Scott Avitt, 57, has been rebuilding picture tubes since he was 17, following in the footsteps of his father, Frank, who founded the Hawk-Eye Picture Tube Manufacturing business here in 1958. Avitt took over the corporate reins in 1976, and to this day continues to make new CRTs out of old, but not for much longer. The migration to flat screen video displays that accompanied this country's shift to digital broadcasting, coupled with the public's "don't fix it; dump it" attitude has spelled the death knell for this 52 year-old business. Scott Avitt applies the output coil from a large RF heater to a freshly rebuild CRT. The heat produced will “fire” the tube’s getter, depositing a silvery chemical compound on the neck that traps any gases or water vapor remaining after the tube has been sealed off from the vacuum pumps. Avitt has seen them all-round tubes, ultra-rectangular, glass/metal envelopes, delta guns, in-line guns and bonded yokes. Virtually every type of CRT that has been produced in America or the Far East has found its way into this tidy shop here in Iowa's capital, and Scott, his father, or late brother Alan, found a way to take them apart, replace the worn parts and put them back together as good as, or better, than new. Hawk-eye has been known to the broadcast crowd for several decades, providing a budget-friendly alternative to factory replacement tubes for Sony, Tektronix, Barco, Conrac, Ikegami and other broadcast lines. (In many cases, the company has been the only source of replacement CRTs for monitors that were orphaned by their manufacturers; literally bringing the dead back to life.)
Even after 40 years of putting in 12-hour days that begin at 4:00 a,m,, Avitt still enjoys his work, but is reconciled to moving on. He's currently working part-time as an athletic trainer and coach, and will move into this field on a fulltime basis later this summer when he's finished up the last of the standing rebuild orders (now mostly from TV collectors who want to keep their vintage sets alive). After the last CRT is regunned and processed, Avitt plans to donate his tube rebuilding equipment to the Early Television Museum in Ohio, and has volunteered to instruct others in its operation if there's sufficient interest. "I'm really going to miss rebuilding tubes, though," he said.
@@marshfield01 My classmate in college designed avionics for Boeing. He explained to me how the nano tech had gotten so small that circuit conductors were a string of atoms. The chips were over designed with redundant circuitry because a single high altitude radiation particle could wipe out a single nano circuit. This was twenty years ago. Maybe we can't get to the Moon now because today's technology is so frail, unlike the printed transistor circuits of yesteryear. Slide rules Rule!
Indeed the business is on the verge of becoming history. A sad state of affairs too, but that is the trend - virtually everything is "throwaway" with no hint of repair being possible. I hate to think about the possibility, but except for its historical significance, the word "repair" may someday be removed from the dictionary. I was joking with a friend one day who ran his own auto body repair business, "How long will it be before they find a way to spray the paint onto a form, peal the paint off, and attach it to the car, with the paint alone becoming the replacement fender"?
You can fix anything if you just put your mind to it. Just because it's "new technology" doesn't mean it can't be fixed. And the throw away generation is because people weren't raised right by the old generation. I fix everything I can new old whatever and I'm 36. Technology must keep advancing if we're ever to reach the stars and we will have to if we don't want to end human civilization here on Earth when it does so I'm all for new technology and reaching space. All the old people don't care and won't care for human civilization to just die on Earth but what would be the point of all those years of advancements and all the technology we built? Why waste time just dieing on one world when we could reach other world's so our future generations can look back and see the history of human civilization and all that technology that culminated into them being where there will be in the future. I think it would be really cool.
I worked in a picture tube rebuilding plant at age 17. Ten years before Scott. It wasn't considered "craft" then. While the tech was interesting, it was hot, nasty, dangerous, unpleasant work. It was a proper production line with optimized processing at each step. Hydrofluoric acid, solvents, gas fired ovens, immigration raids... I did not see the steps of applying new phosphors. Perhaps he is only replacing the guns? The phosphors wear out. For B&W tubes, we would etch the screens with the acid spray and apply new phosphors. We would also flash a new anode (my favorite part).
The same company had a plant for color tubes. It was in a different state. Phosphors had to be good. They only replaced the bits related to electron throwing.
@Honest John This site can’t be reached then.lol’s server IP address could not be found. Try running Windows Network Diagnostics. DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
In 1982 I was instructed to destroy scores of CRTs in a skip by smashing their necks with a metal rod. I was a first year Trainee Technical Officer with the Department of Defence, Navy. I was a TTO N/S, Trainee Technical Officer, Navy Systems, and I ultimalely specialised in communications. Without any guidance or safety equipment, these components were destroyed. The CRTs in this video employed magnetic deflection, coils not shown here. They were used in TVs and early computer monitors. Others, using electrostatic deflection were much longer axially, and were used in oscilloscopes and the like due to their fast response times. Bandwidth is always an issue. I understand and appreciate all of the technical principles employed by our author here. This presentation is a very much appreciated documentary on the art and craft of vacuum tube technology. Well done, sir.
Back in the 50's and 60's, Lakeside manufactured a CRT rebuilding plant with evacuating ovens and a vertical lathe for re attachmentof the neck. I bought one used with only one oven so it was for a one man operation. I rebuilt mostly 25" color CRTs but when the Japanese got into the business I moved to rare B&W tubes. I sold my TV shop back in the 60's and arranged for the new owner to store the rig in the basement. About 20 years later when it looked like Hawkeye was going to bite the dust, I contacted the present owner of the shop which had been sold again. He informed me he thought that stuff came with the business and hauled it all to the dump a year before. I don't know what happened to all those Lakeside plants but there were never any for sale. I built 3 to 4 color tubes a day in my heyday. There was a process to replace the phosphor if it was burned, but the furthest I ever got was recoating the outer DAG.
Wow. I grew up as a very young kid in the age of Hot chassis B&W TV learning to fix them by hanging around the TV repair shop, and got very good at it by the age of 10 I was a stone cold TUBE HEAD lol. Building and fixing stuff that ran on tubes was a norm for me. But hear I am at 63 and have never seen this type of work done until now. What a lost craft this is, as is me doing repair work on CRT tv sets, or keeping an old Continental broadcast 50kw tube transmitter going. All of our tubes at the station were rebuilds as were the crt's I sent out for rebuild. Thanks guys this was truly fascinating to watch.
Enter the vintage video game industry. People want to play their older video game console on crts. If you advertise yourself as a guy that will repair peoples "gaming tvs", or their arcade crt monitors, the work and appreciation will come.
@@blkpopeye I did as well.Here in southwestern Oregon,I haven't seen a '50s thru to '70s black and white or colour set in over thirty years.I've pretty much forgotten what I knew.What got me out of it by 1989-90 was a steady job in security plus I got tired of the "something for nothing" crowd that wanted the latest thing in TV for around $5 to $10.Then they would act like they were giving ME a hell of a great deal when I was the seller.I never got into solid state as such:my idea of repairing a solid state set was to replace the tripler or the CRT.I've never looked back,plus my eyes aren't what they used to and neither is my patience.
Thanks for this great documentary. I was fascinated by colour TV in the 50's and became an electrical engineer and subsequently an engineering professor. It's great to see this before the art is lost forever.
Somehow I got to this youtube. I always thought once a tube was worn or burned out they ended up in the trash. I would think vintage TV collectors would keep this art going in the future. Of course demand for this has virtually ended due to flat screen TV's, but would think it would continue for collectors. Very amazing how a picture tube is brought back to life!
We did. The whole Hawkeye setup and more was moved to the Early Television Museum in Ohio where we continue to try to develop a viable business model to run it as a nonprofit.
This is absolutely fascinating. I wish my dad were alive to see it - he was a Bell Labs man from 1928 to 1969 and they made/worked with experimental tubes. This is such an art - thanks to Scotty for allowing you to film it and your work to post it.
Wow Bell Labs made so many cool things. The entire Bell/AT&T juggernaut was responsible for so many life changing technologies other than the telephone.
@@1978garfield yes they were, except for the MOSFETs , Fairchild had to steal Bob Wiedlar from Bell for that to happen because Bell ignored Bob like a record label ignores a rock band and they couldn't get thier s**t together for it ....
I served my apprenticeship with AWV (Amalgamated Wireless Valve) company Australia back in the early 1960's. This brings back many fond memories and a few terrifying moments, like the time I dropped a 26" tube at my feet and it imploded shredding the legs of my overalls to pieces, he must have been looking after me that day because I didn't get a single cut. It is surprising how few people know of the potential danger in these glass envelopes. Great job putting this together.... Well done.
I love these hands on old technology activities and videos about them. Almost like looking in a time capsule. This all took place on July 2003. Not all that long ago, a dying business then but now an almost dead art and perhaps practised in just a couple of places in the world to maintain strategic equipment. (George Bush was scheduled to tour countries in Africa next day from July 8-12 according to the shop radio)
My uncle W. T. Freeland rebuilt crt’s back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I went to work for him in 1979 rebuilding Eimac and other transmitting tubes excluding UHF klystrons. Seeing the work here reminded me of the equipment that you use.
I am an old retired tube jockey from Iowa. Used the rebuild/exchange bus for years. Price was really a profit maker on trade-TVs. At that time I think they were located near downtown on Keo. Hopefully talent and equipment will end up in a museum. 👍
All the Hawkeye equipment was moved to Ohio and installed at the Early Television Museum as an operating exhibit. The first proof-of-concept rebuild was done several years ago.
For those of us that was in the TV service business, we had tubes rebuilt, as well as tuners. There was Gem City Turner Repair out of Ohio, as well as several CRT rebuilders around the nation. Turn in your dud, and get a rebuild to save the customer money. Then comes realigning the tube via the yoke and pincushion after reinstallation. I've set behind floor model cabinets and used a GC mirror on a tripod a many a time. Let's not forget the CRT cleaners by B&K and a few others.
Ronn Folk: I've used a degaussing coil many times. The thermistor that controlled the ones built in would go bad, or someone would set a fan too close to the CRT, or a kid played with a refrigerator magnet, and you would get a call with a complaint of the tube having purple in the corner. The best TV years ago was the modular Zenith with the upright chassis. I could repair them within 15 minutes, unless it was something major such as a bad CRT. The Magnavox upright chassis was a close second as well as the RCA, then the old Quasar with the "works in a drawer." I also actually enjoyed working on the vacuum tube sets, both B&W and color. I've made many a house call. I used to make good money by buying several dealers trade-ins for about $15-$20 a piece. I'd repair and sell most, and junk the rest for parts. I also sold new Philco (Phillips) and Quasar sets. Chain stores put the private TV retailers out of business, and the sets became throw-aways not long after that. $99 for a new Magnavox 19" at K-Mart, etc.
