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Re: Neon Wanna-Be
Strictly my opinion.......
Your $3K or much less would be better spent buying a minimal amount of
equipment i.e. ribbon burner, crossfires, homemade air blower, hand torch,
neon bible. This would get ya bend'n & splice'n. If you decide you aren't
interested after a while, your investment is minimal and you could sell your
equipment to recoup some of your investment. If,on the other hand, you "have
the knack" you then could buy a pumping system, and a proper blower. I
remember my first interest in glass was when myself and another youth found
broken pieces of neon glass in a parking lot where a sign was demolished and
laying in the lot waiting to be hauled off. We took off a few units (small
circles and maybe a letter or 2 that weren't broken) and brought them to my
house where we hooked up a 15/60 I had for a jacob's ladder and lit the
units up. When that got old, we were intrigued by how they were made. We
knew a little about thier manufacture, but had never seen glass bent or
welded or pumped. So we put wires sticking up a foot or so above the
transformer on the pool table, and bent them close together so we could have
a constant arc of about 3/4 of an inch or so and put broken pieces of neon
glass in the arc and get them hot enough to stick together or bend them a
little This was my first experience with neon glass. I now have my own glass
shop and my friend bought a ladder truck and went on to start his own sign
service company. Best wishes to ya.