Electronics enthusiasts Howard Constantine has returned to Kickstarter for the 21st time to launch his latest campaign the VFD Clock III, specifically designed for VFD type Y-1938 / 1939 Digivac DT-1704. Watch the video below to learn more about the vacuum fluorescent display which is available via Kickstarter from $45 for the PC board and microcontroller.
Full clock kits are available from $125 or roughly £99 and worldwide shipping is expected to commence sometime around September 2019.
“This VFD clock III is made exclusively to drive the GE Y-1938 / 1939 vfd tubes, and similar types that don’t have a separate digit driver, like the Tung-Sol Digivac DT1704 types. These GE VFD tubes are somewhat rare and sometimes include a blue filter coating. They have a more blue tint than any other VFD tube I’ve seen. They are unique in that they don’t have a separate digit driver, just the segments and the filaments. Thus, it is impossible to multiplex them, so I took a different approach to drive them using the HV5812 chips. The Tung-Sol Digivac types DT1704 & similar also work well in the design, and can be left clear or the blue filter coating can easily be added.”
For a complete list of all available pledge options, full specifications and details on each component jump over to the official project page on Kickstarter.
Source: Kickstarter
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