For the record there isn't any asbestos insulation in the interior other than what was on the wires, I checked. In the 8" fresnels the interior was actual a more modern looking high temp wire that was some how attached to the asbestos leads and and the joint was then covered in heat shrink.[/QUOTE]
Don't call me "MR." Not my dad and I work for a living (it's a military and age thing.) No offense taken though.
Do you posess the skill level to do so - yes. Can you do it as a student - No. Sorry but kind of like working on a Union jobsite... some things you can be doing and some things you absolutely should not be doing.
Once graduated and out of school and as a private contractor you can negotiate doing what you want. Did so once like almost 20 years ago with an old school's asbestos fixtures - the ones were the asbestos whips had warn away so much they had conductors exposed. Once I ran out of heat wire, I found a box spool full of brand new asbestos heat wire laying about back stage... thus I proceeed to finish re-wiring the rest of the fixtures with asbestos. (I had no idea back than and was probaly using vinyl coated normal temperatur ring terminals back than. This much less don't think I even looked at the bases.) Grounded them, drilled out one of the holes for a single 1/2" romex cable clamp and all was good.
So much I didn't know just after graduating college. While you could... the details are important thus me thinking at least for cleaning them, this has to be done by a professional. After that and with supervision you could re-wire them but you have to have that professional level supervision to do so. Could be who ever de-wires them instructs how to re-wire them and either gets paid to supervise a team of people in doing so, or even does it for free / outreach, but a student without direct supervision also shouldn't be re-wirig fixtures. Sorry, but too much chance of a problem.
The “somehow” concerns me. Ever see a conductor melt thru a wire nut? Not pretty amongst other stuff that could be a problem. As with why would one do one thing and not the other... should make you suspicious about the rest of the wiring and condition of the fixtures. Could be as simple as some butt splice to a pre-wired base but red flags still. (Also stop looking into and handling these fixtures as much as possible. Gonna be ten years before you find out you got cancer due to this exposure already... stop increasing your risk. Get a bunch of trash bags and put each fixture into a bag than seal them up.) Here on E-Bay tonight is some asbestos whipped fixtures taken in photo on someone’s day table under a window at home... yea, that was a good idea...
On outreach... that you can at least start but has to have school faculty management of. Kind of like fund raising but instead it's material support and free labor from a professional company local to you or in your area for help on something you cannot afford to pay for but for the company might get them customers, free advertising, community good will etc. Where I work does lots of it though I cannot say that for all companies.
Re-wired over a hundred old lights for our community theater in my own time as approved of from work to do so. They are now for the most part a customer. Got a lot of experience with old fixtures from that - a lot of experience beyond the other fixtures I have worked on. On my part, I learn from this intimate knowledge of how it was done in the past for use on new lighting fixtures I invent at times. Good for my experience also as with a special project is always more fun than inspecting lamps all day long.
Anyway back to outreach... the local college art dept. had one of their students give me a call at some point in looking for info about color changing lamps/controllers. Lots of discussion and teaching, ended up giving him one of my “free sample” color changing LED lamps and it worked perfect for his art project. This as with having provided free lighting/design/production for a community church’s “alternate to Halloween” passion play type production for two years in a row before where I work moved and it became too hard to get out there. Handed them off to another company and I think they are still helping them out every year. Lots of help to the local high schools between gear or service calls say for their dimmers. This past year a windmill project for the IT department, later this summer we will be taking all of their fixtures down and giving them a free service call and re-wiring as needed. An asbestos tent will be done for that project. But that’s a local high school to where my company is. Sorry but local good will type of thing and only salary/staff people will be doing/donating the work other than perhaps some time by hourly people as needed if not otherwise busy or needed.
Such things beyond a few dollars where I work are of course covered or forwarded to the executives and PR guys as it were where I work. One of my cable suppliers recently asked me for help on a charity event... forwarded him to one of our executives given I am not authorized to make that decision. (Don’t E-Mail ME For Help - sorry, it’s normally others that get me into such projects and do the paperwork in writing off what was done as tax deduction also. Plus there is only so much outreach any company can do verses getting paid for such things.)
So outreach... got any electrical wiring, DJ or lighting companies in your area that might be induced to help say for some free advertising in the program or future work? Might need some advice on how to do it but down to the proper tension on a screw terminal level... that would at least be a start. Up to the Texas Scenic level and other theater supplier companies in your area. Don’t hurt to inquire. Also some local paper with an article about how say “The Wiring Guys” company helped re-wire your fixtures with donated time and materials (or discounted = at cost or way lower than normal markup), would be really good advertising for them... That’s golden free advertising and community good will which would result in more jobs for them. Center on how they came in to help and teach etc. Photos etc. and by the way donations to your school etc. is needed to upgrade and further... The local press loves human interest articles especially where a school is involved... etc. Easy to get done with some leg work in doing so. After that with the DJ company or local electrical supplier or contractor... they would probably need a bit of help in learning what needs to be done, what materials to use and how to go about it. For that you have controlbooth website, it’s individual members, etc. If nothing else have the contractor PM me or e-mail me (off line) and I would give the email address or even a phone number to call me directly. Trained eyes - just something different than what they are used to working on. Still the training should be sufficient to get it done properly. This once you get people recruited and perhaps what is to be done funded or supplied persay. Known costs such as replacement filters for the vacuums, bags, tarps, and hazmat suits. Shouldn’t be too much in cost and might even be provided but in concept to at least start in getting the fixtures clean - there would be a startup cost. This plus the cost for proper hazzardess waste management of the stuff that will need to be disposed of.
After that... all a question of parts should you want to re-wire the fixtures that would need to be negotiated.
Hope it helps.
