Neon question

[Lownslowlsc]

My neon ballast stopped working on me this last weekend. I was reading up on glitchs site and it said to cut or insulate the wire mesh coming from the panel that is normally grounded to the inverter. Have any of you done this? I will be replaceing it with a functional oem unit.

There is another blk ground wire that attached to the inverter base, should I leave that one intact? I'm assuming yes.

Lastly, what type of epoxy have you guys used reattach the neon housing mounting bolts/studs? Would some jb weld suffice or would a multi-purpose 2 part epoxy be better?


http://www.markviii.org/~glitch/inverter.html

Ground Screw on the base plate for the inverter: (Wire Mesh)
This ground screw is for EMI purpose. (Radio interference) and has no affect on neon operation other then shorting the inverter if water is inside the housing.
(It has been found to be most desirable to disconnect and insulate the wire mesh from any metal structure or ground)

11. Perform the following steps:

1.Disconnect the wire mesh for the base plate
2.Protect the mesh from coming in contact with any metal structure
3.Or cut the mesh metal off

 

[beerdog]

I don't think anyone has ever come up with a good fix for those broken studs. People say many things but noone ever posts up pics.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

I don't think anyone has ever come up with a good fix for those broken studs. People say many things but noone ever posts up pics.

Bummer, was hoping for some good suggestions.

I would think a mp 2 part epoxy would work better than jb weld though. Only reason for the jb is due to the fact that I already have some and that it's compatible with both the metal and type of plastic.

 

[tixer]

JB Weld works for /everything/ I prefer the marine variant. I actually used it to fix the rim of a toilet once. (the part the water flows through as it flushes..) It was still holding up nicely when I moved out.

 

[beerdog]

I think the issue with gluing something else on there is that the surface is curved and what ever you glue tot he surface with not align in the direction needed. Do you have all the pieces? You could try using a good 'plastic welder" epoxy. I tried this once and it did not hold. There is either not enough cross setion to hold or I did not let it cure long enough.

How many studs are broken? One thing I did was to zip tie my neon in place. It works and you can't see the zip ties.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

I think the issue with gluing something else on there is that the surface is curved and what ever you glue tot he surface with not align in the direction needed. Do you have all the pieces? You could try using a good 'plastic welder" epoxy. I tried this once and it did not hold. There is either not enough cross setion to hold or I did not let it cure long enough.

How many studs are broken? One thing I did was to zip tie my neon in place. It works and you can't see the zip ties.

Iirc 4 are broken. If positioning is going to be an issue I spose I could just reinforce the ones that are still intact and hope for the best.

 

[beerdog]

Do you still have the broken pieces?

 

[Lownslowlsc]

Do you still have the broken pieces?

I misunderstood what you were saying. But yes, I have all the metal pins and parts of the plastic pieces.

I didn't have the neon off long enough to get a real good look at how everything was layed out. All I did was check to see if my spare ballast worked. I should've studied it more before I put it back on.

 

[beerdog]

i sent you a pm

 

[Last Mrk]

I used JB Weld. Worked good. The only problem is, now the studs have no give or slide whatever you would call it. The original studs slide into a type of fastener and can be moved about to line up better with the holes.

Looks good and works good. Thanks Mark D.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

I used JB Weld. Worked good. The only problem is, now the studs have no give or slide whatever you would call it. The original studs slide into a type of fastener and can be moved about to line up better with the holes.

Looks good and works good. Thanks Mark D.

I was able to dig into it after work today. I ended up super glueing each broken tab/bolt (4 total) one at a time so that I could align each correctly. I figured a dab of sg would give them enough strength for the initial test fitment.

Waiting for it to dry up so I can apply the jb weld.

Nice and clean now. I'm regarding all that dribble.

Almost ready for jb.

 

[DLF]

A little late, but this is what I used to repair mine.

 

[Lownslowlsc]

A little late, but thanks anyways

Jb welded the broken bolts and the unbroken ones for added reinforcement. I was able to snug the caps down w/o any breakage so the jb is doing its job. Also mounted the ballast with its new legs aswell.

I ended up cutting the wire mesh but left the other ground intact.


Annnnnd, back to the ****yness that are my pictures.

No masking tape on final assembly.

And I made/painted a new keyhole cover and mounted it from behind this time.