This book will help electric sign companies compete for extra income by servicing parking lot and security lighting for existing customers and new ones. The book includes merchandising planning, servicing ...
Operators must always know what they're working with.
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Roughly 15 years ago, I began learning neon-tube manufacturing for artistic purposes. I’d been trained in high- and ultra-high-vacuum, laboratory practices. Then, as did many U.S. neonbenders, I read the book, Sam Miller‘s Neon Techniques, and I was amazed how signshops process “quick and dirty“ neon tubes, compared to laboratories’ “clean” techniques. Also, I learned, when you’re “bombarding” to clean the glass, you handle thousands of volts – at lethal levels.
So, before I set up my “garage artist studio,” I made sure I thoroughly learned how to set it up safely.
Having worked in labs with substances more hazardous than mercury, and having been respon¬sible for our research group’s safety when we used invisible, high-power lasers in open setups, I rehearsed Safety Rule No. 1: Ensure shop personnel always know exactly what they‘re dealing with and how to handle it safely, even in abnormal situations, to greatly reduce accidents.
No 24/7 workplace can be inherently safe, regardless of precautions. You can minimize, but not eliminate, accidents. Your shop design and setup should include safety features, and some of them are so important that, if you don’t have them, you should consider remodeling the shop.
Bombarding-transformer dangers
Electrocution from a bombarding transformer causes most lethal, neon-shop accidents. A bombarding transformer can generate voltage that can “jump“ several inches, especially when the surface is humid or partially conductive (such as wood with nails or screws). However, direct curent rarely flows through the body, hand to hand, from two energized leads, unless you strike an arc to light a torch or cigarette.
Many bombarding transformers are secondary midpoint grounded or single-end grounded, where at least one bombarding lead has a high-voltage potential to ground. Thus, if an operator contacts (directly or indirectly) this lead, his body will conduct the current to ground (hand-to-foot contact). In contrast, if the bombarding transformer’s secondary coil is insulated, even accidentally grounding one lead by contacting the (ground-potential) operator won’t cause a lethal current to flow.
Thus, a good bombarding transformer’s secondary coil should be insulated from ground (and the transformer core) for at least twice the bombarder’s full, secondary voltage.
Even then, one end of the high voltage is more or less capacitively grounded and can cause arcing to ground. Thus, don’t rely on insulation of the bombarder’s secondary coil.
Vacuum-system dangers
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