delorean

A super cool nixie clock made with a custom PCB powered by a raspberry pi pico W.

Why

I recently discovered nixie tubes and was like "I should totally make something with that". I wanted to make something a bit more complicated for my first go, but this clock sets me up pretty well do to some cooler stuff (and will make for a pretty awesome present).

Case + Board

I've been trying to get better at Inventor (people keep shaming me for using Fusion, so), and this project was a good way to ease back into it. I was also painfully reminded of how hard it is to CAD without a mouse.

PCB

This is my 3rd PCB, and while it took a lot less time than my first, it was still a hassle to route all those nixie tubes. Pretty happy with the way it turned out, and might have to add some more silkscreen stuff to it.

Design Process

If you want to learn how I'm making this, check out the journal

BOM

Item	Qty	Cost/item	Total Cost
IN-12 nixie tubes	6	$5.08	$30.50
K155ID1 controller chip	6	$1	$6
5V to 170V boost converter	1	10.50	$10.50
Raspberry Pi Pico W	1	$7.65	$7.65
DIP-16 chip connecter	6	$0.25	$1.50
Dsub pins	100	$0.10	$9.58
Custom PCB from JLCPCB	1	~$10	~$10
USB Isolator	1	$9.99	$9.99
USB A to C	1	$1.29	$1.29
Estimated shipping			$15
Total			$101.72

View the full BOM here