[ohohyodafarted]

This is an interesting thread! FWIW I will add my 2 cents worth.

WRT the implosions that occured during the removal of the bonded safety glass in an attempt to remove the cataracts. It is very likely that the implosions were caused not by anything physical. It is most likely that the tubes imploded due to the UNEVEN application of heat and cooling. The glass envelopes from shich tubes are constructed, are under a lot of stress from the vacuum inside them. Imagind 14.7 PSI pushing inward on every single square inch of the tubes envelope. We are talking about many many tons of force.

Glass is a very britle material. apply heat to only one area of the tube and you will cause the glass to expand enough that the huge forces on the tube due to atmospheric presssure, are enough to cause the envelope to crack. IF the tube was not vacuum, the envelope might not even crack, but due to the forces on the outside of the tube from the pressure of atmospheric pressure, you are asking for big trouble if you heat the tube unevenly.

Another point. Several years ago somebody posted about a 21fjp22 he had sitting in his garage for some years. Often the tube was sitting with the fase of the tube submerged in water. When he went to move the tube, the safety glass just fell off.

On my lst trip to Hawkeye I asked Scotty about his method of safety glass removal. He said that they placed the tubes in the warming oven. (presumably after the vacuum relieved and the gun was removed. Then whent he tube was warm, they would pop off the safety glass.

Scotty said in the old days, they had a tank which contained water and detergent, and they would place the safety glasses that had been removed into the tank and let them soak for a week. The soaking softened the bonding agent and made for easy cleaning.

From all of the above one might reasonabley expect that it is not necessary to remove the safety glass using heat, provided you are in no hurry. I suspect that simply soaking the front of the tube in soapy water for a long period of time will cause the safety glass to loosen and the PVA to soften so you can remove it easily.

I have a number of color crt's with bonded safety glass. I am going to experiment to see if the safety glass can be removed by just soaking in soapy water for a long time. I will let the group know the results. This may take a month or more so don't hold your breath.