Lixie Clock with colons and ESP8266 (ESP-12E)

thingiverse

I already own some real nixie clocks and so want a lixie that looks and acts as similar as possible like the nixies.\r\nSo, based on Folkers' lixie digit, I created digit positions for colons and used an ESP8266-Module ESP-12E to control it, having a web interface where I can retrieve time over NTP without needing a separate RTC module, and achieve smooth digit changes.\r\nI also added connectors to connect the digits and endpieces to improve the sides' appearance.\r\nFor the digits themselves, I used cast acrylic because engraved lines are more frosted here than in extruded acrylic, making numbers appear brighter. Unfortunately, cast acrylic has significant thickness tolerances; my acrylic sheets measure between 2.2 and 2.5 mm thick instead of 2.0 mm. Clearly, these digits wouldn't fit into the shades, so I created shade-plates with wider holes to use them.\r\nThe engraved lines look better when engraved from the back side of the plate; therefore, I mirrored the numbers for that purpose.\r\nTo see the current state of the firmware and web interface along with its usage, watch this video: https://youtu.be/9bHxMQD_vJw\r\nThe firmware for this clock is available on GitHub at https://github.com/xSnowHeadx/lixie (also in German).\r\nThis software allows using the clock without colons; if you don't use colon digits, I recommend using the wider connector variant at the colon positions to optically separate hours, minutes, and seconds.