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negative. neon tubes are wired in series, and the two wires are merely for redundancy. some older electrodes only have one wire.

my friend, the neon historian/archaeologist Robert Haus, sent me the PDF he scanned of a Sola product information brochure from 1955... if that's what you're looking for, send me an email at the address in my profile and i can forward it to you. if instead you're just looking for general neon plant setup information, let me know in your email. i am not a professional, so i will not give you any "how-to" advice in regards to wiring/electrical stuff, but i can recommend some sources to can read so you can learn more information.

vintage neon clocks aren't cheap these days, that's for sure! i do have a hand-held glass cutter as well with a brass ball on the end for breaking the glass, but with such a large sheet i wanted to try to do it in a more controlled manner. maybe i was overthinking it, but i got the job done eventually. haha

@@NeonPreservation I'm almost certain mine is just like yours in your vid but I remember the seller's picture showed a blue neon color, I didn't even plug it in, can't find it atm. Found other stuff I didn't know I had lol. Your vid's going to help a lot when I get to it if I don't die first.

haha, i have plenty of projects too so i understand! and yes, they did make this model with a blue tube as well. good luck!

i am just an amateur, so i don't currently sell anything. if you call up your local neon bender or neon sign shop, they could probably give you a quote on some vehicle under lighting. it was quite popular in the '90s and many benders that were working at that time made lots of it.

wow, that's incredible. i would have loved to see all the animation of that sign back when it was all functional!

@@NeonPreservation same, unfortunately the sign is long gone and all that remained was the supports and time-o-matic controller

the sad fate of many a majestic sign. 😔

@@NeonPreservation yeah I’ve got connections with someone who worked there in the 70s who will hopefully know something about it and its history

there are different styles of electrodes and have been many variations over the past century. i believe modern electrodes are an alloy... but they definitely a high iron content, because electrodes on outdoor signs with broken tubes will rust. the electrodes have a special getter coating on them that gets activated above a certain temperature, which is why during processing the metal must be heated to a bright, glowing orange. some styles of electrodes have ceramic rings on the tips to prevent side-firing, some have mica spacers to keep the electrodes aligned, etc. the black substance i used was just a tube of RTV i had lying around. id imagine any type of silicone would work, although i have been informed that some types of RTV are acidic and can corrode metal. i haven't verified that personally, but it seems like something that could be plausible and is worth investigating.

neon benders are highly trained artisans; they are so skilled they make it look easy! trying to learn neon bending by yourself is frustrating, expensive, and time-consuming... if i were actually looking to make a living in the craft i would most definitely find a mentor.

maybe im misunderstanding, but that pretty much describes any neon tube...? are you asking where to buy neon tubes? all neon is made by hand, most of it is custom designed for specific signs. you could talk to any neon bender or sign shop that makes neon, and they can throw together anything you want: tube diameter, length, design, etc. in the neon industry one-off type orders are quite common.

it depends on the type of flasher. the flashers shown in this video are designed to be installed with the rotating disk in a vertical position.

i can see your point, and my statement could perhaps be construed as a bit cliché; however, just because something works doesn't mean it's made well. the purpose of the statement in the video is to communicate the lack of quality to the audience so they are aware before they rush out to purchase the item thinking i'm recommending something good. China is absolutely capable of high-quality, precision manufacturing, but most companies opt to have them manufacture for quantity, not quality. perhaps we all, as consumers, should hold companies to higher standards by voting with our wallets.

im still looking for a suitable shop space where i can get my equipment set up, so i can't say for sure. hopefully sooner rather than later!

thank you, im glad you enjoyed it!

the method i show here is by no means the only way to do it; any technique or tool that can carefully remove glass without compromising the tube can be attempted. feel free to share here in the comments if you find more successful techniques!

glad the videos are interesting enough for a re-watch! :) unfortunately, i haven't found a place with a shop yet, so the signs are currently "preserved" in a storage unit. hopefully i will be able to find something eventually, i am eager to get them out!

@@NeonPreservation Rewatching them aswell. Hoefully you can get back to it soon :)

thanks for the tip!

nice score! could be worth a decent amount to the right person depending on the type/condition of the equipment & glass. price and value can be dependent on finding the right buyer (its some pretty niche stuff) and on the part of the country/world youre in. feel free to ask me questions if you want more info about something or help identifying stuff; im not a professional but i know a decent amount about the equipment... and if i dont know i could send you in the direction of people who might: NeonPreservation (at) gmail (dot) com

yes, there were several over the past 100 years or so that neon has been around. Reco, Sangamo, Time-O-Matic, A.B. McMahon, FMS... i have seen a mechanical flasher manufactured by a company called Telex-Aemco; not sure if they were marketed for the sign industry or for some other application, like traffic lights. i feel like there are a couple more companies that i can't remember at the moment as well. that said, it's pretty uncommon to see anything except newer (<40 years old or so) flashers from Signatrol/FMS/Great Lakes Sign Products on ebay.

true, electronic transformers are silent; however, their high-frequency electronic circuitry is not designed to be confined in a metal box or metal enclosure. the capacitance coupling will cause internal corrosion over time, which is bad news for something like a clock mechanism with lots of intricate brass gears. also, i enjoy the slight hum of magnetic transfomers, so i will keep it original. cheers! :)

totally, super simple but really neat!

