16 Sep
2002
16 Sep
'02
4:50 a.m.
At 08:50 PM 9/13/02 -0700, you wrote:
I'm a little nervous about screwdrivers or putty
knives and glass under vacuum. I wonder if a HEATED
wire would cut through this. Also, I've found that
acetone goes through just about anything not metal or
glass eventually.
If you've ever seen the people who replace car
windshields at work (on pre-1990's cars, anyway), they
heat a very thin wire with a blowtorch and use this to
cut the sealant.
I was going to suggest using a thin wire as you described. I've done that to remove
car windshields from the rubbery putty that they're mounted in. I used .030"
stainless steel safety wire. Tie each end to a wooden handle (section of broom handle)
and use a back and forth sawing motion to cut through the glue. If you want to heat it,
connect each end to some kind of power supply (a car battery with a big variable resistor
might work ok). I used a variac to heat a LONG piece of safety wire to cut through a big
piece styrofoam to make a 6+ foot wing for a large model airplane once. But be carefull
about variacs, remember that thier output is still connected directly to the AC line!
It might be hard to find this thin,
strong wire, though. Thin wire, easy. Strong wire,
easy. Thin, strong wire...
They do make an optical grade of RTC. You might be able to call Dow Corning and get a
sample from them. FWIW I spent yesterday afternoon carving the optical sensors that had
been potted up n this stuff. Soaking in acetone helps soften it up.
Joe
End result- cleaned 'em up and got a
perfectly
useable CRT and separate
'anti glare' glass.
I reassembled them with an air gap and 'goo' in the
screen corners only-
I might use clear RTV or something similar, if I am
successful.