tip on how to easily insert nixies into the boards

[blave549]

I am in the process of building the 6-tube board, having already built the 4-tube one a few months ago. As you may know, it can be somewhat frustrating and time-consuming to get the nixie pin-wires inserted into the correct holes, even by using the plastic tube-base as a sort of template. I don't know if this has been suggested before, bu what I've started doing is

1) leave 4 adjacent wires at their original length -- I pick the ones at the "top" of the tube (it's pretty easy to get 4 wires in the board holes, then it gets more and more difficult, at least for me);
2) cut each of the remaining wires to a slightly shorter length than the one before, as I work around the tube.

i.e.,

1---------------------
2---------------------
3---------------------
4---------------------
5--------------------
6-------------------
7------------------
8-----------------
9----------------
10-------------
11------------

of course you have to be careful to not run out of wire length by the time you get to the last one!  But anyway after I've done that, getting the tube into the board becomes a 30 second effort rather than a 5 minute one, with less cussing too.

cheers,

Dave B.

[nonentity]

I am in the process of building the 6-tube board, having already built the 4-tube one a few months ago. As you may know, it can be somewhat frustrating and time-consuming to get the nixie pin-wires inserted into the correct holes, even by using the plastic tube-base as a sort of template. I don't know if this has been suggested before, bu what I've started doing is

1) leave 4 adjacent wires at their original length -- I pick the ones at the "top" of the tube (it's pretty easy to get 4 wires in the board holes, then it gets more and more difficult, at least for me);
2) cut each of the remaining wires to a slightly shorter length than the one before, as I work around the tube.

i.e.,

1---------------------
2---------------------
3---------------------
4---------------------
5--------------------
6-------------------
7------------------
8-----------------
9----------------
10-------------
11------------

of course you have to be careful to not run out of wire length by the time you get to the last one!  But anyway after I've done that, getting the tube into the board becomes a 30 second effort rather than a 5 minute one, with less cussing too.

cheers,

Dave B.

EXCELLENT TIP!  I have been doing this for a while and haven't been able to make a tutorial for it, but this is a perfect illustration of this method.

Thanks much!

[Pete Chestna]

Just finished with my build and I used a different method. I pulled the insulator all the way to the bottom of the pins to straighten and position them. Then held that against the board. Most of the pins seated immediately. I then pulled the insulator up an inch or so and seated the other pins with needle nose pliers and then pushed the tube home. Took a minute or so per tube.