I got a gift of a 12" plasma globe from the mid 1980's from my wifes aunt this weekend. It was an art piece by Bill Parker, 1 of only 375 made called the 'Fire Flower'. It works to a certain degree, but I think it needs refilled with whatever inert gases they put in these things. Does anyone happen to know where I can have this done, or if it's possible to do it myself? FYI, I live in the North Metro Atlanta area.

My Fire Flower

The Neon Company, maybe?

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Is the seal at the bottom a glass to metal seal? If so, the gas inside should be unchanged. Glass to metal seals on vacuum tubes hold 10^-8 torr for decades. Your globe is at far higher pressure.

If it is epoxy or rubber or such, then you probably have too high a pressure inside. The gas inside can be pretty much anything. Different gases simply give different colors. The problem would be if it started getting up around atmospheric pressure. These things usually run at some tiny fraction of atmospheric, maybe 1 to 10%(?)

Being 30 years old, you might have an electrolytic capacitor that is drying out inside, thus weakening the power supply, thus the output.

The problem is you might have to consult two expensive specialists, which one do you go to first?

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Bill Slugg
Albany, GA

Call Bill Parker (if he's still alive) and ask if he does refills. Congrats on your acquisition, I'm jealous.

If you ever get to Chicago go to Navy Pier. There is a giant plasma ball, three or four feet in diameter, in the McDonald's. I have picture of it around here somewhere but even if I took the hour to find it I couldn't post it because my children are in the picture. I tried to google up an image with no results.

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The Brain Science Podcast