Making: Huge Nixie Tube Finally Glowing! - Project H #19 

Hi! Thank you sooo much for the positivity and constructive attitude - not only it helps me to get closer to the working H tube, but it is also incredibly motivating. In these gloomy autumn days, it is especially important ;-) We got much good advice here in the comments, I want to underline some: It was suggested that the insulating layer of the ceramics of the Ceramawire is not thick enough to bring the potential below striking (or better maintaining) voltage level. So, the potential at the surface of the wire is still enough to strike and/or keep the glow running. That was expected, what is a real issue is that the ceramic coating is porous, allowing the electrons to escape from the underlying wire despite the dielectric strength of the insulation layer was not exceeded. Just a small quantity of free electrons is enough to keep the glow running as they produce new free electrons from the gas molecules itself. The idea is to study these processes more in-depth and make another video about it soon. Thank you for your support!

What a dramatic movie. It really hurt physically when you broke the glass pipe, and it was a big relief and joy at the First Light. What a fascinating hand craft process, so many different steps. Thank you for sharing this whole drama, your ups and downs. You will for sure be successful, I'll keep my fingers crossed. How beautiful this tube looks, anyhow! Best part is your wrap-up in the dark.

You sir are an artisan.

"Why are these things so expensive?!" - Watches video - "ohhhhh" 😁

I've been watching for a couple of years at your work, but now you really took my breath away. Good luck and best regards from Belarus!

Nixie tubes have a beauty and aura that is unmatched by anything else. Something about them is just mesmerizing.

Regarding the glow of the ceramawire: A common way to test insulated wires is to place them in water (with some salt) while having the wire ends above water. Then measure the insulation resistance from the conductor to the water. If there are any cracks or holes in the insulation you get a short to the water. If the ceramawire fail this test it proves the insulation is cracked or faulty.

Dalibor: I bought hydraulic press for Nixie tubes prototyping. Audience: The best hydraulic press channel is born!

Few have the tooling and equipment to take on such a challenge. Even fewer have the necessary skills and knowledge to make these tubes. Excellent work sir.

Terrific effort! The numbers are so incredibly elegant! Stunning!

Hi! Great to see that big thing glowing! My heart jumped about as much as yours when you knocked that stem off! I've done the same thing! Now, on the glowing connecting wires. You already know the painting the ceramic glue on the wire. Too tedious for production of course. What I have tried is stretching some tubing to make a very thin fine capillary that the wire barely fits through. This can be easily bent to shape while assembling the tube using a very small tip torch. The glue can be used to fix any small spots. I worry about residual stress in the front window that might not crack the glass until winter. I just finished a CRT with a 3 inch window. It sealed perfectly but several days later it had cracked.

Thank you, Dalibor! This was awesome to watch. Break the Problem!

This video was amazing! Riveting from start to finish! Thank you for sharing your challenges and progress with us. Ever since I found your business a few years ago, I was worried it would disappear, and the art would be lost again. But watching this, I know that the artisan spirit is not dead. Thank you.

This is amazing!

"this is why I love RU-vid... you get access to people who are 10 times smarter than you..." ... or alternatively, you get the idiotic nonsense that I put in the comments section.

I've been watching your work for a few years now, and it's always very intriguing and inspiring to see what you are creating. Thank your for sharing :) I hope you have success with your projects and your team.

I can’t wait to see all the digits glowing. So cool. The final H tube is going to be amazing!

I was literally smiling when I saw it light up. Great stuff Dalibor, this project has been super exciting to watch.

I really appreciate you sharing your learning and methods with us. The fact that you have to create so much of the tooling for what you do is impressive. It can be very inspirational too, considering how much 3d printing and CAD work your doing these days. Which has become so accessible to the everyday public.

what I find refreshing, is that you are showing the not desirable outcomes and its all about learning and making a better product, keep up the good work and believe in the fantastic work you are doing. you are creating ‘art’

Nixie Tubes might be the most satisfying display ever. That sweet redish orange high voltage glow is just so inviting. It flows.

