Dekatron art

[Morris Odell]

Hi all,

 

Here’s a video of a dekatron based conversation piece that doesn’t do anything but look beautiful.

 

http://youtu.be/dlo7b4WbiiQ

 

Morris

[Joseph Bento]

It's almost like a high-tech version of the old neon idiot box... remember those?  This is really nice.  Do you share the schematic?

[Jon D.]

I'd be interested in the schematic as well.

[threeneurons]

Its got dekatrons and its got wood. I approve !

Circuit isn't too complex. Can be done with either a uC, or straight logic. If a uC, you can get fancier with the pattern. 

[Joseph Bento]

I've played with dekatrons only enough to make a single tube spinner.  It spins in a clockwise direction.  I'm unsure of how to get the tube to spin counterclockwise.   Might it be as easy as reversing the grids?  I've never tried.

On Friday, January 17, 2014 3:59:02 PM UTC-7, Morris Odell wrote:

[threeneurons]

Dekatrons aren't to hard to play with. Ones with two, or three guide sets can be stepped in either direction. I personally think they are the funnest tubes ever made ! Here is a link to my page:

http://threeneurons.wordpress.com/dekatron-stuff/

Here is link for just pendulum circuits, not using a uC:

http://threeneurons.wordpress.com/dekatron-stuff/pendulums/

[greg...@hotmail.com]

On Sunday, January 19, 2014 8:46:37 AM UTC-8, Joseph Bento wrote:

>   Might it be as easy as reversing the grids?  I've never tried.

Correct. A dekatron actually has 30 cathodes. 10 of them are separately pinned-out, so that the counting function is available externally.

10 cathodes are connected to a single pin, call it group1

The remaining 10 cathodes are connected to group 2.

The cathodes are arranged radially, something like this:

Cathode 0

Group 1

Group 2

Cathode 1

Group 1

Group 2

Cathode 2.

All cathodes connect to ground via a resistor. The dot will "follow" the path of least resistance. To make it move, group1 is pulled low, and then group 2 is pulled low. Then group1 is released. Finally, group 2 is released and the dot moves to the next cathode. To reverse the direction, pull group 2 low, then pull group1 low, then release group 2, then release group 1