Millclock ZIN18 Nixie Tubes & Clocks

If, like us here at Coolector HQ, you’ve got a weird fascination with Nixie tubes and how they are crafted and used in products then chances are you’re going to want to sit up and take notice of (and throw your money at) this Millclock ZIN18 Nixie Tubes & Clocks campaign which is funding over on Kickstarter as we speak. This eye-catching offering is a new, wonderfully compact Nixie tube which is being used to make some of the coolest looking clocks you’re likely to encounter.

The Millclock ZIN18 Nixie Tubes & Clocks on Kickstarter have already flown past their funding target because there are plenty of people just as beguiled as us with this design aesthetic who want to add one of these stunning looking clocks to their own workspace. This cracking piece of design immediately draws the eye and aims to overcome the fact that Nixie tubes are no longer mass produced by designing and manufacturing a new form of tube which they aim to use in an array of products going forward.

Rebirth of a Classic

As you may be aware, most of the Nixie tube products you see out there are made from materials taken from storage that is usually over 50 years old but Millclock are striving to make this a more manageable and effective undertaking by creating their own materials. Through considerable time and research they have come up with their own form of tubing which can be used in a wide variety of different projects, and delivers a contemporary, more widely available alternative to the older original Nixie tube components which are becoming harder and harder to come across.

The Millclock ZIN18 Nixie Tubes & Clocks on Kickstarter is essentially a low energy-consuming lamp with minimum supply voltage of 170V, minimum cathode current of 5mA, and maximum cathode current of 8mA. They are available in three different varieties and these are aluminium, black anodised and sand blasted aluminium and they all boast a highly striking visual impact that looks great in the clock setting.

It is the smart base of these Nixie tubes from Millclock which really helps to set them apart from the competition and the base consists of a programmable circuit mini board to control the nixie tube. The construction of the smart base provides more space in your project for additional hardware and technology if required and the ZIN18 cathode digits can easily be programmed to display exact time and other valuable data as well.

Your Own Creations

The beauty of this Kickstarter campaign from Millclock is the fact that you can use these cleverly conceived Nixie tubes to create a wide array of things yourself on top of the clock which most might use them for. They are sold in packs of one, four or six tubes and they are very simple, reliable, and beautiful to use in new devices. You just have to place them on the board, do some simple programming, attach the casing or base of your choice, and enjoy your own creation for many years.

We love the aesthetic impact of Nixie tubes here at The Coolector and it’s great to see Millclock doing what they can to make them more commercially available to the masses to create their own pieces of design with a Nixie tube as the stand out feature. If you opt to back one of the Millclock Nixie Clocks during this Kickstarter, it comes with software and a companion smartphone application that is available for both iOS and Android — which lets users control the Nixie tubes or clock directly from their smartphone.