I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – Vacuum tubes are an amazing thing to behold! I actually think I might have a slight vacuum tube obsession. Every time I come across them on my journeys I’m compelled to buy them.
The problem I have though is what to do with them all! Most just sit in a draw and I periodically pull them out and to admire them. I have made a display in the past (check out the ‘ible here) but I had to damage it to enable it to be illuminated with an LED.
You can actually heat up the heater coils inside the tube with 6.5v and they will softly glow. The problem though is they get very hot and could be dangerous to touch. So instead I decided to light them up with LED’s but this time not damaging the actual tube. I also included a circuit where the LED’s react to sound, making them flash and dance to sound. I included a way to turn this off so the LED’s are always on.
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