Wish I had a thousand bucks for one. Kinda want the Nixie watch as well.
9:50 RIP headphone users
You definitely deserve one of these clocks, I think you may have almost singlehandedly brought Nixie tubes back from the dead!
Nixies always held a fascination with people who came across them - and had a nerd gene. They have got themselves almost in the mainstream thanks to people like Techmoan. They will be on the shelves in Tesco next.
The fact that you suggested for us to skip the intro is just the best ever so good to get a break from the other youtubers that just go on and on and on. Have a like!
Thank you so much for all of your hard work! I love your channel!
I am still rocking my old PVelectronics IN 8-2 clock, tubes are still nice and bright after 5-6 years
Pah the real thing we need are newly build Tefifon players and records.
I support this idea.
I also support this idea
I'll buy one. The music on it wouldn't even have to be good.
Yeah for looks only of course.
The quality of your reviews and videos is why they sent you a $1000 clock. They sent it to the right guy and they know it.
Gorgeous $1000 clock with hand made brand new nixie tubes, beautiful brushed alumin(i)um base, wifi and bluetooth connectivity, rgb lighting, and options and customization up the wazoo. Beeper ripped out of a tiger electronics handheld that was dug out of the bottom of a landfill being used for the alarm.
I'm sure someone out there is gonna hack it to make a more pleasant sound
@@zethyr8833 or for 1k I'm sure you could simply ask for a more Pleasant sound mind you it is an alarm it's meant to be annoying so you get up and shut it off I vary much appreciate the craftsmanship in this clock and vary much wish I could afford such a lovely clock
So happy I found a Nixie clock on th Amsterdam flea market two years ago… Someone dropped it and the PCB was disconnected in the acrylics box - also no adapter included. So the guy gave it to me for €8,- :-) And of cause it works just fine after the PCB was re-seated.
This is a very beautiful clock, and great tubes, nice to see Ukrainian made stuff featured on Techmoan
Really glad to see these being made again. Such a shame they are so difficult to manufacture and so expensive. I'd love to have a nixie clock like this but its just out of my price range.
I still don't get why people think that putting leds under nixie/normal tubes looks good. The wonderful amber glow is completely adequate
Andrew Ballard Absolutely, especially the blue ones
Agreed, but it is a small extra cost to add a feature that some customers want and the rest can disable.
Yeah, but the cycling LEDs for programming it is a great idea though.
You could turn it off so, no biggie. They have a purpose for programming the clock too so.
You turn off leds by one move on encoder
That is really neat, I guess this could be considered digital art? Whatever this world calls it, I just think it's neat!
Fabulous Mat. These are truly aspirational. Sadly, no matter how much I aspire, I'll never be be able to afford one.
You light the frames you’re talking to the camera in so well!
As he’s describing it, I’m thinking “cool, I might order one for my office” until he got to the $1000 price point. 😳 I totally get it though, now that I know the amount of work that went into making new tubes.
The sounds this clocks makes would make me crazy
The quality looks really good and very beautiful to look at. Marvellous craftsmanship. Well done that company!
retro always works,tubes are back.
I’m watching this in school with my whole group in Hungary 🤣🤣🤘🤘
Suggested feature: Automatic brightness adjustment (dimmer at night) based on time. Should be entirely possible unless they're using a simple fixed voltage driver. But even that could be changed for newer models if they're still early in production.
Amazing it is Almost 2020. And tech from 100yrs+ Are Being Used , and to Produce them. Wow
Commonly made are audio valves today and many are of vintage designs like my EL 34 tube-based amplifier.
bansheemania true, but retro is in right now. My home bathroom has valves from the 1930’s.
@@ianforfun1 i have a few old Audio items.. Nothing today sounds like my 1947s zenith ,All Oak wood. I live in the us and i can Hear All Around the World.. some Cb radio, An older Kenwood amp with tubes... basically im trying to say All the Old stuff with Tubes sounds Great
@@KillerBebe my house is Also full of stuff from 1920s up to 70s that i use on the regular.. Old Electronic Rules in my opinion...My dad's old GMC Fridge has out lasted a Dozen refrigerator's. Old tech 👍
Nixie tubes were only introduced in the late 1950's.
