MOTHER'S FLUORESCENT TUBE SOLAR COLLECTOR

(Page 4 of 4)

September/October 1978
 
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Finally, cut a 5" length of .032" or .034" stainless steel wire. Stick one end of the wire into the 1/16" hole in the end of one of the cutter's square steel blocks, secure the wire tightly in place with a 10-32 machine screw, and then form the stainless wire into a circle and clamp its other end into the other square block in the same way so that the ends of the handle will never quite touch when the loop of stainless steel wire is squeezed around a fluorescent tube.

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When the above adjustment has been made, separate the handle halves and insert the small compression spring into the holes that were drilled for it.

At this point you're ready to hook your cutter up to a 12-volt car battery, a transformer, or an automobile cigarette lighter tap. In any case, the unit's on/off switch is nothing more than an automobile headlight dimmer switch . . available from any wrecking yard for pennies or from an auto supply house for about $2.00.

Cut a notch, if necessary, into the end of a piece of scrap 2" X 6" lumber and mount the dimmer switch to the board. Then connect one lead (it doesn't matter which) on the cutter to one pole on the battery (or to one of the cigarette lighter tap leads) . . . and the other wire from the cutter to one terminal on the dimmer switch (use a butt connector).

It's then easy to run a length of wire from the dimmer switch's other terminal (use another butt connector) to the remaining pole on the battery or the other cigarette lighter adapter lead. That's it! You're ready to cut fluorescent tubes, bottles, jars, even water glasses.

Just hook up your power source (alligator clips work fine), fit the loop of stainless steel wire around the tube of glass you want to cut, and depress the foot switch. Then, when the wire glows red hot, depress the switch again .. . and the cylinder of glass will be cut "to order". The loop of stainless, of course, will break from time to time (due to its constant expansion and contraction) but it's easy to replace . . . and that's a whole lot easier than trying to cut glass tubing with a conventional cutting tool!

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Comments

  • Mills 7/11/2009 10:43:30 AM

    Exactly what is this solar collector supposed to collect - water or hot air? What kind of working application is this for? You did not make this clear!

  • Ed 12/22/2007 11:36:18 AM

    What about the mercury that these tubes contain? Are you just
    dumping it?

  • David 7/30/2007 2:05:55 AM

    I have found putting iron fileings into the tube ( found around any
    work bench vice )and rubbing a speaker magnet back and forward
    wraped in a cloth ( to revent scraching )a very good way of
    cleaning a tube out. It gives very good controll of the cleaning.
    and the fileings can be used over and over again.

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