Rebuilding electrostatic CRTs

[NoPegs]

Originally Posted by N2IXK

Sealing the removed gun back onto the neck would be interesting challenge as well. How does one operate a glass lathe in a vacuum?

Lasers!


Well, actually the normal way. The flames engulf the glass, so conduction of heat energy is the prevailing process, you just have to do some modifications to the torches themselves so they are prepared for exhaust into 0.0PSIA instead of ~14.XPSIA. (0PSIG is 14.7PSIA, Gauge and Absolute.)



If one were inclined, I believe it would be feasible to construct an inert atmosphere glove-box type system for handling such tasks down here at the bottom of ye-olde gravity well. Not sure what inert gas would be best to use, something easy to pump down but also easy to get "four-nines" purity economically. I haven't checked the Ar prices recently but they have to be cheaper than Xe. Argon should be easy enough to pump to a solid hard vacuum when all is said and done. Oddly enough, you can weld glass in an oxygen-free environment fairly easy. Go look up atomic hydrogen welding. Think of it as similar in principle to a plasma-cutter head, but works without oxidizer. (And much, much hotter!) Hot enough to weld tungsten... Glass is a walk in the park!

Originally Posted by N2IXK

Sounds like a plan, but settling new phosphor screens might be a bit of a challenge in zero-G.

As for phosphor deposition in free-fall? Centrifuge the jug, suction up the majority of the supernatant solution following successful precipitation/deposition, instead of decanting it off, then freeze the remaining film of watery phosphor in place thermally, and proceed to sublimate off the remaining water via hard vacuum. Then pick up as normal.