Thank you for these. They are honest, enjoyable, educational and thoroughly fascinating.

Tie oblúky pri skratovaných katódach sú celkom zaujímavé,gratulujem k prvému svitu!

Your patience and persistence is inspiring !

Don't be afraid to use more structural bends in your plates. If you need a torus, use the structural ridges to give it the strength it needs to maintain shape. This will also help when it heats up later.

I as everyone else am a very big fan of your craftsmanship, I'm using your tubes in a unit I built & can't wait for these H-Tubes be available for purchase. Thank you so very much !

Here you have it glowing ! Great perseverance for a great success. Congrats !

That much labour, trial and error, dedication, craftsmanship, knowledge and all that for a single tube. (This tube should be so proud!!!!!) I really liked your first video, and ofcourse this video, I hope I can find your tubes in the future.... It is awesome what you do here, really! Thanks for your beautiful work!

Looks beautilful, love your work. Thank you very much for sharing the whole process from the design stage to the first working prototype.

So frickin' awesome Dalibor that new double line cathode is amazing!!! It looks so awesome. You did it man!!!

Beautiful work Dalibor! Yes this is why you do proto-types, you learn and make changes until you reach close to perfection. Just amazing work you are doing. so exciting to see all of your hard work coming to fruition. Yes there are more problems to solve, but the finished vision is now on the horizon. Gorgeous!

Amazing job, as usual. I'm thrilled to see this technology being revived and expanded on. Keep up the good work!

So excited to finally see a prototype! We've been looking at parts and plans for so long now, I was wondering when we'd see even a partially working version, and here we finally are!

They will be so beautiful. Can't wait to see the final wall.

I love seeing all your iterations and testing! Experience is the best teacher.

That is so cool.. thank you for showing us!! Good luck working with the issues

Fantastic work. I admire your perserverance on this project.

Looking good! Can't wait to see the beautiful end result.

I love the dark room with all the tubes to test them. It seems like a fun place to chill.

Simply awesome work, I cannot begin to imagine how you felt when that glass snapped off at the base but you fixed it and got it working. Keep it up!

We’re rooting for you. You’ll get it!

I admire your determination and drive, keep going and you will succeed. Thanks for sharing your journey.

This is just Fascinating! and BEAUTIFUL! even if it may not be perfect at present, I would still LOVE to own it! You are indeed very talented!

Absolutely amazing video!

This is very exciting! Magnificent work.

Very cool. Dalibor’s tubes are works of art and unlike any of the NOS Soviet tubes around today. They are too expensive for me to explore but I appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into them. I wish him and his company the best success in all their endeavors.

Is it just me who thinks the way it pops/crackles and the numbers half glow before fully lighting is cool in its own way? Fascinating video as always!

It’s wonderful to see you learn from your mistakes, I’ve done plenty of it myself. Admitting it openly and getting rapid feedback from your viewers is genius ! I love how you are recreating and exploring the earliest display form when LCD / LED etc has eclipsed most tube displays. I saw a Nixie tube clock in a show recently and hoped it was one of yours !

Pretty neat watching you experiment trying to develop processes that solve issues with your build. The shop I work as we don't have the breadth of equipment you do but I will still on occasion have to create jigs, fixtures and methods for making stuff for our customers. We work with simple common plastics such as acrylic, polycarbonate, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, polyvinyl cloride, polyvinyl ethylene and a few others. We generally don't heat the stuff much above its glass-transition state when bending and certainly don't use temperatures such as you use but it is still fascinating to see the similarities in material behaviour. That giant tube looks awesome to my eyes. Nice job at a complex fabrication!

Fascinating, thank you!

Dont give up. You're pushing your limits and that's great. Thanks!

I celebrate your perseverance and success! This is a beautiful thing that deserves to exist. Great job manifesting dream to reality.

Hello Dalibor, I'm again amazed how elegantly you solved so much issues since I visited you a month ago. In the video I was nervous like never before in youtube video, when you broke that thin tube to evacuate air. Keep up the good work!

just fascinating. I'm sure you will get it working.

i simply love the content it helps me relax to watch you work and keeps my love of nixie tubes and their uses alive keep up the GREAT WORK!!!!

