CRT rebuilding as hobby?

[CaryLee]

Reading that old thread about "new" 16AP4's from France, and the fact that RACS in France is already gone, got me thinking.

I don't understand the first thing about how vacuum tubes actually work, and I understand that rebuilding CRT's requires specialized equipment, but when one thinks that it's actually pretty old tech as far as tech goes, and you look at photos of how the folks on the factory floor building CRT's were wearing semi-formal clothes (slacks and button-up collared shirts), no safety gear to speak of except maybe some gloves, and there was fire and melting glass around, not to mention chemicals, etc. Heck, in the following photo of the guy building the DuMont 30 inch tube I can't tell for sure if he's even wearing safety glasses (He must be)...but it sure looks like he's wearing a tie!


And when you figure that every major city, and a lot of smaller ones, had tube rebuilding shops "back in the day" in all sorts of buildings, with all sorts of folks with different levels of education and experience working there, with all sorts of equipment, it really makes me wonder...exactly how difficult is it to rebuild a CRT? I mean, from a purely mechanical aspect. Granted, working with fire, glass, chemicals, etc. can be dangerous...but would it be any more dangerous than some of the other hobbies out there? There are already hobbyists who are blowing glass, working with chemicals, firing ceramics, soldiering stained glass panels, cutting stone, smelting metals for jewelry or bullet making, working with a shop full of bench top and floor model drills, saws, planers, routers, etc. (I've got a shed FULL of those!) that can cut you up or chew you up. Would rebuilding a CRT be any more dangerous than that?

I'm not talking production, or making a living off it here. I'm just throwing out the idea that someone could take their time, go slow, learn as you go, and take a totally dead hulk and maybe come up with a pretty good rebuilt CRT at the end. No one expects to make a huge profit, or any profit at all, off their hobby when they put hours and hours and hours into a set just for the personal satisfaction of it. (I figure, starting from scratch knowing absolutely nothing about restoring TV's, including study, reading, forum time, finding parts, along with the actual physical work I've done, I've probably got 100 hours or better into my DuMont, and I STILL don't know much about how they actually work.) But I didn't have to INVENT the TV, I just had to repair/replace what was already there.

There's a thread over on the Antique Radio Forum where a fellow is actually building his own vacuum tubes, which I find absolutely fascinating. I mean, if someone can do that in the kitchen or home shop, with glass tubing and surplus equipment, is it really unfeasible to think that a hobbyist, with enough time, money, knowledge, and practice, wouldn't be able to rebuild a 50 year old CRT?

http://antiqueradios.com/forums/view...ke+vacuum+tube

I'm just throwing this out there for conversation basically. It seems pretty much all technology started in someone's garage somewhere, and CRT's do seem to be the major stumbling block to restoration.