[julianburke]

Working in a tube rebuilding facility in the '60's, the only time we had a tube implode was in the ovens. Years ago, I had a TV repair shop in our local flea market where I would repair TV's while you wait. There was another guy who started up on the other side of the market which we called "Brand X". A good guy but more of a piddler. One day I heard a tube go off (I knew that sound!) and ran to the other side of the market where he was sitting down on the floor in bewilderment beside the TV. I was for sure at that point that he was seriously hurt as there were chunks of glass shards all over the place and a few customers running. What he had done was cut the pressure band off of a live 25" tube to make it fit into the cabinet. DON'T YOU EVER CUT A PRESSURE BAND OFF OF A LIVE TUBE!!! EVER!!!

The theory is before a tube can implode, the faceplate has to be forced inward and it cannot if there is a band on the tube. For rebuilding, we took the band off after the tube was let down to atmosphere pressure.