That old transformer looks like it saw some high heat at some point. I suspect someone might have done something wrong. Those old "Franceformers" were pretty hard to kill. The only drawback to the new transformers is since they operate on a higher frequency they are more likely to cause radio interference. Otherwise they are small, lightweight, quiet, and produce far less heat.

Where do I buy the Volt meter in the video? Looks like a custom build though.

where did you get that hand gas torch?

Great work, as usual!

LMAO , i turned on Closed Captioning & the words came up Buttwiser, Potty humor always works. Ty for taking us along. Love your work

beautiful.

stretching glass to a smaller diameter, thats a professional trick, very impressive! excellent work on the repairs and creative alterations. your vintage Cafe rescue sign is really cool, nice save!

keep up the vids

Great video, thank you. Can't wait to see the Cafe Sign. I've never seen an 18mm neon unit out here in the American Southwest.

I I had this book used to live in St Louis and did a lot of repair of bar type neon signs my grandmother's house was just a stone's throw away from the brewery and my grandfather back in the day used to be good friends with Augustus bush half my family worked for Anheuser-Busch that's quite a find don't lose it

Thank you for being such a great resource. I will purchase this brand and color.

To be on the same page, I am looking to purchase Belton Free 3000 Water Paint Fire Red High Gloss for the red color. Is that the product that you use for your neon glass tube painting?

Thank you for your knowledge and assistance. I will use your suggestions as I move forward with this project. : )

Nice!!!

Thank you for your knowledgeable reply, looking at the "Belton" spray, there appears to be multiple types. Is there a particular Belton Paint you prefer? Regarding the Red and Yellow Color, I understand it is personal preference, is there a particular Red and Yellow Color you like? Lastly looking at the Krylon Stained Glass Paint, it appears very translucent, as I put on multiple layers as you described, will the glass tubes appear to have a solid color look when the neon sign is not illuminated?

Your neon history sounds a lot like mine. Although in my case it begins a lot earlier. Since I was a small child (back in the late 1950s) I also was fascinated by neons. The way it glows in the night in such vibrant colours silently displaying its messages made is seem almost as it is were alive. For many many years I wished I had my own neon sign. It was really nice of the proprietors of that store to give you those signs. Sorry to hear about the breakage going through customs. But then it was great to hear that you saved it and decades later you rebuilt it.

I have been collecting neons for a while now. Mostly old vintage beer signs, but recently some brand new neons, some of which are replicas of old beer signs. Neon has fascinated me since I was a small child so I guess I was destined to eventually have my own neons. Due to the fragile nature of neons I want to learn how to both make and repair my own neons. I am going to be moving to an apartment in a few months and of course my neons are coming with me. I am going to be sure to pack them carefully to avoid any breakage during the move.

I enjoy your channel. Can you please tell me what type of paint I should use to paint the red and yellow paint that is applied to the glass tube of my Budweiser Bud N Burger Neon Sign. I have flaking of the Red and Yellow. I can either touch it up or repaint it. I do not know what Brand or paint type and best color to use. Please help. Thank you.

Beautiful. A true work of art.Looks exactly like the old ones I remember from back in the late 50s/early 60s when I was a little kid. I have loved neon signs ever since my earliest memories as a child. I used to wish that I had my own neon sign. Perhaps that is the reason I collected several over the years and I continue collecting them. One of these days I'd love to try my hand at making my own neon signs.

All my older vintage beer signs use a traditional 60hz 120VAC input iron core transformer (Franceformer). . Recently I bought some brand new neon signs to add to my ever growing collection. I noticed that all the new signs use these small, light weight "transformer" which I assume consists of a voltage multiplier and frequency multiplier in order to operate the neons at a higher frequency rather than the traditional high voltage at 60 cycles. I have never opened up one of these new ones but I'd imagine there might be a small step up transformer or coil within in addition to a voltage multiplier. My main interest is what are the advantages / disadvantages between the traditional iron transformer and the new electronic transformers that are prevalent these days. I have noticed that unlike the traditional ones these new transformers don't get as hot as the old ones. Even after a full day of use in the summer these new electronic "transformers" are at most slightly warm to the touch.

Well done!

Doesn't the sign require ventilation inside that case?

