Source for Russian Components

[dennishoy]

Folks,

A while ago, I fancied a challenge so decided to make a clock from mainly Russian components. I did not want to risk import taxes and VAT so buying from the Russian Federation was not an option.

I found this seller in Romania (now in the EU) and hope it will be OK to post the details on here without breaking any rules.

Although he sells on eBay, there are no auctions as such since everything has a fixed price in his shop. Consider this to be a 'shop' with fixed prices, not a bidding session.

I have bought some nixie bargraph displays from him to construct an analogue display for my clock.

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/valtek-2005

Please have a look through his items....

His name is Vitalie; he is very helpful with an excellent knowledge of the English language. He is willing to combine items to reduce postage costs from Romania.

He sells a lot of miniature valves of many types.
His prices seem very fair too.

I hope you don't mind me promoting his excellent shop on here as some of you, like me, may be looking for an unusual construction project.

Thanks.

[Joe]

No problem with that, Dennis. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

- Joe

[dennishoy]

No problem with that, Dennis. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.

- Joe

Thanks, Joe.
Now if only those magic eyes were EM81 instead of EM80..... damn !!

[Yorkie]

I rather like those dinky wire ended miniature triode valves (6S7B-V). Ten for about £20.00 inc P&P can't be bad:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6S7B-V-Triode-...tronics_R2&hash=item3cc6dbb632

Not sure about the IN18 Nixies - £142 for six. Yikes!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IN-18-NIXIE-TU...ltDomain_0&hash=item3a7cc8e99b

Re VAT/Import Duty on imports from non-EU countries such as Russia, I've bought stuff from there, China, USA and Oz and never been stung. (Rarely more than £30 or so). I forget the UK Customs rules, but up to a certain value, such imports are permitted without attracting duty. Much depends on how the sender describes the contents. EG, 'Small electronic components' etc.

As to the rules on e-bay on this forum Dennis, they're not proscriptive.

I think that elsewhere, the rules don't reflect the way that e-bay has evolved over time. In the early days it was mostly stuff which was auctioned by individuals to the highest bidder, which of course still happens. But over time, e-bay has evolved to a point at which many small outfits (and now, some quite large ones) who provide an excellent service in terms of speed, price and quality, sell goods on 'Buy It Now' terms. In every respect, they're online 'virtual shops' and you can see how many transactions they've completed and the feedback from buyers.

It seems odd to me that there are forums where it's fine within the rules to routinely mention, recommend, discuss, debate, praise and criticise the likes of CPC, Farnell, RS, Rapid, Maplin et al, but the mere mention of 'Buy it Now' firms on e-bay will cause the sky to fall in on you, the only exception being in response to a query 'Anyone know where I can get one of these?' in which case a straight reply mentioning e-bay, with no further discussion is permitted.

The rules on this forum are far less proscriptive and state:


Links to other sites, including eBay and other vintage radio forums are allowed, provided they are relevant to the topic of discussion, but don't write anything that could cause any upset; remember that these forums are visible to anyone with an internet connection.

It's worked well enough for almost two years now. The only time the 'amber light' flashes is when members make what could be seen as disparaging comments about auction lisitings of say vintage radios, in which case, the moderators' sensible judgement can be relied upon and is respected.

Good luck with your nixie clock! I've made two - one for my younger son, who often gets enquiries from visitors who would like one.

Not enough hours in the day - I've got a few tubes, but not got the time.

[dennishoy]

David,

Thanks for the encouragement. I wholeheartedly agree with you regarding eBay. I had a chat by email with this guy.... apparently, there are 'military warehouses' in Russia which dispose of unwanted, surplus stock to bonafide dealers only; the public can't buy from this source. Therefore a lot of varied and interesting items appear from time to time. He says there are no component shops or outlets in Romania, so he runs his business through an eBay store.