If the last tone of the hourly chime were just a tad longer, it would be totally reminiscent of some German news programme that I've heard in the past rather frequently (I don't remember whether it was on TV or in the radio, since I don't consume either medium any more, and haven't done since almost two decades now). It may even still exist today, although I wouldn't know about it.
Sony releasing 40th anniversary Walkman......downside, it is actually an MP3 player disguised as a cassette player
Aww
That’s not an unusual disappointment from Sony really. With a bit of effort Sony could have built a hybrid MP3 and Cassette Walkman. Then you have a real viable product that appeals to nostalgia, audiophiles and Indie music scene distributing music in cassettes.
Whaaaaaat?
@@iMadrid11 they don't have the machines to make the old quality cassette mechanisms.
@@Clay3613 Well that's one point why
They made the new walkman non-cassette
Cool people are making some tubes again!
I think Techmoan is one of the reason nixie tubes are coming back... great job !
And the Fallout n Metro series' and a few Anime n such.
It really is cool to see something like a nixie tube being made again. Hopefully they can figure a way to maybe get the price down at some point.
It's good to see this classic make a comeback.
I hope the company does well.
It's so nice. I think people that buy 1000USD speakers have no problem buying these.
Sorry for being a weabo, but i can't help but think about Steins:Gate while watching this video lol
Was looking for a steins gate comment haha
Steins gate is a fucking awesome time travel themed show. Regardless of the genre. People need to get over the whole anime thing, the stories in them surpass most any tv and movies.
Must make it closer to stein gate
Ah! I was looking for this comment
I actually SEARCHED for "steins" after loading all comments ^_ ^
Oh holy cow, if I had the money for that, I would buy it in a heartbeat!!! That is beautiful!!!
That clock looks fantastic. Incredible work from such a small company! I hope they get to sell a few.
Be interesting to see a comparison to Dalibor's clocks. He makes a "high end" version of these clocks, also with newly made nixies.
Have you upgraded a camera, the interview parts are crisp with a nice soft background blur and excellent lighting 👍👍👍
Anyone notice the color of the room lighting change from the beginning to around 2:11? Must have been the sun coming out. All of a sudden I was like "hey wasn't he a different color a minute ago?"
Interview? Are you sure you were watching THIS video?
Ooooh - now thats lovely. 6 hours a tube - Quality, and guaranteed for 15 years, wow.
Agree on that new Porsche dealers, but it looks lovely lit up at night.
"it's me, the organization got a copy of the device, john titor and the ibm computer must be close.
awaiting instructions.
EL PSY- KONGROO!"
Yes! They built the divergence meter!
I was looking for this comment.
A thing of beauty and a joy to behold.
nice to see an expensive luxury item that's stunningly well made, by hand, by experienced craftsman
Mike W thank you for your words
@@KairuHakubi very different economy I suppose
It’s a really great product this guys made!
That alarm is jarring, I nearly thought my fire alarm went off.
Would certainly be effective, too many alarms that wait for you to wake up, this one slaps you right in the ears and forces you awake, that could be a selling point for me
I have one of their other (cheaper) clocks which has the same alarm. As someone who sleeps pretty heavy, it's very effective at getting me up on time for work!
Bet you're definitely awake after that! 😂
Yeah it _does_ sound like a smoke detector ;)
Very nice clock .. had not heard much of nixie tubes until this channel
I love that your wifi SSID is called WOPR. WarGames is such a great movie for every kid that grew up in the 80s with computers (for me, it was the C64 and then later the Amiga).
Even as a 2000s era kid I love that movie, and a lot of the other old Sci-fi movies and the like too, honestly not enough good stuff like that these days
Let's play Global Thermonuclear War.
I'd imagine that the password for WOPR Guest has got to be "Joshua"
Thats a really nice clock and it's fantastic that there going to the trouble of performing the skilled art of manufacturing new nixie tubes again. Only small thing that lets it down a bit is, for a clock thats over a grand to buy, you'd think they'd give it a nicer sounding alarm and hourly chime, instead of somet that resembles a cheap casio watch.
