Hayling Island

Hayling Island

Friday, May 29, 2020

Warm weather, and the Nixie clock is suddenly very accurate

My Nixie clock in the Lab is suddenly maintaining time to the second. It's controlled by a crystal, and always has run a little bit fast since I never got around to putting a trimmer cap on it. Now I know that crystals age; the mechanical stress it is under when mounted relaxes over time; purities move within the crystal, and the crystal itself might lose a bit - or gain a bit of mass as crap floats around. It's not oven controlled or anything - just room temperature controlled, and now, it's fantastic.

I was talking about replacing it and building a new one. I wonder if it heard me?