Im building a Nixie Clock and would like to implement some kind of cathode poisoning prevention routine. Ive seen that some clocks will cycle the digits randomly every so often. Anything I find for this is usually a code for a pic or arduino. Im using Cmos logic to keep the time and drive the nixie's and I dont want to use pic or arduino at all. Could I do something similar with out using software.

 

I don't know whether the author fully understands what's going on, but he suggests boiling off impurities and seems to show beneficial results.

http://www.tube-tester.com/sites/nixie/different/cathode%20poisoning/cathode-poisoning.htm

 

Thanks for the link. Could I use an OR gate at the cathodes of each nixie to achieve my desired effect. So i would have the normal clock in one input of the OR and the routine in the other. I made a CAD drawing to illustrate. Just imagine that there is another 9 OR gates to the other cathodes.

 

Yes, you could do that - or you can use the OR gates on the left side of the base resistors; that will keep your parts count down. The lower your parts count, the less there is to break/fail.