Tim Barker we will change alarm sound
I’m glad to live in the same world line as Techmoan
El Psy Kongroo
@@euphony5552 El Psy Congru
@@TheAechBomb Eru sai konguru
Good lord....as Keats (and EEV Dave) might say..."A thing of beauty is a joy for ever".
Gorgeous pice of design and construction.
Oh yes a new vid just in time for breakfast!
Oh yes a new vid just in time for bed!
@@DaxtonAnderson Oh yes a vid just in time for ending my procrastination spree this time actuality the last video.
Fun fact: Vinyl records are on pace to outsell CD's for the first time since 1986!
Uncle Ned and neither are selling well
Shouldn't you also rotate the tubes?
Seeing how for example the first will only use 0 1 and 2.
DCF-77 module would have been nice, and a less garish chime.
Expensive toys for old men, part 245.
Great review and camera work and well narrated. I also like Nixies!
Ukraine based? Oh no..
Exactly what I thought
That’s amazing, definitely going to check out Millclock! Thanks
I love Mat. He's probably the single most endearing RUclips personality that I'm aware of. He never puts on heirs and has such wonderful enthusiasm for old formats that most of us "format junkies" can really learn a lot. Salt of the Earth gentleman. I'd watch "the silly puppets" if they had their own Netflix show, too!!! Bless you, Mat. You are a treasure.
Wow, Bond Girl started a Kickstarter Campaing with nixie clock.
Such a shame, I remember filling a skip with old lab equipment many years ago, all stuffed with Nixi tubes, if only I have saved them 😩
You could have made thousands lol
Don't forget economies of scale! If they stay in business long enough they might be able to drive the cost down by optimizing their production.
K1ngjulien_ of course we will do
The colour combination of the RGB LED and warm glow of the tubes is just gorgeous! I could watch it for hours.
I worked in the Nuclear I&C regimen, and to replace almost any system from the 70's or 80's is extremely difficult...any replacement system has to exactly match "Form, Fit, and Function"; something newer could be created that is more sensitive, but that would be an issue (how will the "downstream" components react?) So I had to replace nixie tubes in units...yes, there was an "upgraded" newer retrofit, but it would have cost millions to be able to use the retrofit. As a result, I had to find the NLA exact same tubes. Newer ones were unacceptable, as were the Soviet versions. Thank goodness I found a warehouse that was being liquidated and scored 38 brand new exact matches. Lord knows what will happen when those run out.
If I had a 1000 dollars for a clock, I’d get one without hesitation. This looks really nice.
Same. I would love to have a nixie clock, and this one is absolutely gorgeous, just about spot-on for my tastes, and I love the idea of people manufacturing new tubes.
If I had a thousand dollars to spend, I would get this without hesitation.
Back to your first video roots, eh? Bravo!
$1000⁉️⁉️ I love Nixie tubes. I love clocks. But that price just about gave me a heart attack!
Get enough rich folk to by it so they can afford more automated equipment and lower the time/cost to build
I'm pretty sure the woz has one of those in each room of his McMansion.
They could have done better on the hourly chime for the amount this cost.
I hope you can set up tube savers on this clock
Can you do side by side comparison with clocks from Dalibor? That would be interesting video.
Dalibor's Zen Clock are much more prettier. Simple, clean design...
If you ask NORITAKE they would probably make nixies again, but you would need to buy at least 1000 or more...it´s all about how much you can handle or the kind of money you want to spend in advance.
"provided free of charge by the manufacturer" for review and must be returned, or for review and yours to admire for life? If the later, then NICE ONE Sir TechMoan! :) Giggling at UPS guy grumbling as he troddled away with a rather heavy bag of change, hehe. Thanks for sharing your review and humour!
Looks nice, however it's a pity they didn't use a 'proper' valve base/socket, those pin headers look awfully flimsy. Also an cover, like the kickstarter would be a good option to make dusting & cleaning a lot easier.
