I should probably start one of those "how I waste my time threads" on this but it fits here pretty good too.
I picked up this flourescent lamp at a garage sale thinking it was a dezor like I've seen on this thread. The seller was a young machinist who I think decided as cool as it was it just wasn’t worth his time to look into fixing it. Although the lamps lit up, all the joints were really floppy and it definitely needed work to make it functional.
…and oh, did I mention the brushed on orange paint job?
The ballast looks a little scary. Wonder how many PCB’s I’ve picked up so far from this thing.
Taking the reflector out was interesting. Everything on this lamp was put together with no consideration about ever taking it apart again. Some flat puddy knives worked to pry out the reflector.
The tube sockets were screwed to the reflector so once removed the sockets were unmounted.
I have it all stripped down to individual pieces.
The base swivel was really floppy.
Looking inside you can see the inner stem is just flattened over the inside of the base tube, no nut to tighten down. I pounded it flatter with a big brass drift which tightened it up pretty good.
The 1st boom arm was really loose in the elbow. After opening it up I could see why. The end of the tube doesn’t extend far enough to catch the second support casting. The little bump on the end is what hits the raised bridge between the other 2 raised castings and prevents the lamp from turning completely around and twisting the wiring.
I added a small piece of the same size to the shaft by mig welding. The aluminum rod and brass shim were just to keep it aligned.
I built up the little bump stop into a full size lump to stop the tube from turning 360’. I also built up and flared the end out with more weld so the tube really locks into place now.
The pin in the top spigot has pressure from a spring washer to keep it tight. The end of the pin hits the tab on the lamp house to prevent it from turning 360’ and tangling the wiring.
With most of the fettling done it’s time to change the paint colour. I soaked it in acetone which lifted the paint in 20 minutes.
The paint lifted off cleanly.
I have since this, painted everything kind of a deep wine colour (it's what I had on hand) and it's all awaiting re-assembly.
I'm planning on just sticking it all back together with the same ballast, wiring and bulbs unless anyone has some better suggestions.
So here it is with some new paint. Only one bulb is lighting now so maybe the ballast is finally going.
The joints were buffed up instead of paint and they turned out nice.
