Old Vigor Burnout Furnace adapted to heat treating

Hard to say because the lens is red plastic, and the assembly is glued together.

I recall that the harder one drove a neon bulb, the faster it wore out.

Joe Gwinn

I think that the harder one drives a neon bulb, the sooner it wears out. A neon will flicker if it doesn't have enough current to cause the plasma sheath to fully cover the smaller electrode, but that's a different problem.

The simpler explanation is that someone replaced the pilot light when the original got annoying.

Well, the wife is Irish. Close enough?

That was my worry too. On my first attempt, the controller sat at just under 50 degrees C, which meets the datasheet max temp spec (50C), but is asking for trouble. After the fixup effort, the controller sits at

OK.

Joe Gwinn

Which one? The one in Joe's furnace, or the ones in my surge-protector/outlet-switch-box?

In the latter case, *all* of them are now dark, so I can't tell for sure. Also, the switch rockers are orange plastic, so I probably could not tell even if they were still glowing.

Interesting.

That was what I was suspecting. Some are set up to just be minimal glow, while others are set up to be clearly visible even in a bright room.

Enjoy, DoN.

Well ... the sooner the envelope will darken with deposited electrode vapor. But I think that it keeps the actual light behind the darkening pretty constant.

And the required current seems to increase over time.

Certainly possible -- especially if the pilot is easy to get to.

That will do, I think. :-)

Mine is French-Canadian, so I don't have that excuse. :-)

O.K. At that temperature, never mind. :-)

Enjoy, DoN.

That is the difference between the NE2 and the NE2H versions. The NE2H was made for higher current, and brightness but some cheapskates use the standard version to save a few pennies while knowing it won't last very long.

I recall reading a datasheet on how to use neon lamps, and that this datasheet said the the voltage needed to maintain the glow (it's not an arc) increased with increasing usage of the lamp.

I hereby invoke Occam's Razor.

They must have a suitable phrase that can be translated.

My favorite is "My Wife, The Moon" in transliteration. My wife asserts that this cannot be translated (versus transliterated), but I think that the meaning is quite clear. The common root is lunacy and lunatic.

Joe Gwinn

I never said (or even thought) that it was an arc.

Another invocation thereof would be that while the oven may be fairly old, that it was not used very much, so the aging of the lamp has been postponed. :-)

:-)

Enjoy, DoN.

The rest of the furnace looks like it's seen some miles.

That wasn't her reaction. But it was worth it.

Joe Gwinn

replying to Joseph Gwinn, kristen fitzgerald wrote: Hello- Do you happen to have the instructions? I have a furnace but no instructions and can't find them anywhere online!!!! : (

On Nov 29, 2016, kristen fitzgerald wrote (in article):

I checked my records, and I never did find the instructions either. Not that it mattered - that furnace is pretty simple. And, I replaced the entire controller anyway.

Joe Gwinn

For full context, visit.