Re: [TCML] Plasma Tubes!

[Scott Bogard <sdbogard@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all, got my photos up on FLICKR, for those who were anti Facebook (I 
silently cheer for you, and wish I myself could cut the chain of social 
networking.)  So enjoy!  Now to make enough power supplies to handle 
enough fixtures to use all this gas...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/74981441@N06/
I'll have some videos of the filling on YouTube soon, hopefully along 
with footage on a proper power supply.

Scott Bogard.

On 1/19/2012 6:01 PM, bturner@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> Exactly on the trapped air in the glass. (As it really is an amorphous
> solid... ) Running things hard is also known as bombarding, and is done
> all the time with conventional neon signs. Running high current through
> the hard vacuum 'boils' any impurities and unwanted gas molecules off and
> out of the glass and electrodes. Turn the current off, keep the vacuum
> going and backfill with the neon and throw the power supply into
> 'burn-in'...  BTW, those 'bombarder' transformers work great for Tesla
> coils...  LOL
>
> - b
>
>
>
> > Yeah lots of neon really lowers the voltage requirement, and makes for a
> > very nice display to boot.  The reason for all the annealing and baking is
> > to keep air molecules trapped in the glass from leaking out and spoiling
> > the effect, they will still work if you do not do this, but over time the
> > color will change, sometimes dramatically, and if your power supply is
> > under-gunned it can become weak...  Another alternative is to seal with a
> > pretty hard vacuum and fill with something cheap like helium, and drive
> > like crazy for a few weeks straight, then crack back open, re-evacuate,
> > and
> > refill and reseal, which knocks all the air loose.  The disadvantage is
> > that a very small amount of helium will leak in over time, but that won't
> > dramatically change anything, and since I don't have annealing ovens, that
> > is what I plan on doing for my next batch of tubes...  But yeah, this is
> > SOO much fun!  Watching the vinyl feed line light up lightsaber red as I
> > crack open the cylinder of neon is unbelievable.  Can't wait to order some
> > more glass!
> >
> > Scott Bogard.
> >
> > On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 1:19 PM,<bturner@xxxxxxxx>  wrote:
> >
> > > Very Nice...
> > >
> > > Back in the 80's, I knew a fantastic neon artist in Marina Del Rey who
> > > did
> > > this. Used pyrex laboratory flasks for the globes, and yes, even back
> > > then
> > > some of the more 'exotic' gasses weren't cheap... One thing that really
> > > stood out though was that you literally had to anneal, anneal, anneal
> > > and
> > > then bake, bake, bake to make the things last a long time. We actually
> > > filled one globe that lit at nearly atomospheric pressure with one of my
> > > flyback power supplies that ran on only 12 volts... Wow.
> > >
> > > Boy does this bring back some memories.
> > >
> > > - b
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > >     [drifting ot...?]
> > > > > Says page not available?
> > > >     I got the same.
> > > >
> > > > > Do you have to have a facebook account to view the images?
> > > >     Apparently.  I do have, tho little used.  Once logged in,
> > > >     page came up fine.
> > > http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2464802782137.110686.1314294209&type=1
> > > >     best
> > > >      dwp
> > > > _______________________________________________
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