The Home Machinist!

The water glass in my LE American sits pretty low in the cab and can very hard to see in the shadows on a sunny day. Last winter I put in a larger diameter glass on an angle to make it easier to see but still needed a small 12 volt bulb behind it to see the water level.

I experimented with LEDs and Plexiglas to try to make a "bright stripe" to put behind the glass but that didn't work very well. (Should have paid more attention to Optics in college LOL!)

Anybody found a good way to light up their water glass?

Larry Fisher (Fisher Detail Foundry) makes water gauge lamps. I put one on my 4-6-0, but never took a picture with it lit.

You can make your own red line water glass by painting a red stripe bordered by white stripes. General illumination directed at the glass makes it easy to see.

On my CPR Hudson, 'ol 2888, I use two small white LED with appropriate resistor in series to give sufficient light for the water glass and the pressure gauge. The LED are in an enclosure such that only a narrow beam is pointed at the instruments.

To make the water column in the glass more visible I placed behind the glass a strip of white aluminum sheet on which I drew red lines at 45 deg. to the vertical axis of the water glass. Any water in the glass changes the angle of these lines whereas air in the glass does not. Quite effective. w

Today's project was to make a "light strip" with LEDs.

I used a strip of Plexigas and drilled every 0.15" for small yellow LEDs. They are in 2 groups of 5 (to run on 12 volts). I'll mount it tomorrow and see how it looks.

I tried an LED on my site glass only to find out it couldn't take the heat

John B

FLSTEAM wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 4:39 pmI tried an LED on my site glass only to find out it couldn't take the heat. John B

How close to the glass was your LED?

Larry Fisher makes beautiful,scale water glass lamps

I copied the design from a friend and built one that is enclosed and holds a standard 1/2" redline glass. It was getting too much heat and was a bit hard to read after the stripes would get burnt, so I machined the back off of it and drilled and tapped two 1/4-40 holes in the side so I could insert LED's and eventually pipe to look like conduit. Currently has wire nuts from a quick repair, but the LED's light up the glass well and it was super easy to make. I am just using one of those battery powered light sets you can buy for Christmas decorations. a pair of AA batteries lasts nearly a year. The battery pack sits out of the way on the left side of the cab. The only issue is that it was leaning up against the boiler jacket at some point and is a little misshapen! Peter

Hi Peter,

I saw I was mentioned on your post. Here’s a photo of the gauge glass lamp Jeff mentioned. They have been installed on several locomotives and work well. Contact me at lfisher160@charter.net if you have any questions.

Best,

Larry Fisher

That's a nice looking lamp!

squared!