Anyone into neon signs or neon art here?

[brentallar]

Recently I have gotten into neon signs. I am not so much into beer signs but stuff that is a little bit outside of the norm. I met a guy who does neon and glass bending where I work and I am in line to buy a few pieces from him. I will share pics when I get them but, I am just curious if anyone else here is into neon. Thanks.

 

[markdi]

i have one that needs a new transformer

no markings on the transformer at all

i do not know the exact voltage

 

[Jeffery]

I bought an entire neon plant off a guy, a retired master craftsman. I got to where I could attach the electrodes, evacuate, bombard, and fill tubes, but glass bending was extremely hard. It is also extremely hot work to do in a regular garage, and will really impact your gas bill.

I think apprenticeship at a neon shop would be the only way to get proficient, and that wasn't an option. So I gave the plant to a guy in Las Vegas who didn't even know I had it, he just mentioned he would like to dabble in it.

Turns out his brother was taking a community college neon course, but they didn't have the capability to evacuate, bombard, and fill. They just made tubes and took them to a shop to finish.

So now my buddy's brother has the stuff to finish tubes, and my buddy kept the bending stuff so he could learn the hard stuff.

And I got my garage back!

 

[Jeffery]

i have one that needs a new transformer

no markings on the transformer at all

i do not know the exact voltage

I gave all my notebooks away, but you size the transformer based on length and diameter of the tube. Maybe Google "neon transformer sizing".

 

[brentallar]

That is really cool. I frequent a record store about a block away from where I live and they have a fantastic neon sign there. It is a guy playing a les paul shape guitar sort of striking a Pete Townshend pose with the stores name under it. I had asked about it and they said a local guy made it a long time ago. Well, I work nights doing metal fabrication and a new guy showed up on third shift. I introduced myself and it turned out to be the guy that made the sign. He knew of me through the shop owner and now we have been hanging out. Small world.

Here is a pic of the sign that has now been broken up into 3 sections.

 

[Ilikevinyl]

Neon signs are so cool! What happened to them? When I was a kid they used to be all over the place.

 

[BOUXY]

I have 3 smaller Neon Statues and am looking for more! Also some Neon screw in base lightbulbs that I like to add in to my quite extensive Lava/Glitter/Motion/Water Lamps that I have

 

[Jailtime]

Oh yeah, I love neon signs. They're part of what calls me back to Route 66 every year.

The new production neon signs are nice, but there's something better about the old ones. Don't know enough about them to figure out what it is.

 

[4-2-7]

I have an epiphone store display that is new old stock but it's broken at one end were the plastic tube meets the glass. Can this be fixed or is it junk now?

 

[drtool]

Yes, and I use the transformer to bring frank alive on halloween. Love low brow and high art in general.

 

[Jeffery]

The plastic is probably just a protective cover over the wires in the electrode, the electrode is the glass end of the tube and is melted onto the tube. If it's just broken, a new electrode could be fit on the tube, but that's something a full on neon shop would have to do.

You have to trim the broken glass off perfectly straight and then "weld" the new electrode cap on. Then pull as close to absolute vacuum as possible on the tube while heating it up with a high voltage and current to cook the impurities out. Then, while still under vacuum, you let just a touch of the gas you need for the color desired. Melt the little vacuum tube connection on the electrode shut and you're done!

Way more info than you needed, just thought some might be interested in the short version

 

[Rome]

Neon signs are so cool! What happened to them? When I was a kid they used to be all over the place.

Yea, a few can be seen in the downtown area called "Deep Ellum" in Dallas.

Rome

 

[4-2-7]

The plastic is probably just a protective cover over the wires in the electrode, the electrode is the glass end of the tube and is melted onto the tube. If it's just broken, a new electrode could be fit on the tube, but that's something a full on neon shop would have to do.

You have to trim the broken glass off perfectly straight and then "weld" the new electrode cap on. Then pull as close to absolute vacuum as possible on the tube while heating it up with a high voltage and current to cook the impurities out. Then, while still under vacuum, you let just a touch of the gas you need for the color desired. Melt the little vacuum tube connection on the electrode shut and you're done!

Way more info than you needed, just thought some might be interested in the short version

Thanks I'll post some pic tomorrow:thmbsp:

 

[Jeffery]

Here's the only pics I have left that I know of.

Top pic is the first tube we ever filled, still on the bombarding table. The bombarding table had a series of glass tubes across the top to insulate the tube being filled from the table - they get really hot during the process. The little "V" on the top of the manifold assembly at the back is a Jacob's Ladder, it's the over current protection on the bombarding transformer. Put too much juice to the tube under bombardment and you'd get a spark across the ladder.

The middle pic is the basic assembly before it was installed and the layout/bombarding table attached. There is a very powerful vacuum pump, a roots blower, and a 25KV variable transformer under that, the gas manifold and mercury filled vacuum manometer are on the black console. The roots blower is used to force air into the gas burners to make the flame hot enough. The steering wheel is hooked to a pulley and cable assembly to raise the slug in the control choke up and down to control the 25KV transformer. The red lightbulb fixture is tied to the power of the 25KV transformer, when it's hot, the red light is on.

The bottom pic is the finished product, the flash makes it look washed out, but it was a nice red tube. The two cables along the ceiling are the outputs from the bombarding transformer, the cable hanging down is one of the high voltage insulated leads. After the tube is filled, there's a large neon light transformer under the table that is controlled via Variac to power up the finished tube.