Nixie Clock | April 6th Budget Update

The Nixie clock is humming along!

I received my block of wood, but wasn’t able to make a lot of progress this week on the physical case- I hit an unexpected road block. It turns out, when you order exotic wood, it comes “partly seasoned”- aka, still wet!

This block has wax sealed sides, and is noticeably still damp! After reading online, the suggested way of seasoning this wood is to let it sit in a cool, dry place for 6-8 months.  As much as I too would like to hide in a dark room for six to eight months, neither of us really have that time frame, so it was time to move to something faster. I decided to compromise, and give the wood a week off, sitting in front of my space heater at full blast.

While Mr. High Maintenance Silver Maple block is drying out, I decided to use this post to re-assess my timeline and budget for the project.

Original Timeline

• March 4-6th: Anticipated receiving window for tubes and clock
• March 7-12th: Planned wood sourcing timeframe
• March 15-19th: Anticipated electronics testing and confirmation window
• March 22-26th: Spring break
• March 28th-1st: Enclosure design finalization
• April 4-8th: Wood machining
• April 11-15th: Finishing, integration
• April 23rd: Design Expo!

All in all, I’m doing alright with my schedule. Electronics assembly and testing ended up occurring last week, slightly behind schedule. However, this isn’t a huge problem, as I was able to do that along with finalizing the CAD for my enclosure design. I won’t be able to start machining until next week, so I’m again behind by a week, but my April 11-15th week is a buffer- I will still finish on time for the expo.

Budget wise, I’ve only needed to purchase two things, and am anticipating only one more purchase:

Silver Maple Turning Blank: $32.24

Nixie Clock breakout kit: $79.45

12V 500mA power supply: Free

Deft-1 Semi Gloss PolyUrethane finish: $5.98 (To Be Purchased)

In total, I’ve spent $111.69 so far, and I’m anticipating spending only a few more dollars on a can of finishing spray. As long as I don’t break anything, I should be comfortably under my $150 budget!