This brings back memories - very painstaking work and also a fascinating, painstaking video. My job at GE was to "expose" the red blue and green phosphor films on the front panels using a "lighthouse" which mimicked each of the three (RGB) electron guns optically, using a UV point source. The UV passed through each of the 300K+ holes in the shadow mask and exposed the phosphor behind in exactly the right spot so that, in turn, each phosphor layer could be 'developed' by rinsing away all the unexposed film, leaving only the RGB dots. Amazing ingenuity! This is one technology that has been utterly changed by advancing technology.
There was an outfit that re-manufactured tubes in Portland Oregon that I toured at one time. For those not familiar with the tube technology, the wash removed the labels and the dag coating which is a conductive coating to act as a 2nd capacitor plate to the inside coating which is connected to the 2nd anode, usually at 15-28KV to attract electrons from the electron gun to the screen. The getter that was mentioned is a metal that reacts with air to absorb air from the tube to prevent it from having gas inside the tube. The getter for manufacture is in a ring that is inductavly heated in the vacuum to deposit a silver coating on the inside of the glass. When it reacts with air, as a thin film, it turns from shiny mirror bright to dull powder white. The degrees of a tube refer to the deflection angle from the electron gun to the screen. The tube he is working on is an older 90 degree tube. These required a deep cabinet for the set. Larger later tubes went to 120 degrees for a larger screen to keep the cabinet depth reasonable, but they had more complexity in the deflection and focus circuits to change focus from far corners to near center and correct for screen geometry. It was a compromise in picture quality for the larger screens. Normally the 23 to 25 inch sets used 120 degrees. The reason for friction drilling is it reduces particles from broken glass that can be ejected near the speed of sound to the face of the tube damaging the coating. If a tube is to be simply disposed of, the seal in the middle of the pins is simply crushed and this always damaged the screen. The tubes he drills are larger color tubes with the 120 degree deflection. Note the short fat appearance. It is sometimes not understood there are no RGB electrons. All three guns produce beams of electrons. Color is simply the target phosphor each beam strikes after the shadow mask. I am surprised he handles the guns with bare hands. Oils and sodium are not good in the high vac environment.
Scott Avitt closed Hawkeye picture tube in 2012 but donated his equipment, so the craft that his father started and he finished shall always be remembered.
Fascinating production from end to end! I was amazed to see the 19VP22 tube being rebuilt! I remember when those big CBS sets were on the in the early fifties! My Dad was an engineer with the local ABC station, and as part of the conversion to color, employees were able to buy these monster sets at a good discount. Dad also got into service and installation...pretty much every time you moved the set, it required convergence adjustment., using a dot-bar generator. We had quite a time with the CRTs in those sets, which were the same as shown in the latter part of the video. They have a "shadow mask" made of metal just behind the face glass, but apparently this wasn't a big problem, as you mentioned nothing of it in the video. The CRT by the way, was installed on a separate chassis, which was on a plywood base, able to be pretty easily unplugged from the rest of the set and removed to facilitate replacement of the CRT, which was very heavy. As I remember, the set had three chassis and around 90 vacuum tubes. The cabinet was around 3 to 4 feet on an edge, and had a removable panel along the bottom edge, which allowed access to a vast number of pots needed for alignment. Sorry some of the details are a bit fuzzy, but I was about 13 at the time! Thanks for the flood of memories this awakened!
A fantastic watch, props to the the guys who recorded and put this online for the world to see. Given the niche expertise and time involved in servicing a tube as this video shows, what kind of cost to the customer used to be charged for this kind of work?
Thanks Scotty for the fine rebuilt tubes that I purchased from you in past years and the Chance to get to know Harold Robbins. Those were the good years for sure! Al's Electronics in Marshalltown
I worked at RCA, and built thousands of these tubes, I also worked in salvage and an SNG lab, where we would crack the neck, pull the cathode gun, put it on a Thump & Flush machine, then put in a new mount and gun, and reseal the neck. I also used to run a neck Lathe, where I would weld a new neck onto the funnels, so they could be reused. The neck lathe was a very high skilled job, it was all done manually, not an automatic machine. There were only about 5 people out of several thousand employees, who could do it, and make good necks. Working with glass and vaccum is pretty meticulous work. It can also be VERY DANGEROUS.
I've been flameworking glass for 23 years. I'm 39 now and spend most of my time on an old B & C lath. About 15 years ago I called an old scientific glassblower named Irving Rohrbacher to ask a question. Irving had made the flash tubes for that old high speed photo of a bullet going though an apple. He said to me, "so your a glassblower huh?". I said, "yes". He then said, "Your gonna be an alcoholic and your never gonna retire!" ....I have yet to prove him wrong. :)
@@cdoublejj I've been flameworking glass for 23 years and went to school for scientific glassblowing. I don't have much vaccum tube making experience but I am a Ham radio operator so I'm familiar with how they work. KM6JXA
The first TV we had as a kid in the '50s had a 12BP4 picture tube. I was completely fascinated when the repair guy came. For some reason the problem was almost always a burned out 6SN7 tube.
Our first colour TV was a Decca (English brand) it was a hybrid design, tubes, transistors, and a few IC's. It failed a few times, every time the repair agent came and replaced the audio output tube. It had a fusuble resistor in series with it that would pop, so the tube got replaced and the resistor reset (bend back the spring and resolder it) We got sick of this, and bought a tube from a local supplier and reset the fusible resistor ourselver, only once, it never failed again...... Very strange, was his tubes no good, and ours better? Thinking back, it was probably the other way around, our tube was probably not as good, less gain, so drew less plate current, and as such never tripped the fuseable resistor (a 10W resistor with a leaf style spring on it's side) again.
@@paulstubbs7678 since you solved the problem by simply changing the values in the tube and did not have to change the plate dissapation on the chassis that would make the most sense , how did it sound after that?
@@sailingcapedissappointment2012 ?? The initial audio fails were under warranty, that's what their service tech did. When it came out of warranty we did the same, once, and it never failed again, so not sure why. We just went down to the local tube shop and bought a replacement, we didn't "simply changing the values". Maybe our tube was of slightly less gain and as such didn't pop the fuseable resistor. (a large 20W? ceramic with a metal spring strip down its side, soldered in place) or I accidentally used a higher melting point solder, so it didn't get hot enough to fail again.
*I was going to feed internet through my DeForest console TV to watch this video, but was too impatient to wait for its circuits valves to finally warm up.* I live nearby the old Zenith factory on West side of Chicago, building won't be up much longer. Keep refurbishing history and cleaning those guns forever!
so glad I got suggested to watch this. THIS VIDEO WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. thank you so much for sharing this art which will soon be lost over the years. this was fascinating, having grown up with CRTs and now LCD/LED you still appreciate the art that makes up this work.
Amazing. I never knew that picture tubes were rebuilt. What an art and true craftsman performing it! Very interesting to hear and see how the 19VP22 sounded when de-evacuated. That's bound to have been a very costly part to manufacture when new, with the metal fused glass construction. Also, it was great that you placed the captions on the video to explain the process. That really made it!
Excellent detail on this fast-vanishing craft. I used to get rebuilt tubes from a guy in Salt Lake City when I was repairing back in the 60's and 70's. He could get me black matrix rare earth 21FJP22 roundies at a premium price. I up-sold lots of customers on that. He did all this stuff, but his business burned down. Lots of fire involved in the trade... Gotta be careful!
I was also in Salt Lake City at that time, and I remember TV Specialists and another shop run by a guy named Don Lyman that did CRT rebuilds. Don had all the equipment like in this video and he did rebuilds of CRTs. I was a kid working after school back then, and my job was removing the old gun with that hot wire, and then install the tubes back in the sets and adjust the ion trap and other adjustments to get the TVs looking good. It did not seem such a big deal back then, but what would I give to relive one Saturday at his shop on State Street. Yes, all will be forgotten, and when the nukes EMP all the I-phones and the LCD TVs, this type of thing will have to be brought back, but who will know how? Us old guys will suddenly be wanted again, and if we play our cards right, we can live like kings! All that old stuff was immune from EMPs, like tube radios, cars with points, condensers, and non-LED lighting instead of computers to make the engines run. I wonder who will be left to get things running after the EMP "if" it happens. Every thing is computerized now, and heaven help the people under 30 years of age. Hopefully it will never happen as if it does, the young'uns will be SOL, especially if us old guys are gone! Hey there, this sounds like a plot of a 1970s movie!
@@dougreynolds1498 lmfao. EMPs will not take out all digital equipment. That's a myth. And no, this technology will never be brought back -- there's absolutely no point. Plus, the people driving horses and carriages said the same thing about the first generation of car drivers. Don't see a lot of working horses these days, do you?
Very skilled, precision work. A true artisan. Made me nervous the whole time he was working. People that aren't quite steady enough to do his kind of work could apply for a job in bomb disposal. Glad there are people who can resurrect these old CRTs.
Brings back memories about my uncle. He used to work for a company in Columbus on East Long St. Called Buckeye Electronics. His main job there was rebuilding the old picture tubes. Fast forwarding into the eighties the company he was working for at the time purchased a business called Star Surplus in the Short North. One of his tasks was to clear out the basement of the old shop which was full of old new stock picture tubes in deteriorating cardboard boxes. Took them several weeks to carefully remove all of that stock and throw it into a dumpster since the new owner had no need for them. The main issue was that if one tube imploded in the stack it could set off the whole pile of tubes, that would have been a naty mess to clean up as well as a safety hazard in case they could not vacate the basement in time.
It was a surprise hearing music by Ray Lynch when you were putting up the scrolling text to provide additional details about what was going on. When I was going through my CD collection I rediscovered the one I have of his music that had Celestial Soda Pop on it. This video was interesting both in learning people restore CRTs and to see the amount of work involved.
Amazing skill and artistry. I hope this knowledge is retained and passed on again. Would love to see one of the tibes restored in this video in operation
Truly a pleasure to watch this. I like to see a real craftsman go about his work so methodically. You are a real artist. The music was great as well. Thanks much.
