Posted by Tehrasha on 6, 2001 at 2:52 PM:
In Reply to: A cautionary tale posted by Jonathan the Red on 6, 2001 at 1:07 PM:
: Just wanted to warn anybody out there who's working with TV tubes to be careful.
: For my cabinet, I plan to mount a 27" Panasonic TV tube. I removed the tube and circuitry from the housing and carefully mounted the tube to a piece of MDF, and the circuit board to a shelf attached to the tube mount. Looked beautiful.
: Then, yesterday, while moving it, a friend of mine accidentally kicked the neck of the tube... not very hard at all, just a little bit. I was horrified to hear the long, slow "hissssssssssssssssss" of air entering the tube.
: Visual inspection revealed a small crack in the neck of the tube. I repeat "small"... this thing is barely an inch long, and narrow enough that no gap is visible. But that small crack was enough. This tube is completely destroyed. Now I have to buy a whole new TV... as if this project wasn't already costing enough.
: I feel pretty terrible about this, but I'd feel a little better if my very expensive object lesson helped others. Please, if you're working with TV tubes, treat them gently. There are plenty of cautionary tales about the risk of electrical shock... but even if you manage to avoid killing or hurting yourself that way, you can still wreck your tube if not careful. Take heed.