Re: A question about UV and homemade plasma globes

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

Original poster: "Ed Phillips" <evp-at-pacbell-dot-net> 

On old refrigerator pump will draw a "very good" and fast vacuum.  Every
old fridge has one...  That is really the best way to do it for the
common
"no money" solution.  Say a prayer and toss salt over your left shoulder
as
you are venting the FR-12 ;-)))

http://hot-streamer-dot-com/temp/P5200028.jpg

Be sure to grab all the motor start caps and relays with the fridge
pump...  Make a diagram of how it all hooks...  Even few to many torr
vacuums produce very cool effects when mixed with high voltage!!

Pet store tubing, valves, and such are perfect with a little TLC...

Cheers,

          Terry"

	At least in my experience the refrigerator (or A/C) pumps tend to heat
up pretty fast.  I have one running which will evacuate to a pressure
where I can see striations in a gas discharge (<1 mm?), but after a
couple of minutes running it gets too warm to touch.  I've found that
using a variac to drop the running voltage down to about 30 (minimum
mine will run) helps the heating a lot but 5 minutes is still about it.
Anyone else having better results?

Ed