Very interesting! I never knew that something like that was possible. A TV back in the Day lasted for a Lifetime. I work at a Place where Electronics are repaired, but since the Flatscreens came around, the Job is boring. All You can do is replace three or four Modules and if the Warranty is over You need to throw it away. You pay soo much for a TV these Days and it just doesnt last. Last Year a 1976 Telefunken PalColor came in for Recycling. The Customer used it until 2016. Exactly 40 Years until the HV Cascade for the Flyback shorted. It's still repairable and I took it home. I quit using my Flatpanel and threw it away about four Years ago. Since then I used a 1990s Grundig CityLine, 1981 Grundig SuperColor, a 1983 Grundig SuperColor, 1985 Grundig SuperColor, 1966 Emud and my latest is a 1969 Schaub Lorenz. These TVs work, they are fun to use, have a much better sound, a warmer picture and who needs HD?
The electrolytics around 2012 got cheap and vary shitty. It infected all brands of capacitors at the time as all the companys bought from the same source. Thus so many products had a vary short life. Look up Capacitor plague!
I am glad you can still find work in the field. Consumer electronics repair is pretty much dead in the US. From the brand names I suspect you are in Europe, possibly Germany. There is some money to be made changing screens and jacks on phones and tablets I guess. TV warranty work is done by UPS now if they don't have you take it back to the retailer.
I agree with everything else you say, but TV's today cost nothing. Back in the time a TV could cost for example 2months salary for a "basic worker". How many people today buy a 5000€ TV? I see adds with 699€ and 399€ TVs that are full of those crappy China caps. For the reference this is in Finland.
Scotty must have balls of steel; I've seen a color CRT go pop and spray broken glass everywhere (from a safe distance fortunately). I personally wouldn't go near the exposed neck of a CRT under vacuum, let alone deliberately weaken the glass. Lots of respect due there!
why? working at a scrapyard in the past i have broken maybe half a million crt necks...the standard was a big kick in the neck so that it would break the glass and extract th yoke with one single kick...5 minutes to take apart completely a television or monitor or no profit to be made on it..we would stack them by brand in order to automatize the dismantling process in our heads to make it faster....for example "today we have 100 nokia 15 inch vga monitors to take down".......including extracting the copper, aluminium , circuit boards wires, breaking all the glass to one container and removing all the screws from the plastic to to to the shredder...no safety glasses because its not needed and no gloves cause they would slow you down. never got hurt with glass, only some cuts on the hands by pulling the wires too agressively once in a while....now the environment laws removed all the profit to be made on those (about 1€ /each tv for the boss is what we used to make) so they now go to a recycling plant who probably ships them to 3rd world countries so they dont have to handle the hazardous waste....like i use to say "Government environmental agencies - for the man who wants pollution and health hazard away from their country!!! haahhaahah
The neck is probably the safer end. I've 'necked' many a tube (to make the set safe for disposal) and never suffered an injury. On the other hand, I did read about a set where the neck fractured and the gun went through the screen and ended up embeded into an oposing wall.
Sad to hear this business is done. My grandfather made neon signs,owned his business in downtown Traversecity Mi back in the 60's and 70's. Moved to his garage,then retired to never again make signs,everyone went to plastic shells. There was a slight resurgence in the craft but not enough to warrent learning the craft. No one in the family wanted to take it up so the art is gone in my family. Sad.
I blame Ladybird Johnson and her "Highway beautification" movement and the urban planners. A bunch of do gooders, many of them architects trying to get some of the money to be had designing new buildings to replace the ones they would have torn down considered neon ugly and tacky. Many cities have zoned it out of existence. I miss neon. I miss distinctive signage. Signage you could actually see from a distance. Remember the old days of tall gas station signs next to the interstate? Many of these listed the price so you could tell if it was worth pulling off or if you wanted to wait till the next exit. How about rotating signs? I loved those. They claim rotating signs were distracting but now stores have LCD scrolling marquees that can be blindingly bright. A BBQ joint opened up in town and they have a rotating pig sign. First new rotating sign I have seen in years. Glad to see it.
@@1978garfield - Urban planners! Now there's a bunch of feckless bullshit artists. Cities aren't planned, they evolve. Look at the "planned" communities which were the rage after WWII - they're soulless and utter failures.
This is one of the best things i have ever seen, when i was a lad working in a tv shop, mondays was tube change day, i went home in the evening blacker than a coal miner, and always wondered how it was done, but on seeing this....im not surprised, thank you all...Scotty for sharing this.
Wow did that bring back memories from back in the day. We had a local shop that did that. They would even recoat the phosphorus on B&W tubes. I took them about 30 tubes a year to be rebuilt until it all kinda died out and costly. They eventually had to go out of business, it was a shame they were good people.
I finally let my last CRT TV go a few months ago. I kept it out in a storage shed mostly for nostalgia. I used to repair video game consoles and I probably made tens of thousands of dollars while this TV was in my shop. It was a 2008 13" color daewoo that I got at Goodwill for $10 in 2011. It was an upgrade from a 5" B&W TV. I hooked it up recently so that my son could see the light gun on his NES work. It's strange how a TV that would have once been considered to have a bright clear picture with good color now hurt my eyes to look at, flickered, and had abysmal resolution. I decided that nostalgia or not, it did not serve a purpose in my life and never would again. Long live the CRT! It will be sorely missed by almost no one.
missed out on the HD CRT TV very few were made and super hard to find MY TV is going out so I retired it and put it in my storage closet. I'm soooo sad it cost 400$ to repair microchip that is how much they wanted
Totally amazing! Really enjoyed this. I got my start in electronics many many moon ago building HeathKit products. The VTVM, morse code adapter for my Ham radio, and naturally the radio itself. I took all that with me when I was stationed at Camp O'Donnell Philippines and later had base housing at Clark. For S&G's I strung up a small antenna in the back porch of my home and started listening to Radio Moscow. Boy, did they lay it on thick, lol. My last project from HeathKit was the burglar alarm system that really worked great, as it picked up those crazy flying cockroaches we had all around on the back porch.
In my first young ages back in 1992 i used to work for a few months in a crt tube repairing lab.I was working in the lathe of spinning the tube and the small glass tube which melted together for restoring the original lenght of the neck to place later the new cathode gun as shown in 1:33:40.You brought back memories.
I can picture this place being wicked busy with lots of workers rebuilding tubes back in the early days. Shame the operation is now closed. We've gone from recycling and repairing to disposal...
The problem with all of this is customers wanting to buy the latest instead of tried and true. It drives competition and innovation, but also so many custom parts that only fot a model or two. Look at how many different parts are seen in this vid, and imagine if all those sets had been constructed identically. Imagine if, instead of replacing the whole set because of a bad board, you could go down to any shop and get a universal part that would work perfectly, because they all used the same board for a price representative of a fraction of the whole? There would be no incentive to replace because you would just be buying identical parts anyway.
Forgive me for being obtuse, but you never said who might be in the market for a CRT in the 21st century. I've used them as radar readouts, and computer displays, but I'm glad that we've moved on to a much more compact, much lower power consumed technology.
Classic video game systems were designed for these tubes, so these are in really high demand for gamers and collectors of those systems (like the Super Nintendo, Atari, etc.).
This video is friggin amazing, I bauked at the 2 hour time on the video, but it is well worth the watch for it's historic value, showing a fast dying trade in all it's glorious detail on one of it's last runs of CRT's. Future society will look at this video and go WOW, WE USED TO DO THAT!!!?!?!?! LCD/LED technology has killed the CRT but I really think we never explored it completely...
Wow I grew up watching tube TVs -I didn't realize they were so complicated when it came to how they actually work! ! Just took it for granted and when one broke you just went out and bought another one!!
There is nothing wrong or bad with your video essay. Your addition of music provides a continuity while the viewer watches a complex process. It is sad to note these craftsmen are gone. The one aspect I wish to be able to see is seeing a video image on the rebuilt CRTs, but doing so involves so much that it is perhaps too difficult for the rebuild shop to do. But then, how do they know it will work?
If someone reads this who has been into picturetube rebuilding: i have a bunch of 9" projection tubes which i plan to rebuild some time in the future. Currently building a workshop, collecting materials an so on. But i don't have any idea where to get gun assemblies or (what in this case is the most important) phosphors. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks and best regards from Germany.
Hello, you might want to be aware, if you are not already, of LLC MELZ in Russia. They already supply the electron guns and glass stems with pins for multiple CRT rebuilders in the world, apart from theirselves. On their Facebook page they regularly share what they and others do. They even made a new CRT for me a few years ago. They are very professional and adequate in this field. Regarding phosphors, I am also still looking for a (more local) solution. Best regards from the Netherlands.📺
Had no idea picture tubes were ever rebuilt or than anyone still did it. I know Scotty is the expert but he sure made me nervous anytime he handled the tubes by the neck. I guess since he can just put a new neck on it is not that big of deal if he snaps one off. I was surprised to find out the coating on the front of the tubes was still good and they just needed new guns. Cool video and thanks for making it. Also did the organ song remind anyone else of "Call Me" by Blondie? I just read that this shop closed. I am sad but not surprised. Are there any others or was this the last? I wonder what happened to all that equipment? You couldn't buy it new at any price today. I am sure Scotty didn't get rich doing this but I hope he was able to save enough for a comfortable retirement. Looks like he still has his health. His whole wardrobe seems to be made of shirts from foot races. I am doubly glad you caught the process on video now. In all the years this shop was opened I wonder if you were the first (and last) camera crew to come in?
