Re: Plasma ball purged out/remedies?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Nick Andrews by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <nicothefabulous-at-hotmail-dot-com>

The same thing can happen to laser tubes when they are not run in a long 
time.  The recommended fix for an argon laser tube has been to get it 
started with a HV spike like from an Oudin coil or such, if the regular 
starter won't cut it, then let it run continuously for several hours or 
more.  This releases the gas trapped in the glass and raises the gas 
pressure back up a bit so it starts normally again.

Nick A

>I believe you are correct stating that the gasses in the globe are 
>adsorbed or 'cleaned up' over time. I have a 12" globe with the same 
>problem. I haven't tried this myself yet, but I'm wondering if heating the 
>globe might release the trapped gasses? If you could slowly heat your 
>globe in an oven to about 200* C for an hour or two, it might be an 
>interesting experiment to try. Of course, heat only the glass globe and 
>nothing else.