Chrisopher Tidy posted:
"
I think neon signs do require a pretty high vacuum if they are to work
well and stand the test of time, but I'm not certain of this. Perhaps
someone here can confirm? There's also a short article about vacuum
pumps for neon signs here, which suggests that the ultimate vacuum
required is pretty high:
http://www.signweb.com/neon/co=ADnt/pumpssuckb.htm."

Chris, just for the record neon signs do not require a particularly
high vacuum level, and usually just mechanical pumps are required for
their production. Their lifetime is limited by only the outgassing of
their electrodes.

The link that you posted largely addressed secondary oil diffusion
pumps and their ilk, which produce vacuums order beyond anything
required for lighting technology and at a cost orders of magnitude
beyone anything required for this application (as in 10^-6 MM Hg.). In
fact, this is the quality of vacuum required to produce cathod ray
tubes and transmitting tubes, with a little help from something called
a 'getter'.

For the purposed of the original poster, he would be well advised to
salvage a sealed compressor from an old air conditioner or
refrigerator, then convert it to a vacuum source per article that both
appeared in Scientific American and the Amateur Scientist's Handbook.

Harry C.