" "At out peak-between 1965 and 1971-we kept five employees busy," Avitt said. "We did it all then-even constructing the replacement electron guns and re-phosphoring and aluminizing screens. Our revenue was around $390,000 a year. Collectively, rebuilding was a multi-million dollar business." Avitt reflected that this all began to change beginning in the 1980s when the "throwaway society" mindset began to kick in." It wasn't that the public had a throw away mentality, it was the public facing the reality that when you called a repair shop up to find the cost to repair something like say, your $119.95 electric typewriter that stopped working and they told you it will be $100 plus tax just to LOOK at it, plus the parts and repairs, and it would be a week! So you look at it and think, hmmm $130 or so just to find out they can't fix it because they can't get the part needed any more, or that parts and labor will be another $75 on top, and you can buy a brand new one for $119.95, well it's a no brainer what people would do! You can buy a new desktop PC for under $300, why would anyone spend that amount to repair one! the problem is it's literally cheaper to buy a new one than repairing broken ones, the mfr's make that even more likely when 2 months after you buy something that model is ALREADY discontinued and parts if you can get them 6 months later cost more than the thing is worth. At my workplace we have a commercial drill press by Delta only now about 5 years old, the quill return spring broke, already you can't even get that part- it's obsolete! Same with a Craftsman machine- the built-in on/off switch is no longer available, same story with another drill press- parts no longer available. Used to be you could buy parts for even 40 or 50 year old machines, not any more! you are lucky to get repair parts a year after buying the machine because by then already that model is discontinued. You go to Amazon and look at tools, machines, appliances, almost always you see "there is a newer model of this" followed by a link, you'll be sure to see "no longer available" on the first one very shortly after. When you cant get these now almost proprietary parts, or electronic boards only made by one company and for one model, you are pretty screwed. I remember around 1997 my RV's Dometic gas furnace needed a new electronic board, 2 screws and 2 wires to replace, I could not buy that part, they told me it HAD to be installed by an authorised repair shop! the nearest shop was an hour drive away, I had to take the unit there, it cost around $100 for the board and around $100 to get it installed- 2 freaking screws and 2 wires- 15 minutes $200 to repair a 3-4 year old furnace that cost around $325 new.
Beam me up scotty, great job. I have been repairing TV's for over thirty years and this is the only thing I have not done. I worked for general instruments for several years when it was us co. thanks again.
Great video, great skills and job. I'm glad I got here to see the whole process :) One thing makes me curious where/how he got all that different new guns for all those tubes ? Are they still available in 2023 (guns I mean)?! Thx Scott and filmmaker for that material :) God bless U guys :)
Fantastic!!! But I thought this was now impossible. Is this an old video? I only hope that someone out there can and still is doing this work... Bravo!
Hawkeye's equipment (and equipment from RACS in France) was moved to Ohio and installed at the Early Television Museum. We're hoping to be able to run it as a nonprofit business someday.
Not so much 'decided not to use it' but that the logistics of making it work as a nonprofit operation continue to elude us. It's all there and all working; keep the faith!
An education here in itself... with a great old school soundtrack courtesy of KRNT. Good video to learn something, and a great effort in making it all around !
Ah, the old 19VP22 as used in the Motorola TV set we had. (1957?) It was possible to convert the set to use a 21AVP22 but we never went with that option. (As a sidebar, I think that the green phosphor used on the CBS 19VP22 was a bit different from the green phosphor RCA used... not sure about that, though.
That first tube looks like a 70 degree deflection B&W from the 1950's. My first job was cleaning up at a TV repair shop in 1973, at age 13. There was a picture tube rebuilding setup in the back. Never got to see it in action though.
Vintage TVs are collectable now. Some are worth a lot of money. You heard him mention a Predicta? That is a Philco TV that is very popular among collectors. There are few on eBay listed at over $1000 right now.
1978garfield ... Thanks for your info I agree this man HAS a special talent / skill / knowledge / craft I love very old mechanicals - engines, pumps, axles, etc and I guess that someone would ask me ..... But why? Ans: I don't care about the $$$$ value; it is the 'simplicity' of the 'technology', a time when we didn't have to go at 600 mph in our daily lives.
Fantastic video, I really enjoyed watching this. I just can`t escape my love of CRT technology. The new televisions might have a better definition picture, but they are without a soul! They are cold and sterile having a lifetime measured in months not years. Makes me so sad when I see piles of perfectly good CRT televisions piled up at the local wast disposal site. Thanks for the upload, best regards, Chris.
Utterly fascinating to see that the old highly specialized equipment is still going strong-- as is Scotty (one hopes!). I would only cry for not using a "crawl" for the text-- just cut to the messages. I would also ask for a little more info, such as the testing of the tubes shown here. Or a little more coverage or back story as to why there are such finicky and specific "times" at such and such temperature for different tubes or materials-- who figured that out? Sure, in the good old days, but what does it reflect in the final result? When the filament heating was going on, the front screen lit up with the pulses-- but the patterns did not look too healthy. Does that matter? If not, why not? Nevertheless-- a remarkable tour of what goes on in this crazy country-- if you only know where to look!
yeah that text crawl (and music, and slow transitions) is maddening. Would also like to have a title with the current "step" of the process always up so you can scrub/seek to a desired point in the long video
as a follow-up to my smart-ass comment, I have to say that the actual content was amazing. I had no idea this was even a thing, and I probably know more about televisions than 99.9% of people.
I just checked into this business and it looks like he closed it down several years ago. It's a shame that the knowledge he had wasn't passed down to someone who could keep the business running. Then again, the demand for refurbished CRT's may have diminished to the point that running an expensive business like that wasn't profitable anymore.
Yes, he shut down around 2010. The knowledge was passed down to a volunteer and the equipment was donated to the ETF. They recently rebuilt a CRT successfully and hope to get the operation up and running on a regular basis eventually.
@@bandersentv That is great to hear. I was afraid all that cool, expensive (when purchased) and irreplaceable equipment would get scraped because it is made of metal and heavy. That is one thing that works against railroad preservation. Even if an owner offers a piece of equipment at scrap prices that can still be a lot of money when you are dealing with tons of steel. Same think happens with vintage trucks sadly. The cabs on many were made of aluminum. It can take time to find someone who actually has the means to have an old truck picked up and delivered, some place to deliver it to and then to have any hope of having the tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours it would take for a partial restoration. Many times widows and kids looking to settle an estate an estate just call a scrapper and get a hand full of cash. I can't be too hard on them. It is a pain to sell anything. It is even worse to try to sell something like a vintage truck.
Evern if you wanted to, and money was not a concern (i.e. your all but retired and just want to keep at it) getting new guns etc would eventually kill you.
Yeah I can't imagine there would be much of a demand to rebuild old B&W TV picture tubes except for museums and collectors, with the time it took to rebuild one of these tubes as shown in the video, the labor alone would have to be hundreds of dollars, plus the parts and everything else, for a TV set that most people threw away when it stopped working.
Hi, great video, so informative, thank you for producing it. When I was kid I had had a crt go "bang", (ok, after it imploded) it was out in the sun, out of its cabinet, and I found big chunks of glass down the garden. So, with that in mind I have always worn BIG saftey glasses when working on them.Take care guys.
Very impressive work! Loved watching every moment. So much so, I didn't get done anything I wanted to the entire time hahaha! I'm so glad that Scotty is able to supply such a service still.
According to Early TV Museum website at least somewhere in Russia somebody makes or is ready to make them. I also found on eBay by searching "electron gun" that one seller is selling them to order in larger volumes.
![Kumamoto Masters Japan 2024 | Gregoria Mariska Tunjung (INA) [5] vs. Akane Yamaguchi (JPN) [2] | F](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EIjZybhsWqA/mqdefault.jpg)
It's videos like this that remind me why youtube used to be so cool.
And what YT is named after.
Right before trolls in the comments telling people to Eff off and other nonsense..
Before it was absolutely SMASHED full of ads?
@@CaseTheCorvetteMan The ads can be eliminated with add-ons like Ublock Origin and Enhancer for RUclips. Haven't seen an ad for years.
Scott Avitt, 57, has been rebuilding picture tubes since he was 17, following in the footsteps of his father, Frank, who founded the Hawk-Eye Picture Tube Manufacturing business here in 1958. Avitt took over the corporate reins in 1976, and to this day continues to make new CRTs out of old, but not for much longer. The migration to flat screen video displays that accompanied this country's shift to digital broadcasting, coupled with the public's "don't fix it; dump it" attitude has spelled the death knell for this 52 year-old business.
Scott Avitt applies the output coil from a large RF heater to a freshly rebuild CRT. The heat produced will “fire” the tube’s getter, depositing a silvery chemical compound on the neck that traps any gases or water vapor remaining after the tube has been sealed off from the vacuum pumps.
Avitt has seen them all-round tubes, ultra-rectangular, glass/metal envelopes, delta guns, in-line guns and bonded yokes. Virtually every type of CRT that has been produced in America or the Far East has found its way into this tidy shop here in Iowa's capital, and Scott, his father, or late brother Alan, found a way to take them apart, replace the worn parts and put them back together as good as, or better, than new.
Hawk-eye has been known to the broadcast crowd for several decades, providing a budget-friendly alternative to factory replacement tubes for Sony, Tektronix, Barco, Conrac, Ikegami and other broadcast lines. (In many cases, the company has been the only source of replacement CRTs for monitors that were orphaned by their manufacturers; literally bringing the dead back to life.)
Even after 40 years of putting in 12-hour days that begin at 4:00 a,m,, Avitt still enjoys his work, but is reconciled to moving on.
He's currently working part-time as an athletic trainer and coach, and will move into this field on a fulltime basis later this summer when he's finished up the last of the standing rebuild orders (now mostly from TV collectors who want to keep their vintage sets alive). After the last CRT is regunned and processed, Avitt plans to donate his tube rebuilding equipment to the Early Television Museum in Ohio, and has volunteered to instruct others in its operation if there's sufficient interest.
"I'm really going to miss rebuilding tubes, though," he said.
@@marshfield01 You are a good man Mr. Avitt. I wish you nothing but the best and many more years of health and happiness.
@@marshfield01 My classmate in college designed avionics for Boeing. He explained to me how the nano tech had gotten so small that circuit conductors were a string of atoms. The chips were over designed with redundant circuitry because a single high altitude radiation particle could wipe out a single nano circuit. This was twenty years ago. Maybe we can't get to the Moon now because today's technology is so frail, unlike the printed transistor circuits of yesteryear. Slide rules Rule!
Indeed the business is on the verge of becoming history. A sad state of affairs too, but that is the trend - virtually everything is "throwaway" with no hint of repair being possible.
I hate to think about the possibility, but except for its historical significance, the word "repair" may someday be removed from the dictionary.
I was joking with a friend one day who ran his own auto body repair business, "How long will it be before they find a way to spray the paint onto a form, peal the paint off, and attach it to the car, with the paint alone becoming the replacement fender"?
