Check out my shiny balls
The light poles in our front garden and in our backyard were in a sorry state: they were probably from the 80's when the house was built, and the fiberglass spheres were literally being reclaimed by nature. I kid you not: I don't know how that's even possible, but moss was growing on them and one actually had holes under some of the moss patches:
It goes to show, given enough time, nature will eventually digest even the most inert man-made material...
We got lucky actually: the holes weren't directly above the electrical bits, so the lightbulb sockets didn't get corroded.
I went to the local light store, and after some rummaging around in the old stock, the lady found two slightly smaller translucent plastic spheres with the right size openings. She said the manufacturer didn't carry the old, larger size anymore, and the two smaller ones she had left weren't made anymore either.
So I bought them, and they weren't cheap: 160€ per sphere. Jesus H. Christ on a corndog!
The lady said she didn't set the price, the manufacturer did: it's the only one left still making replacement plastic spheres for light poles, and they price the spheres below what it would cost someone to replace the entire pole - which entails digging up the old cement foundation and pouring a new one, redoing the electrical wiring and having it re-certified by an electrician, which of course nobody wants to do - but not so much that someone might be tempted to undertake the complete replacement anyway because it would make more sense. Clever them!
So yeah, I paid 320€ for a couple of plastic spheres, but it was the least expensive option. Still, it kind of stings...
Actually it's not quite true: I could have 3D-printed new spheres out of lithophane. But then I would have had to waterproof the prints somehow anyway, and it would have been a whole lot of work. So ya know.. oh well, now it's done.
I also pulled out the old light bulbs and I'm glad I did: one of them was one of those old folded neon bulbs that looked like it could break and release nasty mercury in the environment any moment. The other still works and is a large, oval 160W incandescent bulb that some collector wants to buy from me from some silly amount of money.
Maybe I'll keep it until it's truly valuable. I missed out on the stupid retrocomputer craze: maybe I can cash out on my old incandescents if I wait long enough for collectors with more money than common sense to beg me to sell them when they're truly rare 🙂
Anyhow, now we have shiny new balls in our garden and they will look warm and inviting this winter when our guests come visit us!
12 replies
Don’t forget to trim the bushes around them to make them look bigger.
And now it's dusk, and here is the house all lit up with the new spheres, but also the other bulbs replaced and the outside light fixtures all cleaned up:
Nice illuminated balls.
Seeing your balls sure brings back some memories…
Idk why, but your post images loaded like I was in dial up.. On Voyager. Maybe my VPN is slow today
Nice balls bro. I also confirm that I saw them everywhere in the 80s.
It was really concerning for a while. You'd be walking down the street one evening, minding your own business, then BAM! pair of balls get flashed in your face, all lit up, nothing you could do about it
So you shaved your balls... from your tight budget? Uh, that's hot.
Was wondering if you could have 3d printed them. Why would you have to waterproof plastic? And wouldn't that just require some polyurethane?
3D-printed parts are porous. They're not like injected plastic parts. I'd have to waterproof them so water doesn't drip onto the electrical bits inside the spheres.
Well, or lacquer, or something similarly simple.
But here's the thing: I was there at the light store with two overpriced translucent plastic balls ready to install in front of me, or I was contemplating modelling the spheres, printing them for many hours (probably twice, knowing how large hollow objects like this go on a 3D printer) spending even more time removing the supports and smoothing the areas where they attached so they wouldn't show up as dark patches when the bulb is on, then waterproofing them with something I don't have that doesn't make them darker.
So in the end laziness for the better of me and I spent beaucoup bucks on the vintage balls in the shop. And half an hour later, it looks like it's 1980 all over again in the garden 🙂
I assume your talking about a compact florescent bulb? Yeah those should be disposed of properly, but the reality is that there's only a teeny tiny amount of mercury in there so really not a big deal.
Great work on the restoration!
Yeah CFLs, the name escaped me.
Actually, check out the official procedure from the EPA if you break one of those hateful things in your house:
https://www.epa.gov/mercury/cleaning-broken-cfl
And remember, that's from the EPA. So the reality of the actual contamination is probably a lot worse. If even the EPA's advice sounds this worrying, that's a good sign that you really, REALLY don't want to break one of those things in your house.