Variable Speed Dekatron Spinner

This is a Dekatron Spinner with variable spinning rate. The circuit is based on a 556 (a dual 555) chip. One half is used to generate a variable pulse, from 3Hz to 50Hz. The other half is used to make the switching power supply, to make 450V needed to power the dekatron. Since it uses a switcher, this project can run from a DC voltage as low as 9V, to upto 16V. Current draw at 12V is ~120mA.