That must SUCK, but we all have some broken glass every once in a while! where you in there when it fell?!

So annoying.... At least one tube survived....

Did you mount this just with screws to a drywall ceiling? I have gotten away with that with the thin, lightweight electronically-ballasted fixtures and single-lamp F15T8's, but with the weight of an older magnetically-ballasted fixture, you better be screwing it into SOLID wood (not plywood)or at least use some heavy-duty toggle-bolts if you have to mount to a dry ceiling. Drywall anchors won't do it!

Glad to see the blackender survived and no one was injured...hopefully the fixture is repairable.

I can imagine this thing would HURT you if you were under it when it fell!

That SUCKS! MAN, I love having a commercial shop and an all wood (tongue and groove) house. I HATE drywall. Looks like it damaged your end cap. It is amazing how tough lamps can be! Good thing you were not at that computer!

Thats a sad site to see


Amazing that that one lamp didn't shatter as well

I am sorry about this

There is one thing that I hate about this is cleaning up the broken glass on the floor. I have always walk with no shoes on around the house. When that happens, I need to broom all the big fragments, then use the wet paper towel to pick up the smallest glass shred on the non-carpeted floor. If that happens on the carpet, I would certainly vacuum the carpet as much as I can. The last thing I wanted to step on a broken glass shred

im Really sorry about this...this is Tragic!

This Happened to me a few months back,a Fairly New Lithoria wrap was mounted to Drywall with only Two Screws...the Fixture Fell...and my 70's Blackender was Shattered.

at least yours survived.

Sorry to see that, man. Even worse I think that fixture was carrying vintage lamps. Hopefully the fixture is fine, or at least most of it including the working parts.

To answer your questions, I was sitting next to it working at the desk when it fell. See the computer tower? Yeah. That close.

This one has been up for a few months, and I never touched it. It was fixed with 4 drywall anchors, two popped out, the two left are still in the ceiling.

And yes, the fixture is pretty damaged, one endplate is broken, dents in the channel, the hood is smooched and some sockets broke.
Yeah, there were four Westinghouse bulbs in there. Three broke.

This was the only "deco end-plate" half-piper that I had that was in decent condition, all parts present and no dents. Well, I guess you can't have it all

Hmm. That does suck, but if the ballasts are working, and the other end plate is intact, this might be a good rerestoration project. I might have a few of those white Leviton Y slot lampholders as spare if you need a couple. One oddball with a smooth white back and the rest have a crosshatched cardboard back. There might be a way to hammer out the dents as well and reshape the hood.

Man that sucks sorry to see it happen. I don't trust sheetrock lol. That's why i have yet to install the Mitchell office units i got from you.

It is fixable. That is the good thing about vintage stuff. It is TOUGH...and it is repairable! Thank God you were not directly under it!
When you go to remount it, cut and paint you a nice board the length of the fixture, then screw the board to the ceiling, into the rafters, with long wood screws. Then screw the fixture to the board with four wood screws in the holes you previously used. It will be rock solid! Post photos of the parts you need. Among your fellow collector friends here, we can round you up some matching parts and get that baby goin again!

Hmm that sucks to see this happen to a nice vintage fixture and vintage lamps but it's a good that nobody was hurt by the falling fixture, I mount mine with toggle bolts or with screws onto wood or a rafter so I can be sure it doesn't fall down on me, even the cheap electronic fixtures too.

The fixture looks pretty fixable to me too, I guess could get the dents in the housing hammered out and maybe fix or get a replacement endplate made for the fixture.

I always use drywall anchors, except that I use the big ones with fat screws. Because this fixture had smaller holes, the big screws I usually use did not fit it. I didn't want to expand the holes to keep the fixture original, SO, I used very small screws. My mistake...


I put the two lamper Mitchell I got, much lighter and this time, I have the very big screws

Thanks, you guys!

The bad thing is that I still can't find the broken piece of the endplate.. Must have flew pretty far with the shock.

That sucks

If you must accommodate large bore with tiny screws, these work really well. 1/8" is more than strong enough and I love these big washers with a tiny hole in the middle.

http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=1656


This setup only requires 1/4" hole in the ceiling and 1/8"(minimum) to 3/4" (maximum) openings on fixture.

Miles, check the floor all the way to the walls, including under the furniture. Chances you'll find that missing piece.

Toggle bolts are the best way to mount something heavy like this to the ceiling. Even a small toggle bolt would do the job...just as long as there is something on the other side of the sheetrock to "grab" it...

If you find the missing piece, some epoxy should do the job of securing it back to the endplate.

It's unfortunate that it came crashing down like that...it's a painful sight!

When mounting a fixture on the ceiling if possible i always:
* leave at some airspace above it (because ballasts give off a TON of heat and get HOT)
* mount into the wood studs even if it means drilling holes in the fixture (i have nothing vintage)

I have one fixture i had to mount on the drywall...rather than use those toggle-bolt type things i got in the attic above and laid a board down directly on the drywall (that is not a permanent installation, one of these days it will be taken down)

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@Miles dam that'd be scary as hell to be sitting at the computer. then right nearby >-Crash-< a light drops off the ceiling

Stud finders also help as well, they were always handy when I did remodeling projects.

