Calculator vfd tubes enquiry

[DaveE]

Hi all, and thanks to Paul Andrews for turning me on to this group.

I have a general interest in all things Nixie, just trying to graduate from clock kit builder to at least one custom design (well, the case at least), but I've also become fascinated by vfd displays. To this end, I've bought a couple of vintage calculators to play with.

One of these, the Sperry Remington 663 (an OEM version of the Casio CM series) uses six LD8035E tubes (see pic). I've had the bright idea of trying to rewire the tubes onto longer wires for future placement into some self designed casing. I had managed to prove the principle to myself but fell at the last hurdle - I had cut one of the wires too short and in trying to solder on a jumper wire, managed to give the tube a bit too much heat to explosive effect. It was the bloomin' last segment as well. The attached photo was taken just beforehand.

I'm sticking with my idea though - though obviously now need at least one tube replaced, and if I was a sensible man I'd hedge against it happening again.

Struggling to find the tubes on ebay and though Paul turned me onto a Japanese auction site, the posting is for 10 tubes and likely to incur some pretty serious extra charges. I was wondering if anyone knew of a source closer to home, preferably UK or EU? I only need 2or 3, and happy to pay a going rate if postage and import fees could be a bit cheaper. While I know it's not much of an incentive, I also have a couple of IN-12s and IV-22s I could offer up to swap (though they're so cheap I doubt they'd be of interest).

If anyone could point me in the right direction for these tubes it'd be much appreciated. It might actually be cheaper to buy another calculator for parts but that seems so wasteful (and not necessarily very cheap).

Many thanks all!

Dave E

[Oscilloclock]

Hi Paul, I’m happy to grab those LD8035Es off auction and ship to you. They seem dirt cheap. And Japan Post is actually incredibly reasonable compared to other countries’ postal services. Give me a PM if I can help.

- Aaron

[Oscilloclock]

^ Oops, I meant Dave, not Paul!

[DaveE]

Hi Aaron, thanks for the offer. I was hoping someone might just have a pile I could buy from but that doesn’t seem to be the case!

Where are you based? Don’t want anyone to go too much trouble! Paul has also spoken about buying and sending a couple out but he’s US so the stacked shipping and customs are a little much, though I really appreciated his offer.

Dave

[Oscilloclock]

I’m in Japan and it’s not too much trouble if folks are in a pinch. There are lots of listings:

30 for 2000 yen
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w264309040

4 for 860 yen (Multiple listings like this)
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/t601420112

Fees and shipping to me and then onwards shouldn’t be too much, maybe a further 2000-2500 yen depending on weight.

[David Eustace]

Hi Aaran,

Hopefully you can remember doing me the brillaint favour of purchasing some items off the japanese yahoo auctions site and forwarding on to me?

I actually bought a calculator through buyee.jp (not wanting to cause any fuss) but the fees were so high it's driven me to ask if you'd be prepared to repeat the favour? It's absolutely no problem if you can't or if it's too much bother, I fully understand.

But I'm looking to pick up 5 of these beauties: https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/t648809864?conversionType=search_suggest 

What do you think?

Best,

Dave

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/neonixie-l/M0cGGUQ392U/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to neonixie-l+...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send an email to neoni...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/bfcd159c-a48f-4431-b9db-d15b7ea80415%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[Oscilloclock]

Hi Dave

It’s not much trouble. That listing had ended; if you can use Buyee to find what you need and let me know (please PM so the group doesn’t get spammed :) and I’ll get them for you.

One day I may need a similar return favour, who knows!

- Aaron