Jonk67
Well-Known Member
I traded for this with my local picker ~1yr. ago and finally got around to mounting it to a board so I could hang it up where it's less likely to get broken than leaning on the wall behind my '67. It's a hard plastic (polyprophylene?) outdoor 4'x4' Bud sign manufactured in '68 according to the markings, one of those double sided ones that would be on a pole outside a watering hole or gas station, but just one side.
I made a frame from 1"x4" wood and added the framing to hold it on. The backing is white pressboard to reflect the light. The light I tried is a ~2' double bulb flourescent fixture.
As you can see the 2' bulb (22" 3500K 14W each) isn't long enough to light up the entire width and has endcaps that block the light from spreading at all but it would still be darker at the edges without the ends just because the bulbs stop over a foot short. The raised portion is 44" at the top across and 46" at the bottom of the sloping part so I can't fit 48" flourescent bulbs under there. I even tried LED rope lights as suggested by a neighbor but they were worse as you could see each bulb as a dot.
Camera phone pic with the garage lights on:
Camera phone with lights off, you can read the words as above, the phone can't tone down the light intensity:
I guess obviously I need longer bulbs but do I need a diffuser cover as the one above so that if I have 2 flourescent lights you won't see the darker space between them or that it is 2 bulbs? I'd like it to light evenly but if the center 'BUDWEISER' area is brighter than the rest that's ok, kind of brings the focus on the name. I only see 2' and 4' bulbs available, do I need to build a 'box' behind the sign to fit the full 4' bulbs that would have been in the pole frame like original? How many bulbs if so and with diffuser or unshrouded?
My Uncle worked for AB in St. Louis his entire career and retired from there so the sign is a special addition to my garage.
I made a frame from 1"x4" wood and added the framing to hold it on. The backing is white pressboard to reflect the light. The light I tried is a ~2' double bulb flourescent fixture.
As you can see the 2' bulb (22" 3500K 14W each) isn't long enough to light up the entire width and has endcaps that block the light from spreading at all but it would still be darker at the edges without the ends just because the bulbs stop over a foot short. The raised portion is 44" at the top across and 46" at the bottom of the sloping part so I can't fit 48" flourescent bulbs under there. I even tried LED rope lights as suggested by a neighbor but they were worse as you could see each bulb as a dot.
Camera phone pic with the garage lights on:
Camera phone with lights off, you can read the words as above, the phone can't tone down the light intensity:
I guess obviously I need longer bulbs but do I need a diffuser cover as the one above so that if I have 2 flourescent lights you won't see the darker space between them or that it is 2 bulbs? I'd like it to light evenly but if the center 'BUDWEISER' area is brighter than the rest that's ok, kind of brings the focus on the name. I only see 2' and 4' bulbs available, do I need to build a 'box' behind the sign to fit the full 4' bulbs that would have been in the pole frame like original? How many bulbs if so and with diffuser or unshrouded?
My Uncle worked for AB in St. Louis his entire career and retired from there so the sign is a special addition to my garage.