You can fix anything if you just put your mind to it. Just because it's "new technology" doesn't mean it can't be fixed. And the throw away generation is because people weren't raised right by the old generation. I fix everything I can new old whatever and I'm 36. Technology must keep advancing if we're ever to reach the stars and we will have to if we don't want to end human civilization here on Earth when it does so I'm all for new technology and reaching space. All the old people don't care and won't care for human civilization to just die on Earth but what would be the point of all those years of advancements and all the technology we built? Why waste time just dieing on one world when we could reach other world's so our future generations can look back and see the history of human civilization and all that technology that culminated into them being where there will be in the future. I think it would be really cool.
I worked in a picture tube rebuilding plant at age 17. Ten years before Scott. It wasn't considered "craft" then. While the tech was interesting, it was hot, nasty, dangerous, unpleasant work. It was a proper production line with optimized processing at each step. Hydrofluoric acid, solvents, gas fired ovens, immigration raids... I did not see the steps of applying new phosphors. Perhaps he is only replacing the guns? The phosphors wear out. For B&W tubes, we would etch the screens with the acid spray and apply new phosphors. We would also flash a new anode (my favorite part).
I wouldn't think it would be possible to redo the color phosphors, too complicated process.
It would at a minimum require removing the front glss to replace the color phosphors and then good luck re aligning the shadow mask / aperture grille.
The same company had a plant for color tubes. It was in a different state. Phosphors had to be good. They only replaced the bits related to electron throwing.
Another 5 years and this skill will be in huge demand
It already is
I haven't seen too much in 7 years but radio repair is still around!
I don't know how i got to this part of youtube but i'm glad i did.
What a lost art this must be now. I didn't know it was even possible.
too funny - exactly what I was thinking as well - - wonder if this guy is still around?
@Honest John
This site can’t be reached then.lol’s server IP address could not be found.
Try running Windows Network Diagnostics.
DNS_PROBE_FINISHED_NXDOMAIN
@@budude2 legend has it his shop closed down a few years ago.
@@blurrrrrr44 Oh that's sad :\
In 1982 I was instructed to destroy scores of CRTs in a skip by smashing their necks with a metal rod. I was a first year Trainee Technical Officer with the Department of Defence, Navy. I was a TTO N/S, Trainee Technical Officer, Navy Systems, and I ultimalely specialised in communications. Without any guidance or safety equipment, these components were destroyed. The CRTs in this video employed magnetic deflection, coils not shown here. They were used in TVs and early computer monitors. Others, using electrostatic deflection were much longer axially, and were used in oscilloscopes and the like due to their fast response times. Bandwidth is always an issue. I understand and appreciate all of the technical principles employed by our author here. This presentation is a very much appreciated documentary on the art and craft of vacuum tube technology. Well done, sir.
Back in the 50's and 60's, Lakeside manufactured a CRT rebuilding plant with evacuating ovens and a vertical lathe for re attachmentof the neck. I bought one used with only one oven so it was for a one man operation. I rebuilt mostly 25" color CRTs but when the Japanese got into the business I moved to rare B&W tubes. I sold my TV shop back in the 60's and arranged for the new owner to store the rig in the basement. About 20 years later when it looked like Hawkeye was going to bite the dust, I contacted the present owner of the shop which had been sold again. He informed me he thought that stuff came with the business and hauled it all to the dump a year before. I don't know what happened to all those Lakeside plants but there were never any for sale. I built 3 to 4 color tubes a day in my heyday. There was a process to replace the phosphor if it was burned, but the furthest I ever got was recoating the outer DAG.
My uncle Roman Domiquez did this in Mexico for a living. It is nice to see this art still exist
this was probably filmed in 90's
flyguille
That’s impossible. 2:48 shows a 2006 Honda Odyssey Minivan.
Hawkeye Picture Tube is no longer in business. I live in Des Moines and Hawkeye closed not long after this was filmed.
delosdmi : that’s too bad. There’s definitely still a niche market for this, but I guess it’s all about location.
delosdmi
This was right around the time CRT television production ceased too.
Wow. I grew up as a very young kid in the age of Hot chassis B&W TV learning to fix them by hanging around the TV repair shop, and got very good at it by the age of 10 I was a stone cold TUBE HEAD lol. Building and fixing stuff that ran on tubes was a norm for me. But hear I am at 63 and have never seen this type of work done until now. What a lost craft this is, as is me doing repair work on CRT tv sets, or keeping an old Continental broadcast 50kw tube transmitter going. All of our tubes at the station were rebuilds as were the crt's I sent out for rebuild. Thanks guys this was truly fascinating to watch.
I fixed color and b&w as a kid.
👍
Enter the vintage video game industry. People want to play their older video game console on crts. If you advertise yourself as a guy that will repair peoples "gaming tvs", or their arcade crt monitors, the work and appreciation will come.
@@blkpopeye I did as well.Here in southwestern Oregon,I haven't seen a '50s thru to '70s black and white or colour set in over thirty years.I've pretty much forgotten what I knew.What got me out of it by 1989-90 was a steady job in security plus I got tired of the "something for nothing" crowd that wanted the latest thing in TV for around $5 to $10.Then they would act like they were giving ME a hell of a great deal when I was the seller.I never got into solid state as such:my idea of repairing a solid state set was to replace the tripler or the CRT.I've never looked back,plus my eyes aren't what they used to and neither is my patience.
That man is an artist. I hope he's still rebuilding them, because working ones are getting more scarce everyday.
They're aren't. This was recorded years ago. He shut down around 2010
Thanks for this great documentary. I was fascinated by colour TV in the 50's and became an electrical engineer and subsequently an engineering professor. It's great to see this before the art is lost forever.
Somehow I got to this youtube. I always thought once a tube was worn or burned out they ended up in the trash. I would think vintage TV collectors would keep this art going in the future. Of course demand for this has virtually ended due to flat screen TV's, but would think it would continue for collectors. Very amazing how a picture tube is brought back to life!
We did. The whole Hawkeye setup and more was moved to the Early Television Museum in Ohio where we continue to try to develop a viable business model to run it as a nonprofit.
This is absolutely fascinating. I wish my dad were alive to see it - he was a Bell Labs man from 1928 to 1969 and they made/worked with experimental tubes. This is such an art - thanks to Scotty for allowing you to film it and your work to post it.
Wow Bell Labs made so many cool things.
The entire Bell/AT&T juggernaut was responsible for so many life changing technologies other than the telephone.
@@1978garfield yes they were, except for the MOSFETs , Fairchild had to steal Bob Wiedlar from Bell for that to happen because Bell ignored Bob like a record label ignores a rock band and they couldn't get thier s**t together for it ....
I would love to buy all this equipment and perform this as a service for retro gamers and other CRT enthusiasts. I would kill to have this as a job.
I served my apprenticeship with AWV (Amalgamated Wireless Valve) company Australia back in the early 1960's. This brings back many fond memories and a few terrifying moments, like the time I dropped a 26" tube at my feet and it imploded shredding the legs of my overalls to pieces, he must have been looking after me that day because I didn't get a single cut. It is surprising how few people know of the potential danger in these glass envelopes. Great job putting this together.... Well done.
Love the Ray Lynch music !! Wish this had been available to view when I was repairing TV’s for a living 48 years ago ! Fascinating !
I love these hands on old technology activities and videos about them. Almost like looking in a time capsule. This all took place on July 2003. Not all that long ago, a dying business then but now an almost dead art and perhaps practised in just a couple of places in the world to maintain strategic equipment.
(George Bush was scheduled to tour countries in Africa next day from July 8-12 according to the shop radio)
My uncle W. T. Freeland rebuilt crt’s back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I went to work for him in 1979 rebuilding Eimac and other transmitting tubes excluding UHF klystrons. Seeing the work here reminded me of the equipment that you use.
I am an old retired tube jockey from Iowa. Used the rebuild/exchange bus for years. Price was really a profit maker on trade-TVs. At that time I think they were located near downtown on Keo. Hopefully talent and equipment will end up in a museum. 👍
All the Hawkeye equipment was moved to Ohio and installed at the Early Television Museum as an operating exhibit. The first proof-of-concept rebuild was done several years ago.
For those of us that was in the TV service business, we had tubes rebuilt, as well as tuners. There was Gem City Turner Repair out of Ohio, as well as several CRT rebuilders around the nation. Turn in your dud, and get a rebuild to save the customer money. Then comes realigning the tube via the yoke and pincushion after reinstallation. I've set behind floor model cabinets and used a GC mirror on a tripod a many a time. Let's not forget the CRT cleaners by B&K and a few others.
How about the Degaussing Coil
tool.
Ronn Folk: I've used a degaussing coil many times. The thermistor that controlled the ones built in would go bad, or someone would set a fan too close to the CRT, or a kid played with a refrigerator magnet, and you would get a call with a complaint of the tube having purple in the corner.
The best TV years ago was the modular Zenith with the upright chassis. I could repair them within 15 minutes, unless it was something major such as a bad CRT. The Magnavox upright chassis was a close second as well as the RCA, then the old Quasar with the "works in a drawer." I also actually enjoyed working on the vacuum tube sets, both B&W and color. I've made many a house call.
I used to make good money by buying several dealers trade-ins for about $15-$20 a piece. I'd repair and sell most, and junk the rest for parts.
I also sold new Philco (Phillips) and Quasar sets. Chain stores put the private TV retailers out of business, and the sets became throw-aways not long after that. $99 for a new Magnavox 19" at K-Mart, etc.
Among the best things I've watched on RUclips (or anywhere else for that matter) in ages. Simply saying congratulations won't even cut it. Marvellous!
it's a real pleasure to see an old school craftsman at work. amazing.
This brings back memories - very painstaking work and also a fascinating, painstaking video. My job at GE was to "expose" the red blue and green phosphor films on the front panels using a "lighthouse" which mimicked each of the three (RGB) electron guns optically, using a UV point source. The UV passed through each of the 300K+ holes in the shadow mask and exposed the phosphor behind in exactly the right spot so that, in turn, each phosphor layer could be 'developed' by rinsing away all the unexposed film, leaving only the RGB dots. Amazing ingenuity! This is one technology that has been utterly changed by advancing technology.
