Ice Tube Clock Kit

Product Description

Give your room a futuristic touch with the ice tube clock kit. The intriguing design of the clock displays the time through a cool glowing blue tube with 8 digits while featuring AM/PM and alarm on/off indicators - making this the ideal accent for an

Top Reviews

Nice Complete Kit, a bit pricey for what it is.
by R. McArthur (3 out of 5 stars)
May 4, 2014

First off I want to state that I do really like this clock. It's a really cool display and the kit was a lot of fun to assemble. The directions on Adafruit's website are extremely detailed and precise. The printed circuit board is nicely silkscreened and seems to be of high quality. The display tube is of course beautiful. The acrylic case is very clever and shows the clock off nicely.

Once assembled and working, you can use it as a clock or since it can be re-programmed you can use it as a starting point for various hacks/mods or a programming project.

I would not recommend this for someone with no experience soldering before. Many of the solder pads on the circuit board are close together and without experience I could see it being easy for someone to create a short. If you have a a low to moderate level of experience soldering circuit boards you'll be perfectly fine, just don't make this your first project involving soldering.

Now, why only 3 stars:

If I could give it 3 and a half I would. I was really borderline on giving this 4 stars (again I do really like it)... a lot of what I am going to list as wrong here I would have forgiven on a less expensive product. If it were more around $50 I would easily give it 4 maybe even 5 stars.

Quality Control Issues:

Case Quality Control:

Another reviewer complained abut this as well. Their complaint was about the hole in the side for supporting the tubes nipple. For me that's not an issue, I figure not all tubes are exactly the same and they need to account for that. The bigger problem I have with the case is that some of the screw holes were cut so close to the edge of the acrylic that they actually blew out the side (imagine a c instead of a o). It wasn't visible once assembled but I have to worry about lost strength.

Component Quality Control:

My clock did not work with the components included. Specifically the transistor used to control power to the tube failed. Their instructions do warn that it's very static sensitive, but I took every proper static precaution. Reading in their forum this part seems to be a common point of failure. I was able to get the clock working by by-passing this transistor for now and I've ordered a different model transistor to replace it which was recommended as a more durable alternative. Since it's known that this component frequently fails and a more rugged alternative cost less than 50 cents, why include it in an $85 kit?

Cost:

I was going to give this kit 4 stars based on my purchase price of $85, but when I went to put my review in Amazon I noticed that the price was now almost $120. Since I was borderline on that 4 stars, that convinced me to go with 3. FYI at the time I'm writing this the manufacture does still have them available on their site for the normal price. Anyway, while I appreciate the fact that it comes with a clever laser cut case and good quality pre-printed circuit boards.... if you were to purchase the tube and all of the components on your own you would only be at around $30. However you wouldn't have a nice printed circuit board or perfectly fitting acrylic enclosure to put it in or a support forum of people who have built the exact same clock so that has some value.

Conclusion:

Great Kit that's a lot of fun to put together. Especially for someone who likes unique clocks and electronics projects. I feel it's a bit expensive for what it is. I would expect better QC from a kit in this price range.
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Five Stars
by Nancy A. Desanto (5 out of 5 stars)
December 26, 2014

Love this clock
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Amaze your friends!
by Eric J. (5 out of 5 stars)
September 5, 2015

I purchased this from the manufacturer's web site; their price was considerably lower than Amazons, something which I hope is a fluke and not a trend. According to my measurements, the finished version of this clock is approximately 6 inches long, 1-1/4 inches deep, and 3 inches high. To me it looks a little bigger in the pictures than it looks in real life. However, it also looks a lot more interesting in real life than it does in the pictures. The see-through enclosure shows off all of the electronic components which you skillfully assembled. My Ice Tube Clock has been working for several days now and I still can't stop looking at it. The display is at its best in lower light, but with the adjustable brightness it looks OK in normal room lighting as well.

For those curious about the assembly process, my prior soldering experience was very limited. I upgraded my $5 soldering iron (from Amazon, of course), watched a few YouTube videos, and that was enough to get me going. I am a lot better at soldering now, and I've even managed to develop some skills in the much more challenging art of desoldering.

There are NO printed assembly or operating instructions. You assemble the clock by going to the Adafruit web site and following their detailed instructions and photos. I used my 10" pad to view their web site, and it worked mostly fine. Here are a few pointers based upon my experience:
> Some, though not all photos will expand when you tap on them. This was one of the bigger challenges; apparently there can be a longer-than-expected delay between when you tap (or click) on the photo and when it expands. That led me to believe that none of them will expand, which ultimately proved to be wrong. So I built most of the kit by looking at the small versions of the photos, not the large ones.
> The printed circuit board has a lot of components packed in fairly tightly, They are all nicely labeled, but sometimes one label is close to two different places where a component will fit. When in doubt, refer back to the EXPANDED photo for details. Even when not in doubt, verify first, then solder.
> There are some sections where they have dire warnings about if you mess up your kit is ruined, 'cause the component can't be desoldered. One of those involves soldering a "header" to a small circuit board which holds the "ice tube." Make sure to view the expanded photo for this step!!! The native sized photo is misleading and will cause you to do bad things. There are important details which you can see on the expanded photo which makes things much more clear.
> There appears to be a general rule, which Adafruit could add to their web site for the benefit of all: If you ever find yourself soldering on the silk screened side of any circuit board, you are doing something wrong.

Overall I had a good time putting together this kit, and while the last thing I need is another clock around the house, I am already browsing for another kit.

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