Did you need to use a diffusion pump to get below 10 microns ? Years ago I 
researched doing neon tubes, but got discouraged by the high-cost of the 
vacuum equipment and the dangers of bombarding.

On Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 11:32:33 AM UTC-7 Chuck wrote:

> I distinctly remember some of Dalibor's first tubes from mnay years ago 
> when he first started experimenting.
>
> He made one that looked a lot like this one.   Nice Work!
>
> Chuck
>
>
>  
>
> ---- Original Message ----
> From: "joshua dejaen" <[email protected]>
> Sent: 10/24/2021 2:36:14 AM
> To: "neonixie-l" <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Re: Homemade Purple Nixie Tube
>  
> Thanks for all the comments,  sorry I could not reply sooner.
>  
> I have added mercury to glow tubes in the past but I have not wanted to 
> contaminate my new pump.
>  
> I could do it on my old pump but it is not able to pump below 1 torr and 
> the tube would be left with impurities.
>  
> My electrodes consist of copper welded to tungsten with a nickel buffer 
> and then the tungsten welded to nickel wire that forms the digits inside 
> the tube.
>  
> The tungsten forms the actual seal to the pyrex glass and the copper 
> provides a nice external lead.
>  
> I heat up the tube with the torch while pumping for about a minute and let 
> it pump under high(ish) vacuum (5-10  microns) for 30 min.
>  
> I then open the bleed valve and adjust the pressure until the glow looks 
> good and seal it off.
>  
> I also have made Triodes in the past and those require about 15 min 
> heating with the torch on the pump along with an hour of pumping.
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>  
>
> On Wednesday, October 20, 2021 at 12:49:28 PM UTC-7 [email protected] 
> wrote:
>
>> I don't recall for certain if it was NeonJohn or another guy, or even 
>> what group it was in.  Could've been the old geigercounterenthusiasts group 
>> on yahoo.  This was some time ago, when we were laughing about the insane 
>> overreaction to breakage of CFLs in school classrooms.  I've never tried 
>> opening a tube in a controlled fashion myself, but have seen tiny droplets 
>> in broken ones, usually near the ends of the tube.
>>  
>> Been playing with glass laser tubes a little the last week.  Found that 
>> Gammex patient positioners used both red and green HeNe before diodes took 
>> over.  Got one that won't lase though the plasma tube is a nice bright 
>> pink.  It hisses or buzzes continuously but no beam output.  The PS is good 
>> as it lit up a couple of similar size d tubes last night when I tried.  I 
>> need to completely remove it and try sighting through the bore.  It's 
>> possible it's leaking and coming up in pressure slowly and is now dead.  I 
>> was looking at the metal evac/fill tube where it's crimped off and 
>> wondering about the possibilities of re-gassing...  I have a couple of 
>> those metal tube ends with some defunct old tubes I got from Laser Sam a 
>> couple years back for experimenting.  More interests, less time...
>>
>>  
>> On Wed, Oct 20, 2021 at 2:37 PM Mac Doktor <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> On Oct 20, 2021, at 2:59 PM, Nick Andrews <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> A guy built a device to try and capture the mercury, thinking he could 
>>> recover and build up a small supply.  He found that he never could get any 
>>> significant quantity from the tubes.
>>>
>>> Did he condense the vapor first?
>>>  
>>>
>>> Terry Bowman, KA4HJH
>>> "The Mac Doctor"
>>>  
>>> https://www.astarcloseup.com
>>>  
>>> “...the book said something astonishing, a very big thought. The stars, 
>>> it said, were suns but very far away. The Sun was a star but close 
>>> up.”—Carl Sagan, "The Backbone Of Night", *Cosmos*, 1980
>>>  
>>>
>>>  
>>>
>> --
>>
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>>
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