There was an outfit that re-manufactured tubes in Portland Oregon that I toured at one time. For those not familiar with the tube technology, the wash removed the labels and the dag coating which is a conductive coating to act as a 2nd capacitor plate to the inside coating which is connected to the 2nd anode, usually at 15-28KV to attract electrons from the electron gun to the screen. The getter that was mentioned is a metal that reacts with air to absorb air from the tube to prevent it from having gas inside the tube. The getter for manufacture is in a ring that is inductavly heated in the vacuum to deposit a silver coating on the inside of the glass. When it reacts with air, as a thin film, it turns from shiny mirror bright to dull powder white. The degrees of a tube refer to the deflection angle from the electron gun to the screen. The tube he is working on is an older 90 degree tube. These required a deep cabinet for the set. Larger later tubes went to 120 degrees for a larger screen to keep the cabinet depth reasonable, but they had more complexity in the deflection and focus circuits to change focus from far corners to near center and correct for screen geometry. It was a compromise in picture quality for the larger screens. Normally the 23 to 25 inch sets used 120 degrees. The reason for friction drilling is it reduces particles from broken glass that can be ejected near the speed of sound to the face of the tube damaging the coating. If a tube is to be simply disposed of, the seal in the middle of the pins is simply crushed and this always damaged the screen. The tubes he drills are larger color tubes with the 120 degree deflection. Note the short fat appearance. It is sometimes not understood there are no RGB electrons. All three guns produce beams of electrons. Color is simply the target phosphor each beam strikes after the shadow mask. I am surprised he handles the guns with bare hands. Oils and sodium are not good in the high vac environment.
Thanks for the explanations
wish I had read this before I watched the vid. I had to stop and look up the terms before I continued. thanks for the concise explanation.
Scott Avitt closed Hawkeye picture tube in 2012 but donated his equipment, so the craft that his father started and he finished shall always be remembered.
Closed in 2010, and the equipment is just a showpiece now, not actually being used.
Fascinating production from end to end! I was amazed to see the 19VP22 tube being rebuilt! I remember when those big CBS sets were on the in the early fifties! My Dad was an engineer with the local ABC station, and as part of the conversion to color, employees were able to buy these monster sets at a good discount. Dad also got into service and installation...pretty much every time you moved the set, it required convergence adjustment., using a dot-bar generator. We had quite a time with the CRTs in those sets, which were the same as shown in the latter part of the video. They have a "shadow mask" made of metal just behind the face glass, but apparently this wasn't a big problem, as you mentioned nothing of it in the video. The CRT by the way, was installed on a separate chassis, which was on a plywood base, able to be pretty easily unplugged from the rest of the set and removed to facilitate replacement of the CRT, which was very heavy. As I remember, the set had three chassis and around 90 vacuum tubes. The cabinet was around 3 to 4 feet on an edge, and had a removable panel along the bottom edge, which allowed access to a vast number of pots needed for alignment. Sorry some of the details are a bit fuzzy, but I was about 13 at the time! Thanks for the flood of memories this awakened!
A fantastic watch, props to the the guys who recorded and put this online for the world to see. Given the niche expertise and time involved in servicing a tube as this video shows, what kind of cost to the customer used to be charged for this kind of work?
Cheaper than a new one at the time, or they would not have been in business at all : )
Thanks Scotty for the fine rebuilt tubes that I purchased from you in past years and the Chance to get to know Harold Robbins. Those were the good years for sure! Al's Electronics in Marshalltown
I worked at RCA, and built thousands of these tubes, I also worked in salvage and an SNG lab, where we would crack the neck, pull the cathode gun, put it on a Thump & Flush machine, then put in a new mount and gun, and reseal the neck. I also used to run a neck Lathe, where I would weld a new neck onto the funnels, so they could be reused. The neck lathe was a very high skilled job, it was all done manually, not an automatic machine. There were only about 5 people out of several thousand employees, who could do it, and make good necks. Working with glass and vaccum is pretty meticulous work. It can also be VERY DANGEROUS.
I've been flameworking glass for 23 years. I'm 39 now and spend most of my time on an old B & C lath. About 15 years ago I called an old scientific glassblower named Irving Rohrbacher to ask a question. Irving had made the flash tubes for that old high speed photo of a bullet going though an apple. He said to me, "so your a glassblower huh?".
I said, "yes". He then said, "Your gonna be an alcoholic and your never gonna retire!"
....I have yet to prove him wrong. :)
Holy crap! If you could talk!!! That'd be cool as hell hear to about! I'd buy you a beer or meal!
@@cdoublejj me or the rca guy?
@@poiuuy533 the RCA guy. What's your story?
@@cdoublejj I've been flameworking glass for 23 years and went to school for scientific glassblowing. I don't have much vaccum tube making experience but I am a Ham radio operator so I'm familiar with how they work. KM6JXA
The first TV we had as a kid in the '50s had a 12BP4 picture tube. I was completely fascinated when the repair guy came. For some reason the problem was almost always a burned out 6SN7 tube.
Our first colour TV was a Decca (English brand) it was a hybrid design, tubes, transistors, and a few IC's. It failed a few times, every time the repair agent came and replaced the audio output tube. It had a fusuble resistor in series with it that would pop, so the tube got replaced and the resistor reset (bend back the spring and resolder it)
We got sick of this, and bought a tube from a local supplier and reset the fusible resistor ourselver, only once, it never failed again......
Very strange, was his tubes no good, and ours better? Thinking back, it was probably the other way around, our tube was probably not as good, less gain, so drew less plate current, and as such never tripped the fuseable resistor (a 10W resistor with a leaf style spring on it's side) again.
@@paulstubbs7678 since you solved the problem by simply changing the values in the tube and did not have to change the plate dissapation on the chassis that would make the most sense , how did it sound after that?
@@sailingcapedissappointment2012 ?? The initial audio fails were under warranty, that's what their service tech did. When it came out of warranty we did the same, once, and it never failed again, so not sure why. We just went down to the local tube shop and bought a replacement, we didn't "simply changing the values". Maybe our tube was of slightly less gain and as such didn't pop the fuseable resistor. (a large 20W? ceramic with a metal spring strip down its side, soldered in place)
or I accidentally used a higher melting point solder, so it didn't get hot enough to fail again.
@@paulstubbs7678 I just wondered about the variance in plate dissapation, if there was any .... the days when nobody put a fan on any of it
This could be valueable for restoring vintage computer monitors and arcade cabinets.
that’s why i’m here
*I was going to feed internet through my DeForest console TV to watch this video, but was too impatient to wait for its circuits valves to finally warm up.*
I live nearby the old Zenith factory on West side of Chicago, building won't be up much longer. Keep refurbishing history and cleaning those guns forever!
so glad I got suggested to watch this. THIS VIDEO WAS ABSOLUTELY AWESOME. thank you so much for sharing this art which will soon be lost over the years. this was fascinating, having grown up with CRTs and now LCD/LED you still appreciate the art that makes up this work.
Amazing. I never knew that picture tubes were rebuilt. What an art and true craftsman performing it!
Very interesting to hear and see how the 19VP22 sounded when de-evacuated. That's bound to have been a very costly part to manufacture when new, with the metal fused glass construction.
Also, it was great that you placed the captions on the video to explain the process. That really made it!
Excellent detail on this fast-vanishing craft. I used to get rebuilt tubes from a guy in Salt Lake City when I was repairing back in the 60's and 70's. He could get me black matrix rare earth 21FJP22 roundies at a premium price. I up-sold lots of customers on that. He did all this stuff, but his business burned down. Lots of fire involved in the trade... Gotta be careful!
I was also in Salt Lake City at that time, and I remember TV Specialists and another shop run by a guy named Don Lyman that did CRT rebuilds. Don had all the equipment like in this video and he did rebuilds of CRTs. I was a kid working after school back then, and my job was removing the old gun with that hot wire, and then install the tubes back in the sets and adjust the ion trap and other adjustments to get the TVs looking good. It did not seem such a big deal back then, but what would I give to relive one Saturday at his shop on State Street. Yes, all will be forgotten, and when the nukes EMP all the I-phones and the LCD TVs, this type of thing will have to be brought back, but who will know how? Us old guys will suddenly be wanted again, and if we play our cards right, we can live like kings! All that old stuff was immune from EMPs, like tube radios, cars with points, condensers, and non-LED lighting instead of computers to make the engines run. I wonder who will be left to get things running after the EMP "if" it happens. Every thing is computerized now, and heaven help the people under 30 years of age. Hopefully it will never happen as if it does, the young'uns will be SOL, especially if us old guys are gone! Hey there, this sounds like a plot of a 1970s movie!
@@dougreynolds1498 lmfao. EMPs will not take out all digital equipment. That's a myth. And no, this technology will never be brought back -- there's absolutely no point.
Plus, the people driving horses and carriages said the same thing about the first generation of car drivers. Don't see a lot of working horses these days, do you?
Watching a master at work is all ways interesting.
Very skilled, precision work. A true artisan. Made me nervous the whole time he was working. People that aren't quite steady enough to do his kind of work could apply for a job in bomb disposal. Glad there are people who can resurrect these old CRTs.
Arc testing those at 61kv gave me a dose of X-rays just watching this video!
Brings back memories about my uncle. He used to work for a company in Columbus on East Long St. Called Buckeye Electronics. His main job there was rebuilding the old picture tubes. Fast forwarding into the eighties the company he was working for at the time purchased a business called Star Surplus in the Short North. One of his tasks was to clear out the basement of the old shop which was full of old new stock picture tubes in deteriorating cardboard boxes. Took them several weeks to carefully remove all of that stock and throw it into a dumpster since the new owner had no need for them. The main issue was that if one tube imploded in the stack it could set off the whole pile of tubes, that would have been a naty mess to clean up as well as a safety hazard in case they could not vacate the basement in time.
ART and pride for the job, this is what it shows in the video. Nicely edited, stunning shots.
This guy is a freakin genius! What a gift! Soon every bloody household is gonna have a CRT driven TV set!
Wow, Deep Breakfast. Didn't know anybody knew that piece other than my massage therapist and me. Great vid, truly a dying art
It was a surprise hearing music by Ray Lynch when you were putting up the scrolling text to provide additional details about what was going on. When I was going through my CD collection I rediscovered the one I have of his music that had Celestial Soda Pop on it. This video was interesting both in learning people restore CRTs and to see the amount of work involved.
Stunning video - thanks. The scene of the vertical lathe, oscillating flames and Dusty Springfield on the shop radio was mesmerising.
Amazing skill and artistry. I hope this knowledge is retained and passed on again.
