PIxie tube 3D socket

[Jonathan Peakall]

HI All,

In a couple of weeks, I'm going to be helping my nephew to assemble a 3D
printer. One of the first projects I would like to use it for is to make
some B9012 Pixie tube sockets.

I've never used a 3D printer, so it is all new to me. The data sheet I
have has a good mechanical drawing for a starting point. Does anyone
know of an off the shelf product I could use for the pin sockets? I am
currently using some pin sockets scrounged from common old sockets, I
think from a 9 pin.

And any other advice would be much appreciated. If I can make something
that works, I should be able to help out any other list members that
might need some.

Jonathan

[John Rehwinkel]

In a couple of weeks, I'm going to be helping my nephew to assemble a 3D printer. One of the first projects I would like to use it for is to make some B9012 Pixie tube sockets.

I've never used a 3D printer, so it is all new to me. The data sheet I have has a good mechanical drawing for a starting point. Does anyone know of an off the shelf product I could use for the pin sockets?

Some of the 3D printed sockets use Molex pins to provide side spring contacts (there's an 11 pin sub magnal socket on Thingiverse that works this way).

I am currently using some pin sockets scrounged from common old sockets, I think from a 9 pin.

Those are a good choice, I buy them in bulk and use them myself.  You can buy just the contacts, just narrow the search by "female pins", and whether you want crimp, solder, or whatever:

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en/connectors-interconnects/d-sub-d-shaped-connectors-contacts/1442671

- John

[Quixotic Nixotic]

1] Get some pin sockets, scrounged as you describe above

2] Get cylinder from old adhesive tape tube

3] Put pin sockets on tube pins, to suit tube available

4] Centre/center tube and pins within cylinder (depending on whether you follow proper English or Noah Webster's artificial dialect of the aforementioned language)

4] Melt polymorph in cup of hot water and squidge it into the cylinder, around the pins - squidge is a technical term (ignore it for now, you don't need to know)

5] Pop the socket out of the cylinder when the polymorph has solidified

6] Buy much alcohol with the money you have saved from not buying a 3D printer, pour and enjoy the time you saved not making a 3D model

Job done,

John S

[Paolo Cravero]

Cool, John!

4] Melt polymorph in cup of hot water and squidge it into the cylinder, around the pins - squidge is a technical term (ignore it for now, you don't need to know)

 

How much raw material is needed, say, for the socket in the picture you attached? Weight, I mean. I see it comes at about 4 USD every 100 grams from the Far East. Could be a nice family DIY material too, so I could buy some for you-never-know ;-)

Thanks,

Paolo

[gregebert]

Nice homebrew socket.

I, too, am finalizing a 3D printer purchase-decision. Even though my first-print will be a nixie socket (imagine that....), I plan to use a 3D printer for other purposes, so it's not really a cost-savings measure if I decided not to buy it.

In my case, the ability to print nylon objects is the tie-breaker, because it's more durable than PLA or ABS. 

[Jonathan Peakall]

John,

Ordinarily I would do just that. However, the nephew is getting the
printer and I'd like to learn how to use it. And there are some
advantages to the printer. For example, I ca make a couple of "ears" on
the side with mounting holes and make a horizontal or vertical socket.

However, I'm going to order some of this polymorph, I can see where it
is handy for many things.

Luckily, as far as 6 goes, the nephew is buying the printer and he is
expected to bring the libations for during and after assembly of the
printer!

[Jonathan Peakall]

John,

Holy cow, lots of choices! Are there some in particular you reccomend?
I'd hate to get a bunch of the wrong ones.

Are there others out there that might want some? No promises on it
working out but I am going to try.

Jonathan

[John Rehwinkel]

> Holy cow, lots of choices! Are there some in particular you reccomend? I'd hate to get a bunch of the wrong ones.

It mostly depends on whether you want to solder or crimp the wires, and if you want various locating prongs.

That said, I'm fond of these:

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/amphenol-fci/8656351064LF/609-1473-ND/1001787

These have gold flashed phosphor bronze contacts, you don't have to cut them out of a strip, and have
a nice barrel you can crimp or solder. In singles, they're 12 cents apiece, but you can get a hundred of them for US$7.11
or if you're going to share with a bunch of people, a factory package of 500 is $29.40.

If you want square pins with some locating tabs, these are decent (although not gold flashed):

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/molex-llc/0504208000/WM3324CT-ND/2405657

- John

[threeneurons]

I think using the pins from existing tube sockets is a great idea. And they don't have to be old. There are plenty of ceramic bodied newly made sockets, coming out of China. I just disassembled one, by drilling out the center pin, which works as a rivet:

The beauty of these old sockets, is that the pins float, inside the housing. This is really important, as they don't apply stress to the tube glass. Also the openings are flared, so they can compensate a little for misalignment. Use the shape of the old housing, as a guide to make the new two piece housing. 

