28 Sep
2012
28 Sep
'12
12:17 p.m.
On Fri, 28 Sep 2012, Dave McGuire wrote:
I understand both mindsets, and I agree. The thing
is, our society is
losing information at an amazing and terrifying rate, and one of the
pieces of information that appears (due to this conversation) on the
verge of being "lost" is what a Nixie tube actually is. It's not really
open to interpretation or debate; the owner of the name (Burroughs) said
so, and has done so over many decades.
Yes, one could pop the nipple and re-fill with a different gas...but
while it would be cool to do, is it really worth doing if the only goal
is to prove someone wrong on a mailing list? And if it is, then have
you really achieved that? I say possibly not, because then you'd have a
*modified* Nixie tube.
Has anyone come up with a method of rebuilding failed Nixie tubes yet?
That would interest me a lot more than somehow changing the display color.
Given that people have been able to fabricate entire tubes in their own
shop/lab now, it seems like it would only be a matter of time before
someone figures out how to do the same with Nixie tubes.