I saw bombarding being done. I sit here now shaking and shuddering from
the experience. Here is a fairly detailed video of neon sign
manufacturing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH635AEawGY The
bombarding process starts at about 12:30. The demonstration that I saw,
they deliberately drew a two foot arc just for show. It was impressive,
and S-C-A-R-R-Y. This may not help you with your endeavors, but it is
interesting, and mentions 'neon' a number of times.
Ira.
On 11/22/2024 8:27 PM, gregebert wrote:
Several years ago I researched neon signage, and you need a
high-vacuum, around 1 micron (10-3 Torr). The books I have didn't get
into specific vacuum levels, as there are multiple ways to cleanse the
tubes, notably via bombarding. They did not cover nixie tubes.
To get micron-level vacuum, you need a mechanical pump to get around
100 microns, followed by a diffusion pump. There might be other ways
to get the required cleanliness without a diffusion pump, but I dont
have any details. If you just want to do some experimenting, start
with a mechanical pump. I plan to do that soon, as I have a small pump
used for evacuating air conditioning equipment.
Some of the reasons I'm not doing neon work are the cost of the
equipment, the dangers of bombarding, need for mercury to extend tube
life, and I expect it to be difficult to find getter material. All I
want to do is get some sort of discharge glow, and play around with
easy-to-find gases like argon and helium.
I saw a mention in the Weston book of pressures in the 10-2 to 10-4
Torr, though it covers theory of operation rather than fabrication
details.
On Friday, November 22, 2024 at 12:33:28 PM UTC-8 Miles Thatch wrote:
vac.png
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