Neon Discharge Tubes for NBTV

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Neon Discharge Tubes for NBTV

Postby albertMunich » Tue May 05, 2020 7:39 pm

A message to all the members of the Forum:

Mr. Dalibor FARNY of Czechoslovakia has started a few years ago to make replicas of the famous NIXIE tubes for display of alphanumerical information. I have come across his website a few weeks ago and found it absolutely amazing.

http://www.daliborfarny.com

He has effectively resurrected a technology that was thought to be lost.

Here is a 37 minute video about the making of one such tube- well filmed and edited.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxL4ElboiuA

I have contacted Mr. Farny about the possibility of making a modern day version of the neon discharge lamp used by all the early experimenters. If there is one person on this planet who could do so, it is him.He has written back very kindly and is interested in the subject, since he had no idea at all that this existed or has been replicated by modern experimenters. Here is the very encouraging answer:

Dear Albert,

thank you very much for your informative email,

I have no idea such a device existed, the fact it used a gas-discharge illumination is so exciting! I would like to try to make a close reproduction of this tube.

I will be "under fire" following 6 months, so I can't really make any significant progress on it, the last quarter of 2020 should be possible. Do we have more information about that particular tube? Better pictures or how exactly it operates?

I really enjoyed the video, thank you for sharing!

Best regards,


Dalibor Farny

http://www.daliborfarny.com


I would like to ask all forum members who know anything about these lamps to participate in this discussion- perhaps there can be a newly made neon lamp for faithful replicas of early tv designs. Even a large "steampunk type" televisor made by Farny or some of his friends is a possibility. He has done some quite extravagant Nixie clocks of the highest quality. A well made Nipkow showpiece could do wonders to make this ancient technology popular again.
What I find very sympathetic about him is that he shows us not only his successes on the web site, but also his failures and false ends. Undertaking such a complex project and making it commercially profitable- my hat is off to him.

My best wishes to all NBTV lovers over the world. Please stay healthy in these difficult times.

My own little puppeteer's contribution to the Corona dilemma is here:

A Message From Stauni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgJzDg-QEkE

Corona Dreams stauni

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kok3LI6reNw


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Re: Neon Discharge Tubes for NBTV

Postby Lawnboy » Wed Dec 16, 2020 9:10 am

I think this is a fascinating idea. Years ago I was tempted to contact someone who makes neon signs for advertising and see how difficult it would be to make a replica lamp, but after more research it seems like the two are very different processes. I have seen the neon lamps for television in the collection the Early Television Foundation, and was surprised at all the various shapes and sizes that were made, but a replica Baird Televisor neon would probably be the best way to go since that is the most iconic set. I'm sure both collectors and museums would like to be able to use their Televisors without degrading the original lamp, unless someone is currently making LED replacements like Peter Yanczer did. Now that it's been six months, I wonder if he is still interested in trying it? 
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