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1960's GE NEMA Heads Restored
Originally, these were just the ballast/socket/housing units from a craigslist score. The arms, PCs, and diffusers added later.

The cast housings were badly damaged from corrosion from sitting in a wet shed in mud and full of pitting that looked worse than the surface of the moon. After sandblasting them I filled in all of the craters with JB Weld and sanded smooth. Then, I finally found a paint that seems to be the closest match to original casting color. It's a 'Cast Gray' engine spray paint by Eastwood that has a two component curing/drying.

The spray cans have a button valve on the bottom that you press to internally rupture the stored activator and shake well before using. After activator is released, paint has to be used within 24-48 hrs. Paint is good to over 500 Deg. F. as well as the JB Weld epoxy.

One other interesting thing to note here: a couple of these fixtures utilize a clamp style strap for the latching diffuser...a spare can be seen next to the unfinished housing. They are made of stainless steel so they had no corrosion.

Keywords: American_Streetlights

1960's GE NEMA Heads Restored

Originally, these were just the ballast/socket/housing units from a craigslist score. The arms, PCs, and diffusers added later.

The cast housings were badly damaged from corrosion from sitting in a wet shed in mud and full of pitting that looked worse than the surface of the moon. After sandblasting them I filled in all of the craters with JB Weld and sanded smooth. Then, I finally found a paint that seems to be the closest match to original casting color. It's a 'Cast Gray' engine spray paint by Eastwood that has a two component curing/drying.

The spray cans have a button valve on the bottom that you press to internally rupture the stored activator and shake well before using. After activator is released, paint has to be used within 24-48 hrs. Paint is good to over 500 Deg. F. as well as the JB Weld epoxy.

One other interesting thing to note here: a couple of these fixtures utilize a clamp style strap for the latching diffuser...a spare can be seen next to the unfinished housing. They are made of stainless steel so they had no corrosion.

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Filename:004_1~0.JPG
Album name:don / HID
Keywords:American_Streetlights
Filesize:158 KiB
Date added:Dec 07, 2015
Dimensions:1200 x 900 pixels
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URL:http://www.galleryoflights.org/mb/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=20058
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Comment 1 to 7 of 7
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streetlight98   [Dec 08, 2015 at 01:08 AM]
Nice! Did you make these arms or were they ones you had laying around? These look totally awesome!
lite_lover   [Dec 08, 2015 at 01:34 AM]
Very nice restoration! Cool
don   [Dec 08, 2015 at 04:18 PM]
Thanks very much! Those arms are factory made. The top mounting arm is the latest acquisition from ebay.
streetlight98   [Dec 09, 2015 at 12:39 AM]
Is that top arm a Line Material arm? I've always loved the look of them but they look weak at the mounting flange. With that arm design, the weld is supporting the whole weight of the arm by itself. The bottom arm has the other lag bolt flange, which normally doesn't hold any weight but kinda serves as a back-up if the weld fails. I guess the odds of a weld failing is low though, especially with a NEMA. If we had an M-1000 maybe it would be a concern lol.
don   [Dec 09, 2015 at 03:42 AM]
I don't know the brand but yeah, I was wondering how strong it is too. It does seem pretty sturdy though. I wondered if it would support my M250R1.
streetlight98   [Dec 09, 2015 at 10:41 AM]
I think it would. I've seen cobraheads on 6ft versions of the top arm and they were fine (but those arms were steel IIRC). It would certainly look nice with your Unistyle! Very Happy The M-250R1 or M-250R would look nice too.
Mercuryvapor123   [Jan 02, 2019 at 09:19 PM]
Hey Mike, I just got a 1960's era GE nema head today. Unfortunately they had gutted it and installed a cheapy ballast. could you post a couple pics of the ballasts so I have an Idea of what I'm looking for?

Comment 1 to 7 of 7
Page: 1