Omni Ray M40

[Senk Ju]

I just wanted to share some pictures of these Omni Ray M40 displays I picked up six of recently for an absolute bargain. I haven’t found any specific information about this model online, but I did come across details on the closely related SD12, including its method of operation, on this site:  SD12W (Omni Ray) Sphericular Optic Display.

These displays operate on just 14 volts, compared to the SD12’s 28 volts, and have a PCB backplate.

[Senk Ju]

Forgot to mention, they also have a left decimal point.

[Nicholas Stock]

Super cool! I wonder how easy they would be to recreate...

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[Senk Ju]

Probably pretty difficult. These displays contain hundreds of tiny lenses that focus light differently based on the angle at which it strikes them, thereby forming the digits. One of the displays seems to have a defect, which I believe may be due to a slightly misaligned lens plate.

[Ron Walsh]

That is a very cool tube.  Never seen those before.  Great score there Senk Ju.

Ron

...Semper Fidelis...

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/a361ee20-10cd-4dc7-83fb-0b415e8c2e9en%40googlegroups.com

.

[gregebert]

I recently made a clock with similar displays from IEE. I'm worried about filament stress, so I dont run the seconds for more than a minute at-a-time. I also have pre-heating , cool-down, and current-limiting so that the filaments never get a current-surge at turn-on. Time will tell if they last a long time.

[Richard Scales]

I'm just working on a clock using these displays (or ones which look the same but made by / badged Burroughs). 
If you take one apart - do you end up with a bunch of bulbs pushed in to a plate?

The ones I have certainly do.
I've just pulled the bulbs and plugged in LEDs (it was that simple), job done.

By changing the incandescent bulbs to LED I trade authenticity for functionality, robustness and longevity!

Now I have a board with a Wemos Micro , shift registers and buffers which will control 6 of them. The boards arrived this week and I hope to build one up at the weekend.

ULN2803 this side, 595's on the back, screw terminals to connect to each display with series resistors for each LED,  connections for power, PIR, temp/pressure sensor
I'll report progress as and when it happens.

 - Richard

[Robert]

Hi Richard

Will that be a one off clock?

Rob

On 1 Nov 2024, at 06:20, Richard Scales <ric...@scalesweb.co.uk> wrote:

I'm just working on a clock using these displays (or ones which look the same but made by / badged Burroughs). 

If you take one apart - do you end up with a bunch of bulbs pushed in to a plate?

The ones I have certainly do.
I've just pulled the bulbs and plugged in LEDs (it was that simple), job done.

By changing the incandescent bulbs to LED I trade authenticity for functionality, robustness and longevity!

Now I have a board with a Wemos Micro , shift registers and buffers which will control 6 of them. The boards arrived this week and I hope to build one up at the weekend.

To view this discussion, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/a4fce05d-b510-4bfb-90cf-543a096da6e6n%40googlegroups.com.

<6tubeled.JPG>

[Mac Doktor]

On Nov 1, 2024, at 12:37 AM, gregebert <greg...@hotmail.com> wrote:

I recently made a clock with similar displays from IEE. I'm worried about filament stress, so I dont run the seconds for more than a minute at-a-time. I also have pre-heating , cool-down, and current-limiting so that the filaments never get a current-surge at turn-on. Time will tell if they last a long time.

Dropping the voltage on incandescent lamps by 10% increases the life by a lot. Doing all of the above make it about as foolproof as possible. I power up my antique Xmas lights up by slowly increasing the voltage with a variac. Having a box that does all of that for me would be nice. 

Note that I'm using parallel wired festoons connected to a big 12V exterior lighting transformer and light dimmers are right out because of the inductive load. There IS such a dimmer but I haven't seen any for sale for a long time. I actually have one in a portable neon sign transformer but I don't care to remove it.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

"If only you could see what I've seen with your eyes."—Roy Batty, Blade Runner

[Instrument Resources of America]

What about a motor speed controller, either bought new from a hardware store, or removed from an old power tool.??

Ira.

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[Mac Doktor]

On Nov 1, 2024, at 3:41 PM, Instrument Resources of America <IRACO...@HUGHES.NET> wrote:

What about a motor speed controller, either bought new from a hardware store, or removed from an old power tool.??

I haven't been able to find a triac-based "dimmer" anywhere that can handle an inductive load. I know that it's possible but the market for such things must have plummeted in the last 20 years.

All of the motor controllers I've seen either use an SCR (which half-wave rectifies the AC) or are specifically for DC motors. If anyone can find what I need I'm all eyes.

[Richard Scales]

Rob,

I am only really designing and testing the board to control these displays.

Personally I only have 4 displays so my clock will be HH:MM but the person I am doing it for  has a full set of 6.

If you can find the displays then I can provide the controller.

- Richard

[Richard Scales]

Does anyone out there have two of these Sphericular displays that they may be willing to part with?
I have four of the Burroughs ones and would like to add two more to complete a clock design. 
I have the electronics ready and the software is nearly there,

I have replaced the incandescent bulbs with leds which I appreciate may detract from the authenticity of the devices, it does remove all issues associated with turning bulbs on and off repeatedly.

- Richard

[Mac Doktor]

Coming back to this topic...

On Nov 18, 2024, at 1:36 AM, Richard Scales <ric...@scalesweb.co.uk> wrote:

I have the electronics ready and the software is nearly there,

I have replaced the incandescent bulbs with leds which I appreciate may detract from the authenticity of the devices, it does remove all issues associated with turning bulbs on and off repeatedly.

On Nov 2, 2024, at 1:19 AM, Richard Scales <ric...@scalesweb.co.uk> wrote:

If you can find the displays then I can provide the controller.

I have two of a "One-Plane Digital Display Unit" made by Industrial Electronic Engineers. Model "20026", 28V. Do you or anyone else have something for a single display?

I have a Soviet one as well but it's missing the "screen".

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

“...the book said something astonishing, a very big thought. The stars, it said, were suns but very far away. The Sun was a star but close up.”—Carl Sagan, "The Backbone Of Night", Cosmos, 1980

[Mac Doktor]

On Nov 18, 2024, at 12:02 PM, Mac Doktor <themac...@gmail.com> wrote:

Coming back to this topic...

Update: the units I have aren't numeric. They're all text. Since I collect symbolic tubes this isn't a disaster. There is some water damage. Not catastrophic but several bulbs are badly corroded and there's crud on the backside of some of the optics..

One of the things displayed is a solid red circle. If anyone would like to trade a numeric unit for this oddball I'm all ears.

Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
"The Mac Doctor"

https://www.astarcloseup.com

"Every kid starts out as a natural-born scientist, and then we beat it out of them. A few trickle through the system with their wonder and enthusiasm for science intact."—Carl Sagan, Psychology Today, 1996