1972 Vintage Aries Digital VFD Tube Clock AR-730-K

[@stefanobozzini6353]

You ‘re back with digital clock ! You make me happy …. Thanks Jim Ciao Stefano

[@JIMO415]

I am happy too. Thank you for the note and I am glad that you enjoyed it. There will be more! I am still moving a little slow.

[@Enigma758]

I love the look of those 70s style boards and electronics, brings back memories. And the wood case too! I also like VFDs, maybe because green is my favorite color. I do like the blue bezel, that's another nice thing about VFDs is that you can alter the color using a filter. Orange gives you yellow, and red gives you white.

[@JIMO415]

Interesting fact on the other filter colors. Yes, the 70's style boards..... Simple to work on and a beauty lost with time. Hopefully I can continue to dig up more. I do like the orange glow of the Nixie and Numitron tubes but the VFD has a different appealing draw about it that I like. Glad you enjoyed.

[@larrwill]

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing it cleaned up and running.

[@JIMO415]

Thanks! Me too. How's the ground hog these days? LOL

[@larrwill]

😂maybe someday I will post a clock video!

[@ElectronicsUSA]

Jim, that's really a NICE clock (a true beauty), and great addition to your fantastic collection. The case is one the nicer ones I've seen among vintage digital clocks. Interesting about the MM5311 - the brother chip of the famous MM5314. Popular Mechanics - a source of clock info I would not have considered. Thanks for adding the quite readable pages at the end for an instant read. Looking forward to the follow up and tube status. Enjoy!

[@JIMO415]

Thanks!

[@thomasw2509]

Nice, You did it again. ;-)

[@JIMO415]

I did do it again!

[@TLang-el6sk]

Would love to see this in operation. A few years ago I did my own VFD clock project with the Archer DT1704 which also is a very early tube. The first version had the "naked" segments without even a support structure, the newer ones had a mica sheet to support the segments. This was planned as a kit, a forum owner here in Europe promised to write a feature about it if he got a clock for cheap, so I delivered while he NEVER did. Bummer! So I still have a few kits left.

[@JIMO415]

In time, I will get it going. Probably toward/during winter. I would be very interested in seeing what these kits look like if they are early. Too bad the write up was not done!!! Sorry about that. Was this forum TubeClockDB.com by any chance? I have one Tungsol 1704C with the naked look. It is different for sure. It looks as if the parts inside are floating in a way.

[@TLang-el6sk]

@@JIMO415 Yes, exactly that forum. And it's a shame that it was taken down completely instead of setting it readonly. A lot of knowledge has gone lost due to this step. And not everything is archived. If you search for my name as written in my url (torstenlang) and nixie you should find the page. And yes, it's quite outdated - it was originally made so that the target audience (Atari and Amiga users) could visit the website with their native browsers.

[@markgreco1962]

Thanks Jim

[@JIMO415]

Thank you. More waiting to be shown and later on worked on!

[@thomasw2509]

So sweet. Shall I make a new old clock from an MM5316 and a bunch of Japanese made Futaba DG1Q1 taken out an old digital desk calculator, I got from a friend living far east coast of in Russia before the stupid counterproductive useless sanctions?

[@JIMO415]

there is a schematic floating around online using the 5316 and vfd tubes.....might as well if you get bored. They sat ac current for the filaments works best. It get difficult to find the correct transformer. I have started a vfd build and plan on using two transformers. One will be rectified for the driving circuit and the other will be left ac and isolated for the filament string with a reference resistor.

[@thomasw2509]

@@JIMO415 You got mail with schematics, pictures of vfd psu