 

On Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 12:14:21 PM UTC-7, Jonathan wrote:

HI All,

In a couple of weeks, I'm going to be helping my nephew to assemble a 3D
printer. One of the first projects I would like to use it for is to make
some B9012 Pixie tube sockets.

.... I am currently using some pin sockets scrounged from common old sockets, I

[GastonP]

My piece of advice with all of this sockets made from disassembled connectors or sockets is that they should be used to connect the nixies to cables.
As threeneurons says, it is important to let the socket "give" to the pins force and not exert any lateral force to the pins to not stress the kovar-glass junction.
There used to be printed circuit specific tube sockets which had a way to compensate for that stress, but they disappeared long ago. The new chinese ceramic sockets do not "give", thus they stress the tubes.
I know many people has made sockets out of disassembled connector and didn't have much problem but it is a matter of time, and if we talk of the (for now) cheap IN-12, it might not be a great concern, but if we talk of IN-18 or stranger (as in more expensive) tubes, I'd take that into my consideration.

[Terry S]

Has anyone tried Sugru as a socket material?

It comes in small packets and is essentially uncured rubber. Mold it into any shape and 24 hours later it is set and stable.

It seems to me that embedding socket pins into this material might work well, as the pins would remain at least somewhat flexible and minimize stress on the tube pins...

Sugru

Terry

[gregebert]

My 3D printer arrived (Monoprice 113860) and I've made 'sockets' for IN-18 tubes. Basically they are collars that fit around socket-pins soldered onto the PCB. 

If anyone wants the gcode or stl files, send me a private message and I'll forward to you.

I'm not quite ready to take orders for those who want to purchase finished units, but if there's interest let me know and I'll put some on ebay. It's not my intention to make a business of this; I'd just want to cover my costs and help others with their designs.

I also plan to make something similar for A-101 dekatrons, but so far I have not found a suitable connector pin for PCB-usage. Initially, these would be for wired connections, and be aware you only need to bring out 4 or 5 pins for a spinner. Typically all cathode pins can be tied together, unless you want to actually use it for counting, or you need to reset to a specific location.

[Nicholas Stock]

May I ask which software you used to create the .stl files? I'd be interested to print a few myself...

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[gregebert]

I use openSCAD, and create a mathematical model using cylinders. Since tube sockets use symmetrical placement, it's easy to create a loop with X & Y offsets. I also do the replicating (so I can print multiple sockets at the same time) within the code. It's just simple math + looping, but it does consume a lot of CPU time. Took ~25 minutes to render 25 sockets.

After rendering, I export into .stl format.

For printing, I use Cura to import the .stl file and export as gcode. My printer supposedly works best when printing a gcode file from a microSD card, rather than the USB port.

[Nicholas Stock]

Good to know...I've tried Tinkercad, but didn't really like it....will give openSCAD a try. I use Cura also to export to an SD card for my printer...

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[robin bussell]

On 27/04/2016 17:51, gregebert wrote:
> I use openSCAD, and create a mathematical model using cylinders. Since
> tube sockets use symmetrical placement, it's easy to create a loop with
> X & Y offsets. I also do the replicating (so I can print multiple
> sockets at the same time) within the code. It's just simple math +
> looping, but it does consume a lot of CPU time. Took ~25 minutes to
> render 25 sockets.
>

Which slicer are you using with your printer? I ask as most will be able
to do multiple copies of an object for you at slicing time. In Slic3r,
for example, you use the "plater" to arrange multiples on the bed. That
way you cut down openscad render time and can experiment with how many
copies you can print at a time without a re-render.

Cheers,
Robin.

> After rendering, I export into .stl format.
>
> For printing, I use Cura to import the .stl file and export as gcode. My
> printer supposedly works best when printing a gcode file from a microSD
> card, rather than the USB port.
>

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[Dan Hollis]

I use openscad also, can you share the script?

-Dan

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[gregebert]

This isn't my latest version, but it's close-enough to tweak.

Also, it's my first attempt using openSCAD, so it's not coded very efficiently (notice the redundant loop)

After printing 25 (I needed 18), I found that I had to clean-up the pin holes with a drill-bit because I didn't print a proper 'raft'. Make sure you print a good raft; I thought it would be easier to remove the finished items from the printer with the chamfer pointing down, but that wasn't the case, and they actually didn't look as nice as 'chamfer - up' printing.

 I was able to install all 18 onto the PCB with just a slight amount of wiggling. Big improvement in appearance as well as easier to re-install tubes (all of mine are numbered and assigned to a specific socket; never switched around as it could cause pin-stress, hence glass-cracking). 

The A-101 socket wasn't quite right the first attempt; hopefully I can fix it this weekend.

[Mike Mitchell]

I just ran across A101 sockets for sale on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Socket-13pin-dekatron-A-101-A-102-A-103-A-106-Photomultipliers-FEU-28-51-62-1-/222098868026

[gregebert]

I guess the joke's on me: I spent 350 USD for a 3D printer, so I can make $5 sockets...

...but because I need 36 of these for my next project, I've recovered half the cost.