Nice purchase for anyone interested in unusual single digit vfd tunes

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David Eustace

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Apr 17, 2020, 11:09:54 AM4/17/20
to neoni...@googlegroups.com

(Not my sale, just came up on one of my alerts)

Mac Doktor

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Apr 17, 2020, 3:15:59 PM4/17/20
to neonixie-l

On Apr 17, 2020, at 11:09 AM, David Eustace <dave.eu...@gmail.com> wrote:


(Not my sale, just came up on one of my alerts)

Very cute. Direct link eBay US:



Now checking my searches for today...


Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor”

"Never install version point-zero of anything"

Michail Wilson

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Apr 23, 2020, 3:12:05 PM4/23/20
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It didn’t sell for 99eu + shipping.

So, he relisted it for 156eu + shipping.

 

What am I missing?

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

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David Eustace

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Apr 23, 2020, 3:19:05 PM4/23/20
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That’s very weird! He must think if he gives the illusion of value it’ll be worth it. 

I’ve been watching out for things like this for ages and out of nowhere there are actually another 2 opportunities to buy calculators with these types of very unusual vfd tubes:

I would go for one of these but when I checked I found I had plenty of DG12B tubes I’d had to get from Japan for quite a lot more once shipping and customs got involved :(

GCNige

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Apr 23, 2020, 4:25:25 PM4/23/20
to neonixie-l
Out of interest http://vintagecalculators.com/html/calculator_displays.html#VFD explains the origin of these tubes with unusually shaped digits:
"In June 1967 the journal "Electronics" reported that Japanese calculator manufacturers were battling the high royalties that Burroughs Corporation was asking when they produced copies of its Nixie tubes.  This resulted in Vacuum Fluorescent Displays (VFDs) being developed in Japan jointly by Hayakawa (Sharp) and the Ise Electronics Co.  These "Digitron" tubes were used first in the Sharp Compet CS-16A calculator, launched at the end of 1967.

The half-height zeros make the display more readable when the calculator does not have leading-zero suppression."

"Electronics" journal explained: "For the desk calculator, the digit patterns of the tubes were redesigned for better readability.  The "0", for example, has only half the height of other digits.  That way, the string of "0's" before the first significant number in the display is no longer a nuisance and there's no need to blank them out."

Hayakawa (later changing its name to Sharp) were OEM for a number of companies including Facit, as in the first eBay listing.

Leading-zero suppression in calculators was soon implemented and Sharp used VFD tubes with the standard design of characters from the early 1970s.


On Thursday, April 23, 2020 at 8:19:05 PM UTC+1, DaveE wrote:
That’s very weird! He must think if he gives the illusion of value it’ll be worth it. 

I’ve been watching out for things like this for ages and out of nowhere there are actually another 2 opportunities to buy calculators with these types of very unusual vfd tubes:

I would go for one of these but when I checked I found I had plenty of DG12B tubes I’d had to get from Japan for quite a lot more once shipping and customs got involved :(
On Thu, 23 Apr 2020 at 20:12, Michail Wilson <M...@michail.com> wrote:

It didn’t sell for 99eu + shipping.

So, he relisted it for 156eu + shipping.

 

What am I missing?

 

Michail Wilson

206-920-6312

 

From: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of David Eustace
Sent: Friday, April 17, 2020 8:10 AM
To: neoni...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [neonixie-l] Nice purchase for anyone interested in unusual single digit vfd tunes

 

 

(Not my sale, just came up on one of my alerts)

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