OUCH!!! That hurts... Fortunately you weren't injuried, but I can imagine your feeling when you looked behind you and realized what was on the floor...

Fortunately the fixture looks repairable, after all it's more important than the lamps (or at least to me). I think that the survived lamp must be saved and added to your collection with a label which says "This lamp was MIRACLED!"

That is terrible, a real nightmare for a lamp/fixture/streetlight collector.

Awww Nawww!

The most important is that you're not hurt! Still, that's sad to see such a beauty crushed on the floor, laying on broken glass

I personally always screw my fixtures in wood, even with somewhat short screws it holds the fixture very well.

Especially when the glass is blackenders

Holy Sh**
That's terrible

Very sad , I think alot of us at some point in time have suffered similar loses .

What I do when I`m uncertain is to take a 5 inch by 4 foot shelf board & mount it to the ceiling 1st & making sure I have hit studs & pull on the board just to make sure its firm against the ceiling & then you can mount youre fluorescent fixture to the board.

The good news is a foundry can reproduce endcaps for this fixture from the survivor & with a few minor repairs to this light it will be fine & the fact Those good ole westinghouse black enders are still plentiful.

I`m just glad no one was hurt .

I think that's the most important thing here, you can replace the fixture, you can't replace yourself at all!

The only thing is you CAN'T replace this fixture

Find another one? I think that counts as replacing it.

The Fixture IS repairable & no one was hurt , Or he can just box it up & put it away for a future repair/Restoration project - This is what I would do if finances will not allow for casting work of reproduction deco end plates at this time.

It would be a stupid move to dispose of the fixture - Again It is repairable.

I agree with vintagefluorescent. Btw vintagefluorescent did you get my private messages? I have the Hygrade C103 half piper now.

Hi Dave,

Yes, I`m in receipt of the e-mail - Congratulations !!!!!

I assume you plan to keep the dead bulbs that came with it - I think you said 2 were dead?

Hi Roger, if you are interested to see the fixture click here. I found your box of bulbs so please pm me your address.

Hi Dave,

You should be in receipt .

Thanks

Mmmm... Smell the mercury!

Ouch...did you repair this light?

Miles--I feel SO bad for you that you had to learn the hard way that you NEVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, MOUNT ANYTHING TO A SHEETROCK CEILING WITH PLASTIC, FIBRE, LEAD/ZINC, OR WOOD ANCHORS! I have always had a hugw aversion for these anchors in sheetrock, concrete, or plaster on ceilings, because, even after the screw "expands" them, they still have very little surface area for a good "bite". plus they are tapered to be narrower at the butt end for easier insertion--and this also contributes to easy pull-out. Let me tell you a story about these damned crappy anchors and some brand new wraparound T8 Electronic fixtures at the mall in Latham, NY, (which, by the way was totally demoed to the ground just last summer (2013) where I used to work as the electrician there.

They wanted to install these wraparound 2 lamp units in continuous rows on double layer for fire code, 5/8" type X sheetrock on steel joists that are really heavy gauge metal 2x6 studs. I was pretty busy on another ptoject, ad this one wasn't an "emergency" project, so I stayed on it, so the people renting the space got in a hurry, which wasn't necessary, as the move-in date was in 3 months, and had a fly-by-night "electrician" install the fixtures, and instead of drilling holes in the fixtures where needed, to get screws into the joists, he used plastic anchors. about 4 days after he got all the lights up, the anchors on the center row pulld out in the center of the row, and caused the whole row to crash to the floor! Another row started coming down at one end, but thankfully never fell. I had to go up and run self-drilling sheet metal screws into all the units that didn't fall--it took maybe 12 hours to do it all, but the row that fell was JUNK! Those fixtures were all mangled, and since the contractor used steel chase nipples (channel connectors) between the lights, they held together when they fell, and this caused major housing and end plate damage. I saved some lamps, a few refractors, and the ballasts and some of the sockets that didn't break, and the housings went to scrap. I had to cut most apart with a sawzall, as the chase nipples wrer jammed and wouldn't loosen from the locknuts--so it was a mess! Even if he had used either "molly" anchors, or toggle bolts, tohey would have held just fine in double sheetrock! I ended up installing more new fixtures, and used self drilling screws into the steel joists, and on one fixture at the end of the row, which didn't make the last joist, 2 1/4-20 toggle bolts on each corner of the housing did the trick!

