The Art of Making a Nixie Tube
Dalibor Farný6 HN recommenders · recommended in 6 months, 2017–2026
documentary · general · evergreen · 2017–2026 on HN
Dalibor Farny documents the hand manufacture of a nixie tube, from glassblowing to evacuation, with text notes rather than narration. He revived the lost craft of nixie tube making.
HN commenters call it mesmerizing and a great look at how things are actually made by a dedicated craftsman.
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9 comments from Hacker News
I came to comment about Dalibor as well - amazing youtube channel. Recommended viewing for anyone who loves home-ish-scale, high-quality manufacturing: ▶ this video He's got to be one of the world's experts on nixie tube manufacturing, at this point.
Going even more OT, I watched a mesmerizing and beautiful youtube video about making nixie tubes. I love craftsman videos. ▶ this video
The video in the article is just amazing. You don't normally get to see the exact details of how things get made. ▶ this video
Tangentially, this is a beautiful (with no music or narration; text notes only) high quality video of modern artisanal (i.e. all by hand) nixie tube manufacturing. ▶ this video
Getting a custom VFD made would be a very expensive process indeed. If you need a very small number of segments then Dalibor Farny can make a custom Nixie tube, which is similar technology: link Also a good introduction to how they are made (making a VFD would be similar but more difficult): ▶ this video Otherwise Noritake itron still make VFD monitors for industrial applications (seems they have high temp advantages over LCDs): link
if you liked watching this, then maybe you'd also like these videos, which i watched some time ago: making a miniature vacuum tube triode link The Art of Making a Nixie Tube ▶ this video
In some ways it's never been easier to get all the equipment you will need. But if you're wanting to make ones even half as good as the ones on this page, you'd probably want to become a skilled glassblower and outfit a lab that looks something like this: ▶ this video
And of course, there's the Nixie tube. ▶ this video (Previously posted in link , the maker's web site via link , and covered in an IEEE article via link )
CRT production is a much more complex bit of modern manufacturing than making vinyl LPs. This youtube video documents what a rather dedicated individual does to resurrect small-scale Nixie tube manufacturing: ▶ this video And technologically, color CRTs are way beyond that. link