Given its immense brightness, it needs an ambient light sensor system. They could hide some photosensors in the base of the seconds digit and give the tube itself a bit of an off-time whenever the digit switches. Simultaneously the accompanying LED coud be disabled for a couple milliseconds, and a brightness reading taken. Subsequently, the brightness of the digits can be adjusted to the ambient light.
Another thing to work on, i don't think the sound is appropriate for a product this expensive. I believe it needs an electromechanical bell for it to make more pleasant, less beepy sounds. Another alternative would be a speaker and ability to use your own wav files. Certainly the task of invisibly hiding a speaker in this base is not an easy one, but i believe it's possible, it can have feet that would offset it from desk surface by just about 1mm and a downfiring arrangement, and 3D printed or machined acoustical chamber elements can be hidden within to shape the response - it's not at all easy, there is a lot of experimentation required to get something decent out of it, there's not a lot of data you can even measure about small speakers, as the Thiele-Small parameters go haywire for them, so typical acoustic engineering estimates become pretty much impossible, but it seems that something can be accomplished in this direction.
I am not the target audience for the clock, it is definitely not affordable for me. I'm merely imagining what i'd want for the outlay, as a sort of product design exercise.
We will change the alarm sound
Light sensor is developing for now
Wow love you video this one is awesome I love Nixie clocks and Nixie tubes cool and the next to watch always love you videos especially when you doing on Nixie tubes 👍❤️✌️😁
Not worth 1000$ . But damn this looks impressive.
I'd counter by saying it's definitely worth the $1000 once you consider the work and effort that went into creating it. (Especially in 2019.)
@@pandentia3529 Yeah. On that argument you can also say a Maybach worth the price. On the other hand that's just a car and this is just a watch. It's pure vanity.
Love nixies got two clocks, I miss the puppets
gods I wish I had the money for this, I'd love to have this as my bed side clock
Speaking of vinyl records. A lot of people are buying records again. I know of someone who sells records from a van.
I didn't realize this was something no longer in production until recently. I might have to order a small one.
There's simple need for such devices. We are surrounded by so advanced technology, that there's rising need for simple, analog devices we understand. Playing audio from vinyl or audio cassettes is somewhat direct. User is directly involved how the sound is produced.
With digital devices we just press the button and 'magic' happens.
Not to mention how complex everything got. Modern fridges with WIFI have so much compute power that single unit could be used to control air traffic in a busy airport.
This can be overwhelming, so those simple, analog devices are a bridge between old and new. With internet, kickstarter etc. there's now cheap and efficient way to find customers for such products. Such clock won't be a huge commercial hit, but there will be thousands of customers in the whole world who would buy them.
This allows for such small companies to exist and make such things. With everything ordered online, distribution costs are way cheaper.
In the future we will have every old, but cool tech revived.
What will they do next a new HD CRT Maybe that's capable of doing at least 4K? Probably not but a guy can hope.
Same! Better color, true blacks, low input latency etc, I'd love to get a nice CRT, shame they are really overpriced where I live
I'd like to see new IN-14 and IN-12s honestly.
There seems to be either a bug or you plugged the right "two-dot" tube in wrongly, every time the date is displayed the upper instead of the lower dot gets illuminated
I've always been intrigued by these.
I hope they'll release a version without the seconds as a slightly more affordable option!
Mr Vids, 2011 - 2020 we offer the clock on 4 tubes too
What a great clock! I'm going to have to start saving!
I’m speechless. Absolutely brilliant and amazing product but the price is out of my reach. One day
Hate this trend of new devices using WiFi instead of Bluetooth. I’m sure there is some cost savings involved, but on a $1000 clock, you’d think it would be something they could swallow.
£1000 for a nixie clock, that's a hard sell.
@@StarlightLumi He said they were about 6 hours each tube so that's around 450£ for just the tubes. Including the rest you're right it is quite reasonable.
@@SmolPotatowo Both statements are true. The cost is due to labor required, sure. But it's still a £1000 clock, which is incredibly expensive for a basically functionless device that is mostly art/decor.
Does anyone remember what they called that box with the opaque front on it that showed different colors in time with the stereo system in the Doctor's and Dentist's office waiting rooms in the late 60s and early 70s? Being a child of the 60s I've been looking for those things for a while.