I found this fixture today. I've gotta admit, I show the best side LOL. The other endplate is missing and the front one has seen better days, so does the entire fixture. One lampholder is broken. Fortunately, the starter socket was still good, so I just need a new tube lampholder. And, most important, the ballast still works fine! It's a VERY long ballast with absolutely NO traces of what could be a label.
Right now I have two choices: I can restore it, but not in its original look, or I can salvage parts for my future fixture restoration/conversion projects. I'm not sure what to do...
Very nice find Vince, if you decide to restore it you could design your own end plates out of plexiglass or similar or if you can, cast your own endplates out of metal.
I would go for the restoration because I've never seen a art deco fluorescent like this one before and should be worth restoring.
That can be a good idea, as I can technically build my own aluminum forge very easily. The problem is that a piece of the only endplate I have is missing, so it makes the endplate reproduction a lot harder to achieve (not possible, but I'd have to reproduce the missing part by hand!)
My other possible solution would be to cut plain endplates in a sheet of steel. I then lose a big part of the artdeco style, but it'd allow me to restore it completely as soon as in a few weeks. I could reproduce the pattern with paint as well. (shades of silver gray)
I think, too, that this fixture is worth restoring.
Use sheets of metal and then try to make the cast out of metal welding or someting. Then, you can sand it with fine grade paper and paint it silver (or what ever color you perfer).
If you use a CAD program and design an endplate you can get them cut by almost any place that does CNC turning, either laser or milling, for a price. If you are having it done on a mill you can even get the art deco grooving recessed into the metal, and include your own logo as well.
That could be a possibility. However I don't have much time for that... I still have that halfpiper, it's under all the other 20W fluorescents LOL. I'll maybe restore it one day if I find some time to do it.
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Right now I have two choices: I can restore it, but not in its original look, or I can salvage parts for my future fixture restoration/conversion projects. I'm not sure what to do...
I would go for the restoration because I've never seen a art deco fluorescent like this one before and should be worth restoring.
My other possible solution would be to cut plain endplates in a sheet of steel. I then lose a big part of the artdeco style, but it'd allow me to restore it completely as soon as in a few weeks. I could reproduce the pattern with paint as well. (shades of silver gray)
I think, too, that this fixture is worth restoring.
Fortunately I have another half-piper which survived its trip to the recycling centre pretty much intact.