Where are you located? I just got a vintage sign and broke a tube.

Dada khub valo hoyeche.

Is it possible to Build a Neon Tube inside another Neon Tube? I imagine it would look really cool to have a thin blue Neon Tube centered inside a big red Neon Tube. Love your videos, please never stop ❤❤

Very nice video, learned again some new things. But i was wondering, where do you buy new transformers? I have a neon sign with a broken transformer but all i can find is 30mA..

I often face a problem where my electrodes get black and burned out after several months of installing the sign. Does it have to do with the amount of mA I provide to the glass tubes? I use electronic neon transformers albeit stored inside an MDF box.

Amazing video! We need more content like this, especially on matching the Neon transformers with Glass Neon tubes signs considering the voltage values and mA values. It's unfortunately quite confusing in comparison to an LED sign for example. Another topic to divulge is the different types of neon transformer and their differences.

Add th3 neon bombardera song

Hey! maybe you have the information I'm trying to find, I'm looking for information about a neon pumping station with bombarder i recently purchased, it also has a 10kv and a 20kv option. Im wondering how much power it needs to operate. Do all bombarders require 400v and 3 phase power? what would happen if it was run on 240v? From Michael.

I especially like the cursive "Draft" in "Coors EXTRA GOLD Draft", but I also like the complete sign as a whole. :)

lots of good information here! thanks for sharing :)

What is the difference between "blue gas indoor" and "blue gas outdoor"? I assume different mixtures of gas components? And why is one especially for indoor and one for outdoor? Can one handle better cold temperatures? Or has it a better output/efficiancy?

Great in-depth video! Does toying with brightness and flashing have any effect on the lifespan of the neon? I recently bought a neon with a dimming transformer and am facing flickering. Any idea what the issue could be?

Scripting transformers are designed for script letters. Big fancy cursive letters. Solid color. It'll script better than block or multi color

Group photo was so awesome

Cool signs especially that Coke one. I've noticed at least where I live here in the US there seems to be a lot more neon signs now than say 10 years ago. Or maybe I'm just noticing them more now. Not sure why but I kept looking for neon beer signs when I was in Berlin last spring. No idea why either. ;)

Great finds! It’s wild to think of that Internet Cafe one as historic, but it truly is, now.

another awesome haul! always neat to see what you can dig up every year. thanks for sharing, looking forward to seeing those project signs repaired! 🙂

Hey man one of my neon signs just broke and I’m trying to figure out how I can fix it myself and I think I can weld the glass back together but I don’t know anything about getting the air out of the tub. If I where to just weld the glass back and turn it on do you think it would explode

Very cool! Hello from central California! I always enjoy watching your neon videos. I have my own burners and I'm always motivated to practice after seeing your restorations. I even my own plant equipment, but I haven't set anything up yet. Keep posting!

very cool sign, i like all the classic glass! looking forward to seeing it restored. also, interesting to see that rudimentary secondary ground fault protection device.

Great info, great vid. I have one problem. I'm making a small little neon letter and the two input wires from the transformer have NO indication of what is LIVE or Earth/GROUND. Both black though one is slightly shorter. Does it matter what wire goes to LIVE or GROUND on the plug. I love neon artwork and have only just started my first project and this simply thing has halted my progress. Thanx in advance

Nice job with the letter replacement! I kinda like that acrylic mount design, but not for THAT sign. Would be better for a more artistic or decorative piece i think.

Beautiful. I always love watching your resto videos.

Great repair. Looks lovely.

nice vid

the sign looks great! i like how you combined parts from 3 broken signs to make 1 working sign, very resourceful. excellent work on the seamless repair on the classic ruby red glass as well!

Why not use a getter and induction loop?

I just received a neon sign that someone shipped to me idiotically, so it arrived partially broken. It is a virtually irreplaceable retro Magic the Gathering store sign. Is there any way you could be contracted to fix it? I'm struggling to find many people who actually do this kind of thing and I'm currently sobbing and fuming at my computer desk over this. Not only did he ship my 1300 dollar sign with less care than your average wish package, he destroyed a part of magic the gathering history. The number of these signs in working condition may only barely be in the double digits at best, and now it's one fewer. Please help.