The old 3-lamp preheaters in my museum trailer were put up in 2004, and were put into the homosote bonded paperboard ceiling with toggle bolts are as solid as a rock! I got some screws into some joists as well. I hope this is a lesson to you to never again use anchors in a ceiling--they are fine on a wall or floor, but never use then to hold anything, no matter how "light" in a ceiling. That poor half-piper preheater probably isn't too happy either1 Also, I suggest standing the unit off the ceiling with nuts, stacks of washers, pieces of tubing, etc, at least 1/4" to 3'8" to dissipate heat. If you want to see your old ballasts burn up, flush mounting the unit direct to the ceiling is a good way to insure this will happen! I had to mount direct to the ceiling in my trailer because of limited ceiling height, but the fixtures have aluminum housings, being immediate post-war units (1947), so the housings dissipate heat better than steel. I hope you get this unit fixed, ebven if it means using it with no end plates or making your own, like I have many times. I feel your pain--back in 2010, I had some preheaters I have had for years in the driveway waiting to get loaded in my van to go to Schenectady to the Edison Tach Center for restoration, and my nephew's helper that worked for him wasn't watching what he was doing when backing a pickup truck loaded with scrap wood from a job, to be used as firewood in our wood boiler, and wasn't looking wgat was behind him and backed over 2 early 1940's 4 lamp strips with long-john ballasts and sheet metal fancy end plates--they were stacked, and that sound they made was sickening when the back tire rolled up on them, damaging the ends. These also had beautiful Kulka 'push-in" style lamp holders, which were pulverized, and the end plate was turned into tinfoil. These units have welded in end plates, so the damage is probably not fixable. I may shorten these to 3 foot, 2 foot, or 18 inches, and save the 40 watt internals for other units, or just take the ballasts etc out and scrap them. Out of 4, 2 were destroyed. Those lights were "chillin" in my storage trailer since about 1986, and it took only seconds after I got them out the following evening, the next day, to render then badly damaged--it pisses me off just to think about it even now! They are sitting in the stack of lights I have at the Edison, waiting to see what their fate will be. Well, at least 2 survived, but one is missin end plates, an not sure the damaged ones will supply snough parts to replace hem--may have to use one as a template and hand cut a new one from sheet metal--sigh! Too bad other people don't see these old lights the same way we do--this is why so many get scrapped these days. Such as life!

Woooooow. Have you gotten to fix it?

Seeing this again reminds me: I had a similar experience a few months ago, with an 8ft 2XF96T12 slimline I'd installed in my bedroom that came crashing down in the middle of the night! (drywall screws into apparently not enough joists). Picture here: http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?pos=-112357

Dude! That's horrible sight. Oh well that's how fluorescents crumble time to put more up

I feel so bad for you RIP

Never, ever skimp on screw anchors and make sure your holes are perfect. I bought cheap plastic wall anchors for shelves before, and after 2 weeks the shelf came right out of the wall, pulled the anchors right with it, one even tore in half. I then used the same holes, but bought better anchors and I could tell right away they locked into the hole better, and I put the shelf back up and re-tested them, I could hang off the shelf and it did not budge. I live in a plywood and panelboard house and I still say drywall is a total nuisance, I hate it.

Because you are doing it wrong. Something like shelves gotta be attached to the studs and not to the drywall panel

Because you are doing it wrong. Something like shelves gotta be attached to the studs and not to the drywall panel

No. Re-read what I said. Why do you think they make drywall anchors?

For stuff that is far more lightweight, and that does not apply as much force in the pull out direction but mostly down

So sad to see this fixture on the ground injured

Yeah if possible always go for the studs, I always make sure that at least 2 out of 4 screws are in the wood beam. ( 1 of 2 screws in wood per end). If its a 4 lamp then I use six screws with at least 3-4 in wood with screws 2 inches or more. What ever screws that dont reach wood and gotta go in the drywall will be with the good long anchors with a fat thick toothed screw.

Stud finders also help as well, they were always handy when I did remodeling projects.

I know of a few people that use these when they go out on the town...

Not us I hasten to add...

Quote from chapman84

Stud finders also help as well, they were always handy when I did remodeling projects.

I know of a few people that use these when they go out on the town...
Not us I hasten to add...

LOL Miss Cuddly .. A slightly different form of 'stud finder'
---
Picked up a new stud-finder today (the type you use on walls .lol. ) the old one just doesn't seem to work right anymore.

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我同意

The rule of thumb when mounting fluros is to never mount them on gyprock always screw it into a stud so it cannot strip out of the material.

Those thinks kills a lot of vintage tubes!

bet that gave you a huge fright!

Is that plastic anchors on the far side?

Do you guys mind holding onto your comments 'til 2020? I want break the record on LG for a post with a ten year span comments bump! hahaha!

PS: That fixture's sheet metal was beyond repair, not to worry it got recycled properly and probably lives a second life in a Hyundai now. And yes, ignorant me just thought four 50 lbs rated plastic anchors would do the trick. We had a small quake a few days prior if I remember, and that probably loosened the whole thing.

Do you guys mind holding onto your comments 'til 2020? I want break the record on LG for a post with a ten year span comments bump! hahaha!

PS: That fixture's sheet metal was beyond repair, not to worry it got recycled properly and probably lives a second life in a Hyundai now. And yes, ignorant me just thought four 50 lbs rated plastic anchors would do the trick. We had a small quake a few days prior if I remember, and that probably loosened the whole thing.

That would do it Miles!