[ohohyodafarted]

We aren't that far along yet Dave. We still have bugs to work out of the system and then there is the issue of Southwest Vacuum closing their doors. If we get the bugs out of the process, and if we are able to seal the leaks by one method or another, and successfully rebuild 15GP22's, then John and I are going to send all of our dud tube inventory to France to rebuild our tubes first.

The biggest hurdle will be gun rebuilding after SW vacuum closes their doors. It is already too late for anyone to send guns in for rebuilding. John and I got our stash of guns into SW VAcuum just in the nick of time; 3 days before the deadline. The window of opportunity ended on January 31st. There is a small possibility that RACS may be open to rebuilding gun assemblies, because they have the skill to do this but we have been informed that it is VERY labor intensive. If RACS rebuilds a gun it may be very costly if they are even willing to do it.

But everything is speculation at this point. We need to prove we can successfully fix the leaky bulbs and make the tubes hold a good solid vacuum. If we can't do that, then all bets are off. Just give us a little more time to test the process. We will report our success or failures to the group as soon as we have any information either positive or negative.

I am going to test the nickel plating in an oven tomorrow to see if the plating is going to flake off of the ultor ring in the oven at 650F for several hours. I will report on that test tomorrow.