Looking for large tubes

[Hunter]

Hi, Im looking for some large tubes (preferably 30mm or larger) for my clock. I can spend no more than $30 per tube. What is the best bang for the buck tube size wise that i can find. If anyone has any laying around or knows where i can get my hands on them let me know. Thanks ~Hunter

[David Forbes]

Sorry, you'll need to fire up your DeLorean time-travel machine and go
back to 2003, to find such tubes at reasonable prices.

On 2/25/16 11:49 AM, Hunter wrote:
> Hi, Im looking for some large tubes (preferably 30mm or larger) for my clock. I can spend no more than $30 per tube. What is the best bang for the buck tube size wise that i can find. If anyone has any laying around or knows where i can get my hands on them let me know. Thanks ~Hunter
>

--
David Forbes, Tucson AZ

[Nicholas Stock]

Hunter, your best bet is to get hold of some of the 'tested' Z566 or ZM1042 tubes.....there are a few listings on eBay at the moment from a reputable seller, but these probably won't be NOS tubes....finding those for under 30 dollars a tube is rare....those days are long gone I believe.

On Thu, Feb 25, 2016 at 10:49 AM, Hunter <ducttap...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Im looking for some large tubes (preferably 30mm or larger) for my clock. I can spend no more than $30 per tube. What is the best bang for the buck tube size wise that i can find. If anyone has any laying around or knows where i can get my hands on them let me know. Thanks ~Hunter

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[Hunter]

Ive seen on sphere they HAD NL 807's for $25 a tube but theyre out of stock. Ill look into the 566's now.

[Jeff Walton]

The least expensive ZM1040/ZM1042 that I have found are about $38 each from a vendor in France. There are also used tubes for about $33 each. Otherwise, most are in the $50 range.

Jeff

[Nicholas Stock]

Sphere has a lot of 'out of stock'....I don't imagine they'll be 'in stock' for long if they show up again...I've been looking for similar tubes for a long time....

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[Hunter]

I contacted Susan at sphere and she said she does have some tubes that arent listed.. She has IN-18's in stock but theyre not listed so it's possible that they have others too.

[gregebert]

IN-18's are your best option for large "affordable" nixies. At 40mm character height, and perfect digit shape (no upside-down 2's for '5') . 

Recently the price for six IN-18's has gone from around $220 US to $350. Luckily I bought what I needed for my 14-tube 'tomorrowland' clock before the price went up. I've bought from several Ebay sellers in Ukraine, and all of them were honest.

I can't vouch for IN-18 reliability because I havn't put many hours of usage on mine; others in this forum have indicated generally good-reliability, except for certain date-codes (1982, and possibly 1986 if I recall, were the problematic ones). Supposedly the 'OTK' stamp is a good indication, but I cant confirm that because all mine are marked OTK.

Be careful with the pins; most of the IN-18 tubes I have use a softer material so they bend very easily. But I do have one manufactured in 1977 that has stiffer and shiny pins.

[Jeff Walton]

The ZM1040/ZM1042 are 30mm height and also have very nicely formed digits.  Prices range from ~$40-$60 per tube.  The Z566 is also the same size digit.  There are many variations in the envelope style as there were several manufacturers.  You can find both rounded top and tops that have the evacuation peak.

 

The IN-18 tube is a 40mm height digit and prices have increased dramatically in the last two years and will cost ~$55-$65 each.  I have only seen the Russian tubes and they all have the rounded envelope top.

 

Both ZM1040 and IN-18 tube types are available on eBay as of today, but you won’t find under $30/tube…

 

Jeff

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[Nicholas Stock]

It sure has become a regrettably expensive hobby since I started in 2000....back then I balked at IN18's going for 10 dollars a tube or thereabouts.....where is that damn DeLorean....

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[chuck richards]

Try searching on Ebay by slightly mis-spelling the term "nixie".

I have done this a lot. Did this one time, and typed in "nixi",
and up popped an auction for (4) NOS in-the-box NL-807 tubes.
Purchased those (4) tubes for $4 each.

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[Nicholas Stock]

OK, hands up everyone who just did that!! ;-)

4$ each? Wow.

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[Jonathan F.]

See ebay listing 161983596999 for used ZM1042 four pcs, seems like a fine price.

Or ebay listing 111899945787 for ZM1042 tubes, they look very nice. I bought some other nixies from this seller, all were fine

The ZM1042 has 30mm digits