Quote Originally Posted by Eric Woodbury View Post
There are plenty of cold cathode lamp producers in the US. Here's one.

http://www.cathodelightingsystems.com/products/

However, I went to the Aristo factory once about 20 years ago, and there is more to it than meets the eye. Allen Johnson explained the phosphors, the bending, the density of the tubing, and getting the color just right. I'm sure someone can make a coldlight tube, but what would it cost? And how good would the color be? We should do our best to get the company that owns Aristo to fire up a small line of tube making.

I don't expect I'll ever need another tube, but if I were to break this one by some unfortunate accident, I would need one now and I don't know what I'd do.

PS: Morley Baer used a Mervap coldlight and I see that there is still a phone listing for that company in Los Angeles. Anybody have any recent experience with these lights?
Voltarc (who bought Aristo) still exists as a neon tube supplier, quite likely a call to the right person would net you the closest, if not exact, phosphor mix used, as well as gas suggestions. It's been quite a few years since I've bent glass, but from memory the biggest difference between neon and cold cathode is the tube size, neon typically maxes out at around 15mm, cold cathode goes to about 25+mm. The electrodes are slightly different, though I'd think 15mm neon tube bent in the same pattern as the original, with the proper phosphors/gas would get you 90+% of the way there.

I've used neon in the past for an enlarger light source. Perhaps not perfect, by the numbers/ad copy by Aristo, but in reality, worked just fine. (and much better than the option of no light whatsoever).

I'm presently refurbishing an Elwood 8x10 I was given, sans dome and have had excellent success so far with an AC operated shutter and continuous CFL source with significant diffusion. (2 layers of white polycarb)