Hasta La Gadget!

Most of the nixie tube hacks and mods we’ve seen involve clocks, which isn’t surprising considering the tubes were primarily used to show numbers. But there are also tubes that display symbols, and those are the ones put to good use by Lasermad in its Nixie Chessboards.

Lasermad uses ex-Soviet Nixies from the 80s. They also designed a neat chessboard that uses induction coils to power the tubes. All you have to do is plug the board to an outlet and the tubes will automatically light up when you place them on the board.

Here’s a demo video of the board:

You can order the Nixie Chessboard from Lasermad either as a ready-to-assemble kit for $340 (USD) or as a fully built set for $759. Note that the DIY kit is not for beginners, although Lasermad does have a help forum for people who opt to get their hands dirty.

[via The UberReview]

I’m a sucker for the warm orange glow of Nixie tubes. There’s just something just so retro-modern about the way they look – all I can think of is the technology in the movie Brazil. I just stumbled across a really cool Nixie tube clock which accents the tubes with modern LEDs, adding even more to the look.

This six-digit Nixie clock has a RGB LEDs under the base of each Nixie vacuum tube, allowing it to change accent colors on demand. Just press the buttons in the included wireless remote to select your color, and the LEDs will adjust to your liking. The remote works like many other color-changing LEDs, letting you fade colors as well. Just keep in mind that the Nixie tubes will always have their distinct orange glow to them.

The clock offers 12/24-hour modes, the ability to change the digit cross-fade, and it can also display to date and work as an alarm clock. The whole thing looks really awesome when illuminated, using some of the best looking Nixie tubes I’ve seen as well.

Unfortunately, all of these good looks don’t come cheap. The Nixie/LED clock retails for $599.99(USD) over on eBay. That said, there’s a cheaper version that comes with smaller Nixie tubes that I don’t think look quite as cool – but it sells for just $199.00.

Looking for a cool and unusual gadget to add to your media room? This unique VU meter combines old-school Nixie tube technology with modern electronic circuitry to display sound levels in a dramatic way.

The Nixie VU meter users a pair of neon gas-filled bargraph tubes, connected to a special circuit that’s designed to display the sound levels on the long, narrow glass tubes. You can either connect the meter to your audio system by daisy-chaining its 1/8″ analog stereo jacks, or you can simply set it in your room and the built-in microphone will do the work for you – though I don’t think the microphone works in stereo. Here’s a video of the meter in action – accompanied by German narration – but it’s pretty self-explanatory even if you don’t speak the language.

The thing comes in kit form, and does require soldering skills and a multimeter to assemble it. The guy who makes it says it should take about an hour to build if you know your way around electronic kits. You can get your hands on the Nixie VU meter over on eBay for $159(USD).