I need a 12 - 14v MES dimple bulb. Very common in the US, but unheard of here (unless you know better?), and postage is a killer.
I have a blown bulb, and can probably get the glass out of the base, but can I cut the base of the glass? Thinking if I could cut the glass, I could insert a grain of wheat bulb, which will do the job, but how to cut the glass?
Any good?
You'd have to 20 to get free P&P
What's a 'dimple bulb'? Do you mean one with a lens? In which case an LED bulb would be a good alternative.
Standard MES bulb uses a ceramic cement to 'glue' the glass envelope into the base.
I'm not quite sure what a dimple bulb is, but would any here be suitable
Or CPC have MES bulbs
Owain
Squeeze with pliers.
NT
Thanks all, for the suggestions. A dimple bulb has a dimple in the top of the bulb. I should have explained - as said, common in the US, but not here :-)
Why? Remember the aquarium pump thread a couple of weeks ago? This is all about a Marx toy beacon tower which uses a dimple bulb on top of which balances a lightweight beacon with red and green lenses. Vanes in the top of the beacon, the idea being that the heat from the bulb rises through the vanes, causing the beacon to rotate, balanced in the bulb dimple. Great idea but it rarely works so a friend had the idea of using an aquarium pump to direct a jet of air through the vanes. It works perfectly, but just as I got mine going, the poxy bulb blew! I suppose the bulb must be 60 years old, so shouldn't really complain.
A strawhat LED with suitable resistor to run on 12V, and drill your own dimple in the top?
I've tried google images and got nowhere. This is where a link to a picture might help.
In message <qg8fsj$9q4$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, Fredxx snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com writes
You're right, of course. eBay US item 223553936563
Intrigued by Andy's suggestion of drilling an LED bulb. Should I infer that such a bulb (never used one) is plastic, rather than glass?
Dremel?
Not a "bulb" just an LED.
straw-hats have an internal conical reflector so they tend to shine sideways, which I assume your rotary flasher needs? You'd need to drill your own dimple for your pivit e.g with a countersink drill bit, or chamfer router bit, you wouldn't want to drill too far at risk of damaging the LED die, so buy a big bag cheap from china to allow experiments, e.g.
Then epoxy the modified LED with suitable current limiting resister into a rescued MES base.
Would it not be easier to remove the bulb, smash it somewhere graunch out the remains from the screwed bit and then solder in whatever you fancy?
Brian
I'm not sure what you mean by dimple. a lot of larger torch bulbs have a kind of uneven bit on the top, one assumes this was where the bulb was sealed. I still prefer screw bulbs for low voltage use instead of those pesky bayonet types that seem to only make contact now and again when the spring gets tired. Brian
If rising heat from the bulb was enough to make it spin, rather than the pump, why not use the heat produced by a resistor? It would be completely silent.
What is the supply voltage of this gadget?
In message <qg9hui$iv$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, Harry Bloomfield snipped-for-privacy@NOSPAM.tiscali.co.uk> writes
Harry, the problem is that these devices have rarely if ever worked properly since new. There just isn't enough heat to turn the beacon. It is sometimes possible to get the beacon moving for a while with a quick nudge, but it rarely spins for long. Another manufacturer (Lionel) had a similar product which they withdrew and replaced with a motor powered beacon because the heat version was unreliable.
14v, although I use 12v, with the help of the little pump, which also requires 12v. I have standardised on 12v for all bulbs and accessories.Getting back to the pump, I was put off reducing the supply voltage partly because it is convenient to have everything running at 12v, and partly because, as was said, the pump may not start or run well on a reduced voltage. I bought a Y piece to go in the tube, with one branch running to the beacon and the other to a little plastic reducer valve which allows fine tuning of the supply to the beacon, and works well.
You can buy MES LEDs with a flat top on eBay for a few ££s.
Some LEDs come with a dimple in them, I can't remember what they are called but maybe straw hat ones.
There's wide-angle LEDs that have such a dimple.
Can't find or google the name... but I guarantee they exist because I have some, somewhere...
And the two-wire plastic LED top can be sanded, drilled, and ground very easily.
Thomas Prufer
LEDs are plastic.
Now we know what it looks like..
use an ordinary bulb and glue a small washer on the top (M2 or less).
It only has to stop the pin falling off.
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