More crazy because of anime movie...

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Bill Notfaded

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Apr 28, 2019, 5:45:13 PM4/28/19
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https://www.ebay.com/itm/NIXIE-Tubes-Assembly-National-Electronics-NL-900-7-tubes-/254212409800

I bid early on the when it was less than 100$... The fact that the tubes are soldered to the board may not be good for them. I'm not experienced with soldering tubes to boards... It's just not the method I would do I don't think.

Can you degass or hurt the tubes with heat on the pins?

Bill

gregebert

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Apr 28, 2019, 9:39:34 PM4/28/19
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Tugging on parts before they are properly unsoldered causes the most damage.

Use a suction-type desoldering tool (Edsyn Soldapult has been my favorite for almost 40 years now). First, apply a small amount of fresh solder as it will help heat the joint more uniformly. Then suck away as much molten solder as possible. Last step is to heat the wire with your soldering iron and wiggle it so it's not bonded anywhere.

If the PCB is good-quality with ample hole-clearance, the device will be completely loose.

NEVER pry a device off a board; you will break pins (and damage the PCB if that matters)

Nicholas Stock

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Apr 28, 2019, 9:51:43 PM4/28/19
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Buy a proper desoldering station....they work amazing well for these types of things. I desoldered about 100 DR2000 numitrons this way and no problems at all.

However, >$225 for a set of NL900 on a board without evidence of test is quite frankly bat shit crazy, but hey, such are the times....

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Bill Notfaded

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Apr 28, 2019, 10:04:09 PM4/28/19
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I've got a metcal MX5000 and Haako hot air pencil rework station so I can get any solder out but what does the heat do to the tubes?  That's my concern.

B

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Jeff Walton

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Apr 28, 2019, 10:13:22 PM4/28/19
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You don't have many options.  

Heating the pins of the tubes without heating the glass will stress the seals.  The pins weren't generally meant to be soldered, just don't leave the heat on too long.  In the good old days, the rework people actually heated the entire PCB from the bottom to recover parts and the removal is faster than doing it pin by pin. 

Jeff 
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Nicholas Stock

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Apr 28, 2019, 10:25:12 PM4/28/19
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This is what I use...


Really happy with it.

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Bill Notfaded

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Apr 28, 2019, 10:44:22 PM4/28/19
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That's exactly what I was thinking Jeff.  That's part of the reason I didn't think tubes like that soldered into a board were worth much.  They're halfway ruined already and by the time you might get some tubes out unscathed they'll most likely be not really in the best shape.  I've considered getting a board preheater.  If I see a decent one used I might pick one up.  The hot air pencil does wonders.  For really temp sensitive electronics... boards are always usually preheated in a production environment.

Thanks I appreciate other thoughts about stuff like this.  Unless it's a tube I just gotta have I think I'll pass on stuff like that unless it goes cheap.

Bill

Mac Doktor

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Apr 28, 2019, 11:33:40 PM4/28/19
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> On Apr 28, 2019, at 9:39 PM, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Use a suction-type desoldering tool (Edsyn Soldapult has been my favorite for almost 40 years now). First, apply a small amount of fresh solder as it will help heat the joint more uniformly. Then suck away as much molten solder as possible. Last step is to heat the wire with your soldering iron and wiggle it so it's not bonded anywhere.

Ah, the old Soldapult. I have two of them. But for this I'd use a rework station. As others have said you want minimal heating time on those pins.

Hint. the Soldapult works better if you put a short piece of teflon tubing over the tip. I've used that trick for years.


Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

Paul Andrews

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Apr 29, 2019, 6:33:49 AM4/29/19
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Yeah, saw these go crazy too. Not sure why, these have are not the tubes used by people building a divergence meter.

I didn’t realize that these were tubes with pins soldered directly to the board. First time I’ve seen that.

Richard Scales

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Apr 30, 2019, 8:45:36 AM4/30/19
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Why not leave the tubes in the board, use the drivers that are already there too. Use something like a Dremel to slice of the socket area - job done?
Richard

Bill van Dijk

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Apr 30, 2019, 8:57:51 AM4/30/19
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I’d be very scared of the damage the vibrations of the Dremel could do…..

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Mac Doktor

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Apr 30, 2019, 2:30:03 PM4/30/19
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> On Apr 30, 2019, at 8:45 AM, Richard Scales <ric...@scalesweb.co.uk> wrote:
>
> Why not leave the tubes in the board, use the drivers that are already there too. Use something like a Dremel to slice of the socket area - job done?

If it's not fiberglass you could core and break the PC board. You might have to remove the connectors first.

Nicholas Stock

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Apr 30, 2019, 2:32:36 PM4/30/19
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I highly doubt you’ll do the tubes any damage using a good desoldering station. As I said, i safely pulled over 100 DR2000 numitrons out of boards that were soldered in like that with no issues....

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Mac Doktor

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Apr 30, 2019, 2:41:25 PM4/30/19
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That's "score and break". DERR
"I don't even gargle Listerine. I heard it kills germs on contact and I don't like the idea of somethin' dyin' in my mouth."—Jim Stafford

Bill Notfaded

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May 3, 2019, 6:05:59 PM5/3/19
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It's up to 356$ in the auction for these tubes now soldered to the PCB? It's not the correct tubes for the anime movie clock... Go figure??? And it's not even over yet!

Bill

gregebert

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May 3, 2019, 6:18:55 PM5/3/19
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Cant be legitimate bidding; these tubes are neither large nor shown operating. Notice 1 bidder keeps pushing the price up.

Greg P

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May 3, 2019, 8:09:28 PM5/3/19
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I'd be glad to sell some of my 7971's for that price.  Crazy how much these have shot up recently.

Nicholas Stock

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May 3, 2019, 8:10:39 PM5/3/19
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Such is life.

Maybe retirement is a little closer! :-)

Who am I kidding.....

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Bill Notfaded

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May 3, 2019, 11:00:39 PM5/3/19
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At least maybe you guys can retire sometime... I'm afraid I may work a long time.  Just this year reached my fifth decade and all I can say is I noticed some stuff hurts more now... Like in my shoulder and elbow working on networks and computer science all day.

I am excited about one thing though today!

I ordered a numiqueen and em800 magilyzer kit from our own Mr. Nixie himself Juergen Grau!  I'm psyched.  I have a four digit iv-13 clock now but not a 6.  His clock is built the exact way I'm working on some DR20x0 numitron clocks right now.  I scored a few NIB em800 tubes too so my studio stereo will have a new attraction soon.

Lot's of neat projects going on at the same time... I really want to get these dekatrons running... I hope scuba guy comes back from vacation and I hope it's not retirement because I really am interested in his technology.

Bill

Paul Andrews

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May 4, 2019, 6:37:21 AM5/4/19
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That pain is the feeling of money leaving your bank account to buy Nixie tubes
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