From Trash to Treasure

[Detroit Signal]

I purchased this set of signals from PLD earlier this year when they came down from service at Southfield and Lyndon. They were in extremely bad shape, with tons of corrosion and dated back to the late 1950s according to the make/model:




A little sandblasting, JB weld was necessary:


Finished and functioning!

[Ray1936]

Beautiful job, D.S.! Thanks for posting the 'before' and 'after'. Dont'cha wish they could talk and tell tales of what they've seen?

[gazhekwe]

I followed the direction of that very light for many years living on St. Marys near Lyndon. It looks great! What is to be its next assignment?

[Lowell]

Beautiful. They look brand new out of the box.

[Detroit Signal]

I followed the direction of that very light for many years living on St. Marys near Lyndon. It looks great! What is to be its next assignment?

For now, on the garage wall. My plan [[I'm 29 now) is to donate some of my restored signals to the Henry Ford when I get older.

[Detroit Signal]

Here's another resto job I did this year:

[gazhekwe]

Very cool! We have one similar. It's army green, and we have had it since the 70s. It doesn't have WALK on the green. We have an oblong Walk/Don't Walk sign with the glass tube neon type letters, and a square one with the stenciled orange hand. I think they all work, but my plans to install them in my family room as decoration have not outlived my passage into more traditional decor. I have been wondering what might happen to them as time passes. Your take on donating them to the Henry Ford is interesting.

[DetroitPlanner]

Awesome!!! Can you retrofit those with LED?

I can imagine they use a ton of electricty!

[shovelhead]

Surprising enough that traffic signals only used a unfrosted 100 watt incandescent bulb in each light. It is a specific bulb marked "Traffic Signal". Uses a standard screw in bulb as it shares the same base.

For home use a 25 watt bulb is adequate.

[CLAUDE G]

Awesome!!! Can you retrofit those with LED?

I can imagine they use a ton of electricty!

Yea, you can convert it over to LED. As the person mentioned in the post above they take a standard light bulb. There are special ones on the market that are heavy duty, since the bulbs are taking a beating eveytime they switch on and off every 30 seconds.

If you go to Lowes or Home Depot, they got LED light bulbs that fit in a standard light bulb socket.

As fas as electricity costs, it costs no more than a standard 100 watt light bulb

[wolverine]

Wow man, great work. Amazing what some time and talent can do to make something look brand new again.

[Detroit Signal]

Thanks everyone!!

They can definitely be retrofitted with LEDs. You just remove the reflector/sockets and lenses and the LEDs are a one-piece assembly that fit right in the door of the signal. I run 67 watt signal bulbs in my garage signals and 11-watt in the basement stuff.

[DetroitPlanner]

Thanks everyone!!

They can definitely be retrofitted with LEDs. You just remove the reflector/sockets and lenses and the LEDs are a one-piece assembly that fit right in the door of the signal. I run 67 watt signal bulbs in my garage signals and 11-watt in the basement stuff.

May not want to do LED in the basement you will blast your retinas out! Most road agencies have switched over to LED powered lights for two reasons. Both of these reasons save a ton on operating costs.

1. LED bulbs burn out less frequently so DPW crews can be assigned other work.
2. The electrical cost is much less because you don't need to have as high of wattage. DPWs are saving 80 percent on the cost of energy and retain the same brightness. I suppose they could make them brighter, but they seem bright enough.

A big downside to switching to LED is the initial cost. DPWs are not exactly walking around with fat wallets these days as SEV takes a nose dive.

Interestingly places with wierd snows have issues using LED bulbs. For example in Minnesota, snow flies at lower angle causing build up in the light housing. Since LEDs do not produce the heat conventional bulbs do, the snow just collects in the housing making it hard to determine who has the right of way.

[65memories]

Detroit Signal...
...great job renovating those lights. Those lights had not been in service for a couple of years at Lyndon and Southfield. They simply hung there out of use. For at least the last two years, the city put up temporary 4 way Stop signs instead. I'm glad you purchased them...even in your garage, they are being put to better use.

[Whitehouse]

Are there more people who renovate ordinairy objects such as a humble traffic light? These objects are so overlooked and underrated until you start missing them from your everyday life.

[One Shot]

Those look good! The beauty of old, American built stuff is the ability to fix and restore them. Stuff nowadays is made so cheap that its deemed throwaway when it breaks.

[Patrick]

Great job! So are the modern day signals made in China by kids using lead paints and plastic? lol