Nixie Tube Socket Pins

I want to make a watch with some nixie tubes, Dolam 513 and Z560M. They need a socket called B13B - for a lot of money, and too big for me. The other possibility is to use solderable socket pins, for the 1 mm pin diameter. These are not available, but you can take them off from the old parallel or serial port sockets. Not a big deal, but if you see the photos, will be easier for you.

Step 1: The Serial Port Socket

The pins are deep in the socket, and you cannot pull them out. Ok, there is the force, which helps, but the pins will be damaged.

On the last photo You see the best version of D-SUB socket. it is made for soldering into the PCB, so it has small diameter pins, and even brand new is not too expensive (I have bought a 25p D.SUB socket for 0,4 USD in Hungary) - but let's try the ebay...

Step 2: Dismantling the Socket

Just grab the side of the socket with a pliers, and bend the metal a few times. The metal frame is assembled of two parts, in this way you will have access between them, and inserting a screwdriver you can separate the two halves.

And the plastic isolater is ALSO made of two parts - thats why it was not possible to pull out the contacts before.

Step 3: The Pins on the Nixie Tube.

Thats it.

Step 4:

Comments

[Ruzsa_Janos]

I suppose only few of us will have that special dismantling tool in home - and this type of sockets are NOT dismantlable in any other way, as they were assembled in the factory by mounting the pins between the two plastic halves.

[gm280]

They actually make a little tool to remove those pins out of the DB9 connectors (actually any DB type connector) without any trouble. And since you can get them made of plastic (they make a metal version as well) it doesn't cost much either. I've used them lots of times before. But nice idea to manufacture a Nixie tube socket. Some times ingenuity works better then anything else.

[Omnivent]

Hi,

Those pin extraction tools only work with the connector housings made for them unfortunately. I've only seen them used with crimp pins (I think I have a few of that type in the back of a drawer). Regular D-sub's need to be drilled (or however) open.

I drilled open a lot of D-sub's back in time, took out some of the pins to make room for (tiny) infrared emitters/detectors, as even the best quality gold plated pins didn't stand up for long when connected/disconnected several times a day (handheld data logger terminals vs IBM mini's and main frames). The remaining pins were OK for charging the handheld terminals, but the slightest hiccup on the data lines killed the comms and the users had to start over (bad programming on the IBM gear I suppose, considering how easy it would have been to just do block loads/repeats - and when the boys in blue wouldn't go soft on it, I had to go hard(ware), which would traditionally (at least in-company) mean a sort of docking station - D-sub's to the rescue, a small fortune saved :) and then it became company standard issue for difficult cases, so I've drilled lots of them.

Regards