> Neon is quite expensive; about 50EUR for 12 liters. It is a pressurized > bottle at 12bar, so it almost looks like a can of hair spray ;-)
You should be able to do better than that if you don't need that much neon. http://www.montroy.com/catalog/main/itemdetail.app?item_no=NEON It's 0.9 liter of neon at atmospheric pressure for about US$20. This way, you can get away without a pressure regulator or needle valve. Fuse the flask onto a bit of tubing on your manifold with two stopcocks near each other*. Once you're pumped down, spin the one closer to the flask a half turn (which will quickly open and close it again). This will trap a little bit of neon between the two stopcocks, at a pressure somewhat below atmosphere (this will drop as the neon is used). Then meter the neon into the manifold with the second stopcock. Since you're partitioning out maybe half a milliliter of neon at atmospheric pressure or less into a manifold that's considerably larger, even if you just leave the second stopcock open, you'll already be down to something in the useful range. If you want more pressure, close the second stopcock and spin the first again. This is not a precision setup by any means, but for those of you who'd like to play with neon on the cheap, it's a reasonable way to get going without spending too much money. * These glass flasks have a thin glass seal to keep the neon in. The usual way to open one is to put a clean piece of ferrous metal in the tubing before sealing it up. Then open both stopcocks and run your vacuum pump until the manifold is pumped down good. Then close the stopcocks and use a magnet to yank your metal chunk over to break the glass seal. If your metal chunk isn't clean, your neon will be contaminated. - John -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/neonixie-l?hl=en-GB.
