RE: A question about UV and homemade plasma globes

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

Original poster: "Steve Conner" <steve.conner-at-optosci-dot-com> 

 >How much oil is needed and how do you tell when you have enough?

i think Robert is talking about car air conditioner compressors. AFAIK these
don't have an internal reservoir for oil, so everything that goes in one
port will just come straight out the other one, lubricating on the way.

On the other hand, household A/C and fridge compressors have a big oil sump
in the bottom. If you keep on dribbling oil into these using Robert's method
it will overfill and get into the motor, probably causing something bad to
happen.

The solution for these if you're worried about oil levels, is to drill holes
in the casing and epoxy in some hose barbs, then fit a length of clear
plastic tube to act as a sight glass. If it gets low, you can top it up.
I've done this with an old fridge compressor and it worked fine. Just be
careful not to get too much metal swarf inside the casing :-o

Or since they are so easy to find, just run it till it dies and then go to
the dump and pick up a new one.

Steve C.