CRT Free!

Hello,

Not quite model engineering, but I am having a bit of a workshop tidy up. Taking up space is a new Philips cathode ray tube dating from the 1980s (obviously colour!)

It seems a pity to scrap it and I know there are TV enthusiasts that rebuild old sets (usually valve and B&W from an earlier era) However I simply can't find any club, forum or website that deals with 1980s TVs.

If anyone knows of a suitable lead, please let me know. Otherwise the lump hammer will solve my problems!

Andrew.

P.S. After a lifetime involving high vacuum kit. I do know how to destroy a CRT safely!

P.P.S. I do have the type number somewhere!

Andrew, Here you go.

I am registered, though have rarely posted, mainly about mending my old oscilloscope.
A friendly and helpful bunch so long as you don't mention ebay.

Either you can register yourself, or let me know the exact details of the CRT and an email address/phone number and rough location and I'll post it on the forum for you, so long as you're cool with me supplying one of their members with your contact details.

Bill

The local garden centre is selling bags of decorative glass chunks in various sizes, made from old CRT TV's. From a recycling firm in Scotland I think. Just an idea if you decide to get the lump hammer out!

Ian

Not sure if the decorative glass is a good idea as there some exotic materials in the phosphors which produced the colours.

The begonias won't mind a bit of CRT glass One of the guys in our workshop used to sprinkle cast iron swarf onto his allotment, the extra iron made the flowers a bit more colourful so he said! Recycling at its best!

Hello Bill,

Thanks for the lead. It looks interesting enough to join myself.

Andrew.

I believe that CRT tubes are heavily leaded to prevent radiation leakage.

This a commercial site who talk about recycling CRTs Link

Mum used to like a little bag of 'dust' (from my cast iron turnings) when I remembered to provide one. I believe it used to find it's way into the soil near her Hydrangeas which (I believe) used to keep them blue (rather then pink).

IanT

My goodness! This didn't take long to get off topic!

Andrew.

The flip side to all this banter is that it keeps it at the top of 'Latest forum posts', and who knows you might get a taker for your CRT!

Always optimistic Ian

Try a local Amateur radio Club. They may well have members or contacts who would be grateful for a new CRT.

Howard

Edited By Howard Lewis on 13/09/2019 20:48:29

My dad used to wrap them in a big, heavily padded mat and drop a brick on the bit with the connectors from about 15 feet above...

Hello Neil,

My method is a more refined, scientific version of your father's! It is quite difficult to get it wrong, if you attack the neck. I have seen a CRT Implode and that was like a grenade going off. Difficult to replicate on demand, so not really a party piece.

Andrew.

Drill a hole in it!

**LINK**

Drill a hole in it? Why? He wants to give it away as a working tube! Doesn’t want/need to repair anything. I think I may watch that video to see how he re-affixes that part. I would still have covered that tube with a large cloth - just in case... It was standard practice when evacuating desiccators, which were made of much thicker glass, that could have a crack or scratch which might cause a sudden collapse.

I think Andrew knows how to safely release the vacuum without an implosion. You only need to collapse an aerosol can, after evacuating it, to realise the ferocity of the collapse - under only 14.7 psi of pressure. Students liked to collapse beer cans by inverting a steam filled can and plunging the open end it into a sink full of water

For those who do want to dispose of old CRTs, Dad taught me to make a nick round the neck with the edge of a file, smother it all with sacking, then knock the cap sideways with a hammer. The neck snaps at the nick, the tube breathes in deeply HWWWWwwwwp and all is safe. I've disposed of many old tubes this way without drama.

George

George, all those I have made safe, before disposal, had a small tube, where they were initially sealed after evacuation. Carefully breaking off the end of that stub allows air to enter quite steadily - just a gentle ‘hiss’.

Quite true, but all the ones I have dealt with have a cap like a valve base firmly fixed over the small tube, and I've always been a bit wary of trying to break that loose.

George

I went down the local dump (recycling centre) the other day and they had a six yard skip overflowing with old televisions, at least 90% crt . A few years ago, I took a perfectly good 17" monitor and a 28" Sanyo flat screen tv down there, nobody wanted them.

Hello,

At the risk of sounding obtuse, and most certainly not wishing to play Devil's Advocate;

Where is there the slightest risk involved, with an implosion ? However violent it may be ?

ATB,

Daniel