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First Batch Ready
12/06/2023 at 21:06 • 0 commentsThe assembled boards look beautiful! And they booted up perfectly, and thanks to the dtr/rts boot/rst transistor they program directly through USB-C without having to push any buttons., if you want one ive added the project to PCBway Projects, so its pretty easy to get one there.
Boards with tubes:
Since i finally got some prototypes to test out i dug down in my tube collection and found a SBM-20 which it is designed for accepting directly with mounted 6.5mm fuse holders, but i also have a huge SBM-19 and a pancake SI-14 Ive always wanted to check out.
SBM-20
This is what it is designed for, the small portable SBM-20 tubes, They are quite cheap, i think i paid about 15$ per piece from an Ebay seller in ukraine. They run at around 240-280v, (with the 22mh inductor i get that around 25% pwm @1000hz) and they give about 20 clicks per minute, since the power supply is software configurable, its just a matter of sending "VOxxx" commands over serial until i start to get ticks, and then i increase it a little bit. the sbm-20 tubes i usually run around VO400.
PCB with inductor and SBM-20 tube mounted I also wanted to upgrade the case, Ive made a 2 part snap fit 3d printed case, the old one weren't very water resistant if i wanted to use them outdoors, so Ive recessed the USB hole so i can pot the cable in place, and made the lid lip go a little bit further over the main case. I also designed some brackets for wall mounting.
SBM-19
Next i wanted to test out my SBM-19 tube! This is a beast, 195mm long and 19mm in diameter, running at 350-375V and gives out a nice 80-90CPM, so it sounds very geigery with multiple clicks per second just from background radiation. The fuse-holders fit on the tube terminals, but i had to solder some wires to the board
Eikgeiger with SBM-19 soldered with wires I allso made a snapfit case for this tube , its based on the SBM-20 case but much larger, and an internal cutout for the tube and fuse holder
SBM-20 tube and pcb mounted in case Case assembled The next in line is to make a battery driver version with a screen using the SI-14b pancake tube! So looking forward to that.
Below are some macro shots of the board:Very clean TH solderjoints! Happy with that Silkscreen is good and legible 0.6mm high silkscreen text Voltage doublers