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Re: Fried Franceformer
> Original Poster: "Ron West" <ronwes1-at-juno-dot-com>
>
> I though it would never happen, not to me. But I fried one leg of my
> 15/30 Franceformer. I have been reading all the posts of how to de-pot a
> transformer, but after I do that what I am (probably) looking for to fix?
> Is the damage usually due to burned wiring, or carbon tracking, or what?
If you desire to unpot the transformer for a hands-on NST education, that's
fine, but I personally don't think it's worth saving a 30mA unit.
De-potting and fixing a neon transformer is a very nasty and time consuming
job, it's hazardous to your health, and it will likely cost you more in
cleaning supplies than the cost of another transformer.
I just rebuilt a France 12/60, my first de-pot in over 2 years, and the cost
breakdown was thus:
Franceformer 12/60 $50 (neon sign shop)
Aluminum pan to collect tar $3
5 gallon gas can $5
5 gallons of gasoline $6
5 gal pail $2
2 gal pail $1.50
1 pair neoprene gloves $3
2 750 watt hotplates $23
1 gallon isopropyl alcohol $8
My depotting costs: $51.50
The depotting took me 3.5 weeks total, including about 12 solid hours of
manual cleaning and rebuilding. The rest of the time was due to the
extended amount of gasoline soaking required. I disassembled the
transformer while it was still hot, and wiped off as much tar as I could,
but it still took 2 full weeks before enough tar was dissolved to proceed to
the manual wipe-down cleaning phase.
-Adam
adamsmith-at-mediaone-dot-net