i did not add any mercury; if i had added it, the tube would glow bright blue!

you're right! the speed lever rotates the position of the coil.

good question! TL;DR-on this transformer it's probably just way easier just to replace the whole thing. but..... transformers that are "dead" or "bad" could possibly still be working, but something may have shorted internally. however, during manufacture, the internal components are potted in tar or epoxy, so troubleshooting anything inside the transformer case ranges from extremely difficult & time consuming to practically impossible. that said, i was wondering the same thing as you, so i opened mine up to see if i could replace just the switch. from what i could tell, the switch input goes to a circuit board that provides the ground fault protection as well as cycling the dim/off/bright/off. i guessed that something on the circuit board had died, so as an experiment i depotted the whole thing, removed the circuit board, and wired the switch directly to the primary coil. the transformer did work after that. i dont remember if i used a new switch or if i kept the original one. i put it back in the metal box without the potting tar and riveted the box closed. the sign now works with the original transformer, but it no longer has the dim feature or ground fault protection. was the circuit board really bad, or had internal arcing caused carbon traces through the tar that was shorting out the windings and removing the tar solved the problem? i dont know. would i ever do it again? debatable. it took HOURS, and it was a horrible, disgusting mess. also, one wrong move and a wire in the transformer windings gets broken and all the work up to that point is a waste. i was honestly amazed when the transformer actually buzzed to life after the whole ordeal. also, old transformers can contain PCBs, which are carcinogenic. i think this one was *probably* new enough to be PCB-free. if you want to see what is involved in just removing a transformer from the case, (not trying to rehab the old transformer), check out this video from NeonSignStuff: ruclips.net/video/IrMra2uU4Yg/видео.html

@@NeonPreservation thanks for the reply! When I opened mine up the switch was easily accessible. It looks just like a ceiling fan pull switch with 3 wires. I tried swapping it out with one from Lowe’s and the light came on but it just had the faintest glow.

ah yes, i thought i remembered the switch having 3 wires... but its been over 2 years since i did that experiment and i couldn't remember for sure, so i just omitted that particular detail to avoid providing false information. also, i just found a picture in my photo library with notes confirming that i replaced the switch with a simpler 2-wire on/off pull chain switch. the original one was all gross and tarry anyway. i even load-tested the core-and-coil guts of the transformer and it was outputting the correct amount of current, so that worked just fine. since your new switch didnt fix the issue, id be willing to bet that circuit board is the culprit. i dont really know much about electronic circuitry & components, so i just got rid of it all together. someone more intelligent than i could probably have replaced whatever failed component on the (gross) circuit board, but eh, at least i got it working again.

i'm not sure if it answers your question, but the motor is a Telechron. the motor induction turns the rotor at 3600RPM, then gears inside the rotor reduce the output to 1RPM. the output shaft of the rotor then turns the gears in the clock that move the hands.

no, sorry... i do not have a schematic. i seem to recall opening it once to take a look inside, and as you can imagine it wasn't too terribly complicated. unfortunately i didnt take any pictures, and i donated the light to goodwill when i moved, so i can't do it again.

@NeonPreservation definitely looks pretty simple in there. And that's really funny, I just got mine at good will for 10 bucks

it really is, so much character! its a shame they dont make them like this anymore.

I own multiple vintage neon clocks, that clock is "High Dollar"

hey there! unfortunately, used neon equipment is pretty scarce. the only thing i can recommend is to be patient and keep an eye out on craigslist, ebay, FB marketplace. if you're impatient and want to spend more money than its worth, there is a 16" ribbon burner with an economizer of questionable quality for sale on ebay right now for $500: www.ebay.com/itm/186402616753 or if you're near the PNW you could try contacting the seller of this bunch of equipment on the chance the stuff is still for sale: www.ebay.com/itm/145684079183

@@NeonPreservation thanks 😊

ive gotten them from various sources: craigslist, FB marketplace, auction... this particular sign i got from an unsolicited message because the seller had heard i buy signs.

yes, that's the plan! :)

@@NeonPreservation when

i will probably make them slowly, one at a time, starting with the smallest and easiest first. that way i can save the larger, more complicated tubes for later as i try to improve my bending skills.

hi there! i had to temporarily put the neon signs and equipment in storage until i can find a suitable shop location again. still a work in progress thats currently on "pause" until i can get back to it!

@@NeonPreservation does it still work at this day? like i see a lot of signs destroyed and they usually get removed. glad u saved it

yes the existing neon tubes still work, i will eventually make the rest of the tubes as well

@@NeonPreservation nice work fixing though

youre welcome! unfortunately, i dont think anything is safe from the affects of inflation these days. good luck on the rebuild!

sounds awesome!

an interesting idea! unfortunately, there is no way to heat acrylic hot enough to burn off the impurities inside the tube without burning the acrylic itself.

thanks for sharing! i enjoy learning how neon equipment differs in other parts of the world :)

you're welcome!

it hung on Cuming St for a long time!

the previous owner didn't know anything about it, so your guess is as good as mine. i would love to find out some day!

thanks for the tip, i'll have to give that a try!