Would love to see one of the tibes restored in this video in operation
Really grateful to you for keeping this art alive
Truly a pleasure to watch this. I like to see a real craftsman go about his work so methodically. You are a real artist. The music was great as well. Thanks much.
I have been a T.V Repair man since 1978 , I have worked on every type of set and make, but WOW that is cool.
I would love to go through a setup procedure once more just to see if I still could get it looking decent.
Very interesting! I never knew that something like that was possible. A TV back in the Day lasted for a Lifetime.
I work at a Place where Electronics are repaired, but since the Flatscreens came around, the Job is boring. All You can do is replace three or four Modules and if the Warranty is over You need to throw it away. You pay soo much for a TV these Days and it just doesnt last.
Last Year a 1976 Telefunken PalColor came in for Recycling. The Customer used it until 2016. Exactly 40 Years until the HV Cascade for the Flyback shorted. It's still repairable and I took it home.
I quit using my Flatpanel and threw it away about four Years ago. Since then I used a 1990s Grundig CityLine, 1981 Grundig SuperColor, a 1983 Grundig SuperColor, 1985 Grundig SuperColor, 1966 Emud and my latest is a 1969 Schaub Lorenz.
These TVs work, they are fun to use, have a much better sound, a warmer picture and who needs HD?
If they lasted a life time, how come I can remember tossing them out...?
wow nice..
The electrolytics around 2012 got cheap and vary shitty. It infected all brands of capacitors at the time as all the companys bought from the same source. Thus so many products had a vary short life. Look up Capacitor plague!
I am glad you can still find work in the field.
Consumer electronics repair is pretty much dead in the US.
From the brand names I suspect you are in Europe, possibly Germany.
There is some money to be made changing screens and jacks on phones and tablets I guess.
TV warranty work is done by UPS now if they don't have you take it back to the retailer.
I agree with everything else you say, but TV's today cost nothing. Back in the time a TV could cost for example 2months salary for a "basic worker". How many people today buy a 5000€ TV? I see adds with 699€ and 399€ TVs that are full of those crappy China caps. For the reference this is in Finland.
Scotty must have balls of steel; I've seen a color CRT go pop and spray broken glass everywhere (from a safe distance fortunately). I personally wouldn't go near the exposed neck of a CRT under vacuum, let alone deliberately weaken the glass. Lots of respect due there!
why? working at a scrapyard in the past i have broken maybe half a million crt necks...the standard was a big kick in the neck so that it would break the glass and extract th yoke with one single kick...5 minutes to take apart completely a television or monitor or no profit to be made on it..we would stack them by brand in order to automatize the dismantling process in our heads to make it faster....for example "today we have 100 nokia 15 inch vga monitors to take down".......including extracting the copper, aluminium , circuit boards wires, breaking all the glass to one container and removing all the screws from the plastic to to to the shredder...no safety glasses because its not needed and no gloves cause they would slow you down. never got hurt with glass, only some cuts on the hands by pulling the wires too agressively once in a while....now the environment laws removed all the profit to be made on those (about 1€ /each tv for the boss is what we used to make) so they now go to a recycling plant who probably ships them to 3rd world countries so they dont have to handle the hazardous waste....like i use to say "Government environmental agencies - for the man who wants pollution and health hazard away from their country!!! haahhaahah
The neck is probably the safer end. I've 'necked' many a tube (to make the set safe for disposal) and never suffered an injury.
On the other hand, I did read about a set where the neck fractured and the gun went through the screen and ended up embeded into an oposing wall.
Sad to hear this business is done. My grandfather made neon signs,owned his business in downtown Traversecity Mi back in the 60's and 70's. Moved to his garage,then retired to never again make signs,everyone went to plastic shells. There was a slight resurgence in the craft but not enough to warrent learning the craft. No one in the family wanted to take it up so the art is gone in my family. Sad.
Boy I'll say it's sad. Neon brought art, beauty and magic to the night. Look what replaced it,
I blame Ladybird Johnson and her "Highway beautification" movement and the urban planners.
A bunch of do gooders, many of them architects trying to get some of the money to be had designing new buildings to replace the ones they would have torn down considered neon ugly and tacky. Many cities have zoned it out of existence.
I miss neon. I miss distinctive signage. Signage you could actually see from a distance. Remember the old days of tall gas station signs next to the interstate? Many of these listed the price so you could tell if it was worth pulling off or if you wanted to wait till the next exit. How about rotating signs? I loved those.
They claim rotating signs were distracting but now stores have LCD scrolling marquees that can be blindingly bright. A BBQ joint opened up in town and they have a rotating pig sign. First new rotating sign I have seen in years. Glad to see it.
@@1978garfield - Urban planners! Now there's a bunch of feckless bullshit artists. Cities aren't planned, they evolve. Look at the "planned" communities which were the rage after WWII - they're soulless and utter failures.
1978garfield I hate those bright led signs that don’t have dimmer for night time those things are dangerous for drivers.
@@Ricopolico Jane Jacobs would be so proud. I agree completely!
This is one of the best things i have ever seen, when i was a lad working in a tv shop, mondays was tube change day, i went home in the evening blacker than a coal miner, and always wondered how it was done, but on seeing this....im not surprised, thank you all...Scotty for sharing this.
I had no idea this art could be done. Pretty cool.
Wow did that bring back memories from back in the day. We had a local shop that did that. They would even recoat the phosphorus on B&W tubes. I took them about 30 tubes a year to be rebuilt until it all kinda died out and costly. They eventually had to go out of business, it was a shame they were good people.
I finally let my last CRT TV go a few months ago. I kept it out in a storage shed mostly for nostalgia. I used to repair video game consoles and I probably made tens of thousands of dollars while this TV was in my shop. It was a 2008 13" color daewoo that I got at Goodwill for $10 in 2011. It was an upgrade from a 5" B&W TV.
I hooked it up recently so that my son could see the light gun on his NES work. It's strange how a TV that would have once been considered to have a bright clear picture with good color now hurt my eyes to look at, flickered, and had abysmal resolution. I decided that nostalgia or not, it did not serve a purpose in my life and never would again.
Long live the CRT! It will be sorely missed by almost no one.
missed out on the HD CRT TV very few were made and super hard to find
MY TV is going out so I retired it and put it in my storage closet. I'm soooo sad it cost 400$ to repair microchip that is how much they wanted
So cool to see again! Last time was in the late 1960's with my father in a shop in Seattle. Truly craftsmen of the highest order.
Totally amazing! Really enjoyed this. I got my start in electronics many many moon ago building HeathKit products. The VTVM, morse code adapter for my Ham radio, and naturally the radio itself. I took all that with me when I was stationed at Camp O'Donnell Philippines and later had base housing at Clark. For S&G's I strung up a small antenna in the back porch of my home and started listening to Radio Moscow. Boy, did they lay it on thick, lol. My last project from HeathKit was the burglar alarm system that really worked great, as it picked up those crazy flying cockroaches we had all around on the back porch.
Do we get to see it running? Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing
In my first young ages back in 1992 i used to work for a few months in a crt tube repairing lab.I was working in the lathe of spinning the tube and the small glass tube which melted together for restoring the original lenght of the neck to place later the new cathode gun as shown in 1:33:40.You brought back memories.
Question for those who had to rebuild tubes, was anyone able to remove phosphor burn?
I can picture this place being wicked busy with lots of workers rebuilding tubes back in the early days. Shame the operation is now closed. We've gone from recycling and repairing to disposal...
The problem with all of this is customers wanting to buy the latest instead of tried and true. It drives competition and innovation, but also so many custom parts that only fot a model or two. Look at how many different parts are seen in this vid, and imagine if all those sets had been constructed identically. Imagine if, instead of replacing the whole set because of a bad board, you could go down to any shop and get a universal part that would work perfectly, because they all used the same board for a price representative of a fraction of the whole? There would be no incentive to replace because you would just be buying identical parts anyway.
Forgive me for being obtuse, but you never said who might be in the market for a CRT in the 21st century. I've used them as radar readouts, and computer displays, but I'm glad that we've moved on to a much more compact, much lower power consumed technology.
Classic video game systems were designed for these tubes, so these are in really high demand for gamers and collectors of those systems (like the Super Nintendo, Atari, etc.).
This video is friggin amazing, I bauked at the 2 hour time on the video, but it is well worth the watch for it's historic value, showing a fast dying trade in all it's glorious detail on one of it's last runs of CRT's. Future society will look at this video and go WOW, WE USED TO DO THAT!!!?!?!?! LCD/LED technology has killed the CRT but I really think we never explored it completely...
Wow I grew up watching tube TVs -I didn't realize they were so complicated when it came to how they actually work! ! Just took it for granted and when one broke you just went out and bought another one!!
this is not art... you are a magician ! unreal craftsmanship
I educated as a TV repair man in the early -80's and I never knew this thing was even possible to do.
There is nothing wrong or bad with your video essay. Your addition of music provides a continuity while the viewer watches a complex process. It is sad to note these craftsmen are gone. The one aspect I wish to be able to see is seeing a video image on the rebuilt CRTs, but doing so involves so much that it is perhaps too difficult for the rebuild shop to do. But then, how do they know it will work?
When I was a child I always wanted to be a Picture Tube Rebuilder when I grow up.
And then the digital revolution happened...
If someone reads this who has been into picturetube rebuilding: i have a bunch of 9" projection tubes which i plan to rebuild some time in the future. Currently building a workshop, collecting materials an so on. But i don't have any idea where to get gun assemblies or (what in this case is the most important) phosphors.
Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks and best regards from Germany.
Hello, you might want to be aware, if you are not already, of LLC MELZ in Russia. They already supply the electron guns and glass stems with pins for multiple CRT rebuilders in the world, apart from theirselves. On their Facebook page they regularly share what they and others do. They even made a new CRT for me a few years ago. They are very professional and adequate in this field. Regarding phosphors, I am also still looking for a (more local) solution. Best regards from the Netherlands.📺
Well done, I have flashbacks to this video wondering various things about tube rebuilding
I'm back
Had no idea picture tubes were ever rebuilt or than anyone still did it.
I know Scotty is the expert but he sure made me nervous anytime he handled the tubes by the neck. I guess since he can just put a new neck on it is not that big of deal if he snaps one off.
I was surprised to find out the coating on the front of the tubes was still good and they just needed new guns. Cool video and thanks for making it.