The 'nixies' I bought from him are VU meter bargraph displays with a column of orange, neon light driven from 0-5mA instead the usual numerical indication. I wanted something different and there are hundreds of nixie tube clock designs out there using the usual 0-9 tubes. I haven't been able to find a clock using IN-9 or IN-13 tubes so thought this would make a good project. I've decided to use all-Russian components where I can and am considering using those minature valves for the dividing stages and counting logic as they are so cheap and look like fun to play with.

Sorry... I'm wandering off topic here so will start another thread when I have got a basic design clear in my head.

[Yorkie]

Sorry... I'm wandering off topic here so will start another thread when I have got a basic design clear in my head.

That's another thing that's allowed on this forum Dennis - wandering off topic! Sure, if it's something totally different by all means start new threads, but this forum reflects real life - not a sort of fastidious 'parallel universe' in which on no account may the hankies find their way into the sock drawer, so a bit of drifting and 'mission creep' is OK. You won't see any posts on here which start off with the writer apologising in advance to moderators in case they (the writer that is), haven't slotted the post into quite the right pigeon-hole. Too much of that malarkey and people stop bothering to post. Then it stops being a forum and becomes a 'virtual library' with lots of readers but not many books on the shelves.

Or so it seems to me.

Not knocking other forums - just saying what's good about this one.

And to drift back on topic, yes, those cheap little Ruskie triodes are very appealing. I think there's quite a lot of stuff on 'tinernet about them, with designs for all sorts of things.

I did rather fancy one of those 'scope clocks - I've got a nice 3" tube, but it becomes quite a complex expensive project. Great conversation piece though!

Good luck with your bar-graph nixie clock Dennis.

[Nick]

Not sure about the IN18 Nixies - £142 for six. Yikes!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/IN-18-NIXIE-TU...ltDomain_0&hash=item3a7cc8e99b

That's the going rate for IN-18s - they're pretty pricey...

A while ago, I fancied a challenge so decided to make a clock from mainly Russian components. I did not want to risk import taxes and VAT so buying from the Russian Federation was not an option.

I found this seller in Romania (now in the EU) and hope it will be OK to post the details on here without breaking any rules.

I've bought nearly 1000 items from the former USSR and similar Eastern block countries, both direct and via eBay, with no problems so far - many 1000s of tubes in total - audio, RF, CRTs & a whole lot of nixies...

Generally, the rule is "if a offer is too good to be true, it probably is"! Prices are normally fair - some, such as kwtubes (Gintaras) - have a long and honourable reputation with the audio & RF community...

[dennishoy]

Not sure about the IN18 Nixies - £142 for six. Yikes!

That's the going rate for IN-18s - they're pretty pricey...

Nick, what's the going rate for these then ??
I would only need six !!

   

[Nick]

Not sure about the IN18 Nixies - £142 for six. Yikes!

That's the going rate for IN-18s - they're pretty pricey...

Nick, what's the going rate for these then ??
I would only need six !!

As it happens, I do have a spare set of 6 x gr414/cd47s. Tested.

You can have them for 15,000 euros. Seriously.

Occasionally one appears on the market. A set of six. Never. Until now ...

Edit: I said "never". I should have said that I've never seen a set for sale in the 20 or so years I've been watching the market...

[milairuk]

Re VAT/Import Duty on imports from non-EU countries such as Russia, I've bought stuff from there, China, USA and Oz and never been stung. (Rarely more than £30 or so). I forget the UK Customs rules, but up to a certain value, such imports are permitted without attracting duty. Much depends on how the sender describes the contents. EG, 'Small electronic components' etc.

Having got caught out a while ago buying a frequency display from the US, here is the definitive answer - Anything originating outside the EU over £15 attracts UK VAT. Anything over £135 will also attract import duty. And a further sting in the tail here is that if it's posted the Post Office will also charge an £8 admin fee. So in my case I had to pay £7.29 VAT + £8.00 Handling for a $50 kit. Still the kit works great If the seller tells porkies about the value then you may be lucky especially if the parcel is small !!!!

John