Incredibly beautiful!

Amazing, good luck to solve the problems and turn it into a working solution! Thank you

This is amazing! Congratulations!

Beautiful work. I was completely engrossed. "Endeavor to Persevere" Dalibor.

incredible amount of patience and persistence👍 .

It's amazing to follow your work and how you continously optimize every step to get the best results. For me it's unbelievable that you can use 3d printed parts in a press. Awesome work.

So exciting!

Ah finally! Now development continues but we have great hope you will solve these problems.

this is SO cool, thanks for posting :)

I only found you today and have looked at a number of your videos - suffice it to say you are a glowing light ;) in your field - your dedication to quality is so pleasurable to watch and i sincerely hope you succeed in your stunning work , quality like this is a rarity and for any of your setbacks not only do you learn, which is obvious by your mature dissection of your own work but we learn from you not just in your engineering skill but your tenacity and dedication to a product, a piece of art, a symbol of a bygone era ( but hopefully not for long ) - good skill in your endeavours and hope to see the finished article pre 2021 ;) !

Your work is incredible as always. Know that we support you in many different ways :)

No Words..... A true Geniuuuuss....!!👍👍

Quite an accomplishment, so close to perfect, I am sure 100% success will come very soon. Congratulations on making the world's largest nixie and the first with an outline font!

Your prototyping capabilities are absolutely remarkable

Great project. Keep you efforts and you will come to the fully working model.

wooooow!!! This is AMAZING, man!!!!

This is so freaking cool, good job and awesome progress dude!

Klobouk dolů Dalibore. Moc pěkná práce ;-)

Can't wait to see the next video!

Extremely awesome!

Beautiful Item !!! wonderful ... state of the art !!! only one word : class !!! eric from France .

It looks so good

I love folks who follow through on their video series.

Well done Dalibor!!! This is significant milestone towards your Nixie Tube Factory vision. I know you have been studying the 5s system, that is fantastic. You should look into the Kanban system for scaling into your factory. We need more Nixie Tubes, you are a visionary!!! My inspiration!!!

Looking good , you just keep nibbling away at the problems and you will be there.,,cheers,

Awesome job, mate!

Congratulations, you are moving to succes very quickly!

Absolutely beautiful!

Great work on what you have achieved. Your Glass tube work is very interesting to watch and hope you have good luck in your next one. Cheers from Australia

Great beautiful result! And i remember such mistakes in my glass blowing experience...

I think what you are doing is absolutly awsom.. Keep up the good work :)

Holy moly huuuge numbers!!!

I think I've said this before but I really have to thank you for helping keep this art alive

I’m so happy you are keeping the Nixie tubes alive! This is just beautiful work. I’ve got a small nixie clock I built a few years ago and it always makes me happy to see it glowing away. Maybe I’ll buy some from you, but I might need to take a second mortgage out. :)

Despite the flaws it is coming together nicely. Keep going and you will make a fantastic display!

Amazing, glad to see the working prototype! Looking forward to another episodes. Also I like you are holding to a saying:"Golden czech hands" as I see many items in your workshop custom made.

I got the email yesterday that my clock shipped. Really looking forward to its delivery. Great job.

Fantastic work ☘️🇮🇪

Keep at it Dalibor, Rome was not built in a day and if it were not for the dedication of craftsmen like you I would not have made my R|Z568M clock

That looks so cool

I think I heard the collective cry of people around the world at 15:55. My heart definitely cracked!) Props for keeping your cool!

Looks so amazing.

Pretty cool result. Congratulations Dalibor! Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪

awesome progress!

This is my first encounter with this channel - Awesome work! I love this kind of stuff. I think it's a lot like when they say 'no one person in the world knows every single step to make a pencil' - the graphite magicians don't do forestry and woodworking or rubber eraser or metal fab or glue formulation to hold it together. This is a similar scale project, the metal, fab, glass, and gas work are all crazy specialist and I love that you have them all under one roof!