Also did the organ song remind anyone else of "Call Me" by Blondie?
I just read that this shop closed. I am sad but not surprised.
Are there any others or was this the last?
I wonder what happened to all that equipment?
You couldn't buy it new at any price today.
I am sure Scotty didn't get rich doing this but I hope he was able to save enough for a comfortable retirement. Looks like he still has his health. His whole wardrobe seems to be made of shirts from foot races.
I am doubly glad you caught the process on video now.
In all the years this shop was opened I wonder if you were the first (and last) camera crew to come in?
Equipment was given to Early TV Museum.
Awesome watch of a lost art. Thank you.
My father was a manger of two Muntz TV stores and they never rebuilt the picture tubes. Great video.....
Wonderful docco! Would have been even better with footage of the CRTs being tested with test patterns...
"
"At out peak-between 1965 and 1971-we kept five employees busy," Avitt said. "We did it all then-even constructing the replacement electron guns and re-phosphoring and aluminizing screens. Our revenue was around $390,000 a year. Collectively, rebuilding was a multi-million dollar business."
Avitt reflected that this all began to change beginning in the 1980s when the "throwaway society" mindset began to kick in."
It wasn't that the public had a throw away mentality, it was the public facing the reality that when you called a repair shop up to find the cost to repair something like say, your $119.95 electric typewriter that stopped working and they told you it will be $100 plus tax just to LOOK at it, plus the parts and repairs, and it would be a week! So you look at it and think, hmmm $130 or so just to find out they can't fix it because they can't get the part needed any more, or that parts and labor will be another $75 on top, and you can buy a brand new one for $119.95, well it's a no brainer what people would do!
You can buy a new desktop PC for under $300, why would anyone spend that amount to repair one! the problem is it's literally cheaper to buy a new one than repairing broken ones, the mfr's make that even more likely when 2 months after you buy something that model is ALREADY discontinued and parts if you can get them 6 months later cost more than the thing is worth.
At my workplace we have a commercial drill press by Delta only now about 5 years old, the quill return spring broke, already you can't even get that part- it's obsolete! Same with a Craftsman machine- the built-in on/off switch is no longer available, same story with another drill press- parts no longer available.
Used to be you could buy parts for even 40 or 50 year old machines, not any more! you are lucky to get repair parts a year after buying the machine because by then already that model is discontinued. You go to Amazon and look at tools, machines, appliances, almost always you see "there is a newer model of this" followed by a link, you'll be sure to see "no longer available" on the first one very shortly after.
When you cant get these now almost proprietary parts, or electronic boards only made by one company and for one model, you are pretty screwed.
I remember around 1997 my RV's Dometic gas furnace needed a new electronic board, 2 screws and 2 wires to replace, I could not buy that part, they told me it HAD to be installed by an authorised repair shop! the nearest shop was an hour drive away, I had to take the unit there, it cost around $100 for the board and around $100 to get it installed- 2 freaking screws and 2 wires- 15 minutes $200 to repair a 3-4 year old furnace that cost around $325 new.
Beam me up scotty, great job. I have been repairing TV's for over thirty years and this is the only thing I have not done. I worked for general instruments for several years when it was us co. thanks again.
dont you mean general electric?? ha bell western
Great video, great skills and job. I'm glad I got here to see the whole process :) One thing makes me curious where/how he got all that different new guns for all those tubes ? Are they still available in 2023 (guns I mean)?! Thx Scott and filmmaker for that material :) God bless U guys :)
Fantastic!!!
But I thought this was now impossible. Is this an old video? I only hope that someone out there can and still is doing this work...
Bravo!
Hawkeye's equipment (and equipment from RACS in France) was moved to Ohio and installed at the Early Television Museum. We're hoping to be able to run it as a nonprofit business someday.
Interesting video. I didn't realize that this was so time consuming and took such specialized equipment/tools. Wonderful Radio station, as well.
It's good to know someone is still doing this. What about the tubes with burnt phosphorous or a damaged mask? Can they be rebuilt?
Nobody is still doing this. This business closed down in 2010. The museum bought the equipment but has decided not to use it.
Not so much 'decided not to use it' but that the logistics of making it work as a nonprofit operation continue to elude us. It's all there and all working; keep the faith!
An education here in itself... with a great old school soundtrack courtesy of KRNT. Good video to learn something, and a great effort in making it all around !
Ah, the old 19VP22 as used in the Motorola TV set we had. (1957?) It was possible to convert the set to use a 21AVP22 but we never went with that option. (As a sidebar, I think that the green phosphor used on the CBS 19VP22 was a bit different from the green phosphor RCA used... not sure about that, though.
The video was great, thank you for the time you've spent on it
That first tube looks like a 70 degree deflection B&W from the 1950's.
My first job was cleaning up at a TV repair shop in 1973, at age 13. There was a picture tube rebuilding setup in the back. Never got to see it in action though.
WHAT an incredible 'art'! WHAT incredible patience and attention to detail!
I can really appreciate his expertise ....... BUT why ?
Vintage TVs are collectable now.
Some are worth a lot of money.
You heard him mention a Predicta?
That is a Philco TV that is very popular among collectors. There are few on eBay listed at over $1000 right now.
1978garfield ... Thanks for your info
I agree this man HAS a special talent / skill / knowledge / craft
I love very old mechanicals - engines, pumps, axles, etc and I guess that someone would ask me ..... But why?
Ans: I don't care about the $$$$ value; it is the 'simplicity' of the 'technology', a time when we didn't have to go at 600 mph in our daily lives.
Wonderful information. True craftsmanship. Camera angles were great and better yet, not shaky. Thank you two for a job well done.
I certainly approve of the old music in the background. It played in the front seat while I played in the back seat.
Lmao
I use to work in CRT rebuild facility when looking left school in 1979.
Fantastic video, I really enjoyed watching this. I just can`t escape my love of CRT technology. The new televisions might have a better definition picture, but they are without a soul! They are cold and sterile having a lifetime measured in months not years. Makes me so sad when I see piles of perfectly good CRT televisions piled up at the local wast disposal site. Thanks for the upload, best regards, Chris.
Collect, repair, and sell them to retro video gamers! Do not let those tvs go to waste!
"Cold and sterile" what the heck... if you only understood the brilliance going on inside those TVs, you'd definitely feel differently.
Utterly fascinating to see that the old highly specialized equipment is still going strong-- as is Scotty (one hopes!). I would only cry for not using a "crawl" for the text-- just cut to the messages.
I would also ask for a little more info, such as the testing of the tubes shown here. Or a little more coverage or back story as to why there are such finicky and specific "times" at such and such temperature for different tubes or materials-- who figured that out? Sure, in the good old days, but what does it reflect in the final result?
When the filament heating was going on, the front screen lit up with the pulses-- but the patterns did not look too healthy. Does that matter? If not, why not?
Nevertheless-- a remarkable tour of what goes on in this crazy country-- if you only know where to look!
yeah that text crawl (and music, and slow transitions) is maddening. Would also like to have a title with the current "step" of the process always up so you can scrub/seek to a desired point in the long video
utterly fascinating, as a young tech I've installed a few reguns but never seen the process.
How did I wind up here? Why did I just watch a feature-length video of a guy restoring an old TV?
Because it’s interesting?
It's midnight on a Saturday night and I'm asking the same question, wondering where things went wrong with my life and how it came to this.
Very interesting. I repaired TV’s many years ago and was always intrigued with the CRT rebuilding process.
Thank you for this great video...!
Amazing video, I would love to know more about the procedure.
www.earlytelevision.org/crt_project.html
as a follow-up to my smart-ass comment, I have to say that the actual content was amazing. I had no idea this was even a thing, and I probably know more about televisions than 99.9% of people.
Lone Wolf we bought a beltron rejuvenateor because most wouldnt fix a set with a soft tube gave a tube 2_5 years more.
I just checked into this business and it looks like he closed it down several years ago. It's a shame that the knowledge he had wasn't passed down to someone who could keep the business running. Then again, the demand for refurbished CRT's may have diminished to the point that running an expensive business like that wasn't profitable anymore.
Yes, he shut down around 2010. The knowledge was passed down to a volunteer and the equipment was donated to the ETF. They recently rebuilt a CRT successfully and hope to get the operation up and running on a regular basis eventually.
@@bandersentv 2010 wasn't the right time for this.. Now however we are reaching that time.
@@bandersentv That is great to hear. I was afraid all that cool, expensive (when purchased) and irreplaceable equipment would get scraped because it is made of metal and heavy.
That is one thing that works against railroad preservation. Even if an owner offers a piece of equipment at scrap prices that can still be a lot of money when you are dealing with tons of steel.
Same think happens with vintage trucks sadly.
The cabs on many were made of aluminum.
It can take time to find someone who actually has the means to have an old truck picked up and delivered, some place to deliver it to and then to have any hope of having the tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours it would take for a partial restoration.
Many times widows and kids looking to settle an estate an estate just call a scrapper and get a hand full of cash.
I can't be too hard on them. It is a pain to sell anything. It is even worse to try to sell something like a vintage truck.
Evern if you wanted to, and money was not a concern (i.e. your all but retired and just want to keep at it) getting new guns etc would eventually kill you.
Yeah I can't imagine there would be much of a demand to rebuild old B&W TV picture tubes except for museums and collectors, with the time it took to rebuild one of these tubes as shown in the video, the labor alone would have to be hundreds of dollars, plus the parts and everything else, for a TV set that most people threw away when it stopped working.
Hi, great video, so informative, thank you for producing it. When I was kid I had had a crt go "bang", (ok, after it imploded) it was out in the sun, out of its cabinet, and I found big chunks of glass down the garden. So, with that in mind I have always worn BIG saftey glasses when working on them.Take care guys.
Very impressive work! Loved watching every moment. So much so, I didn't get done anything I wanted to the entire time hahaha!
I'm so glad that Scotty is able to supply such a service still.
Who makes the electron gun assemblies? Very interesting video. 👍
lamo
punker4Real who is lamo?
I think he meant "Lame-o", so in this case, "lamo" is himself.
According to Early TV Museum website at least somewhere in Russia somebody makes or is ready to make them. I also found on eBay by searching "electron gun" that one seller is selling them to order in larger volumes.
Wow, it's been along time since I've seen one of those old tubes, I didn't even think they still used them.