'Tube socket pins'. What are they really?

[Paul Andrews]

Does anyone know what these are actually called so that I can find them on digikey or mouser? I assume that they are the female receptacles that were used on things like the D-SUB connector, but no amount of searching with variations of that description turns these up. Or is it just as cheap to buy them as 'Nixie tube sockets' from ebay?

[Joe Croft]

Hi Paul,

Not quite the same but they work will with IN-12 nixies, millmax 0327-0-15-01-34-27-10-0 Mouser part number 0327-0-15-01-34-27-10-0

Their description is 'IC & Component Sockets SOCK PC SOLDER MOUNT'

-joe

On Fri, May 12, 2017 at 7:39 AM, Paul Andrews <pa...@nixies.us> wrote:

Does anyone know what these are actually called so that I can find them on digikey or mouser? I assume that they are the female receptacles that were used on things like the D-SUB connector, but no amount of searching with variations of that description turns these up. Or is it just as cheap to buy them as 'Nixie tube sockets' from ebay?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to neoni...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/acbe4682-c857-47fa-9a61-ad0775951994%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[gregebert]

Greatest thing since sliced bread......I first used them with my 14-tube IN-18 clock, and also use them in my current b7971 clock.

I think one of our neonixie members sells them.

The pins themselves have low insertion-force onto common nixies (5092, 6091, IN-18, b7971 from my own experience) and are soldered to the PC board to essentially form a socket. 

#1. Assign a specifc tube to each location

#2. Put the socket pins onto  tube

#3. Solder into place. Pins are conformed to tube so stress is minimized

#4. 3D print a collar and place over pins to protect them. Also looks like a real socket

I'll try to post pics tonight

[Tomasz Kowalczyk]

I've tried something called "end wire sleeve" (I'm not 100% sure this is the official english name for those) as pins for Z566M/LC-631/ZM1040/Z560M, to be more exact - these: http://www.tme.eu/gb/details/tul-ni-00508/bootlace-ferrules/ninigi/ . They work really well with Z566M/Z560M, pins have very little free space inside this sleeve. I've soldered them with a broken tube as a reference and other tubes fit in it really well, as long as they have straight pins. LC-631s are a bit loose and some of them won't slide in easily, viva communist times precision. ZM1040s unfortunately do not work with those at all. Datasheets for ZM1040, Z566M and Z560M specify pin diameter as 1,02mm, but only the first one does really have such diameter, Z566M/Z560Ms are more like 1mm. Those wire end sleeves are too tight for a real 1,02mm pin.

I've got one tube for about 3 weeks in sockets like this (changing between two sockets every few days, also I've pulled it out and slided back in multiple times) and it still works, so I assume it doesn't break the tubes due to too much stress on pins.

I think I'm going to risk using those in the future - theoretically they should provide worse contact than any pin that puts some pressure on the tube pin, but in reality due to tubes being used they always have pins a little bit bent in some way, so the contact should be reliable enough for this application - this is no audio signal, some noise coming from the contact can be accepted, as our eyes won't even notice :)

[gregebert]

As far as "what" the socket pins mentioned in the original post are, I'm fairly certain they are pins for PCB-mounted connectors. Normally, you would buy the entire connector, pins included.  These particular pins are split at the end (good photo in Paul's link to the Ebay listing), and are "springy" so they can accommodate a range of tube-pin diameter/length. They only require a few grams of force to insert/remove (much less than the force required by a genuine tube socket), so there is minimal stress on your tube as long as you custom-fit each tube to a particular location. Even when tubes are switched around, there's no noticeable difference in insertion force.

From the photo, you will see 3 regions of the socket pin (solder-tail, central barrel, upper clasp). I design my PCBs to accept the central 'barrel' section, solder in-place, then snip-off the tail. Be sure to make a hole,  with plenty of clearance, in your PCB for the glass nib that exists on many tubes (IN-18, 7971). Be warned the nibs are not in the same location from tub-to-tube.

I never bothered to look for another source; the price on Ebay is pretty good and the seller is reliable. I just bought another 250 of them a few weeks ago.

[gregebert]

Grainy picture showing tube with socket pins, ready to be soldered, socket pins soldered at VT2, socket pins with collar in-place at VT1.  

I had to enlarge the holes on the PCB for the glass nib.