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Old 7th Nov 2017, 7:28 pm   #10
Vintage Engr
Heptode
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK.
Posts: 824
Default Re: How CRT re-gun was done

In the early 60's when I was working for Rediffusion in East London, there was a re-gun company called Mildmay Tubes.

I know this may sound crazy in todays Health & Safety concious world, but they used to cut the necks off (before colour, & these were mostly 90deg CRT's) by using a 12v car battery and a piece of nichrome wire wrapped around the neck at a suitable point!

There was a young lad doing this he was probably about age 15, next to him was an older guy who would clip the youngster around the ear if he failed to make a clean break on the neck.

The place was fairly Heath-Robinson, and some of the asbestos-clad ovens had holes blown in the side, where a CRT had previously imploded.
To seal the new short neck to the flare again there was a fascinating rotary gas burner inside the oven which gradually brought the glass up to the correct temperature.

Firing the getter was done by a very crude RF coil, held to the neck at the appropriate point. This operated by a young lady & I have it on good authority thet there had been problems with some of the girls having RF burns on their thighs! This was found to be due to them using suspender belts with metal clips. (ouch!) They soon changed to nylon types once the cause was found.

All good & dangerous fun. I wish there was someone still doing re-guns, but even if someone decided to try & make a go of it I doubt it would make a profit in todays high- labour cost market.

David
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