Before doing anything drastic it crossed my mind
that somebody at some
may have changed the tube in a DEC terminal.
There are two issues with this one.
a) Where do you get the replacement tube from.
Typically, from something else. Like other terminals,
12" monochrome PC monitors, and portable black and
white television sets. A lot of these tubes are
Yes. It's almost impossible to get a 'bare' CRT, since often replacing a
CRT is regarded as uneconomic, so nobody stocks the spares. I know that
when I needed a CRT from a Volker-Craig terminal, I bought a cheap
monochrome TV and raided it for the CRT.
interchangeable. I've run across some that
aren't, but
for the most part, with black and white tubes, if the
base fits, the neck and deflection angle is the same,
and the heater is the same voltage, it's a good chance
it will work.
There are baspically 2 types of mono CRT. Thick necks with a B8H base and
a 6.3V heater and thin neckes with a modifed B7G base and an 11.5V
heater. Almost all mono monitor and termial CRTs have a 90 degree
deflection angle.
b) How do
you fit it.
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
Carefully. :) You want to be sure to discharge the
high voltage first (in both the terminal, and whatever
you're stealing a tube from!). To do this, attach a
length of wire to the metal shaft of a flat blade
screwdriver, and ground the wire to the chassis of the
terminal/whatever. Hold the insulated plastic handle
I would recoemnd against this method. When the contact is made, the peak
current can be quite high. High enough to damage the connation between
the anode cap and the anode coating inside the CRT. And since that
current will flwo where it feels like, it can, if you're not careful,
damage semiconductors all aover the chassis.
What I do is use my EHT meter. It has a resistance of 800MOhms, and is
desigend to handle up to 50kV. Connect the ground lead of the meter to
the CRT earth (the metal contacts that touch the outer aquadag coating),
and put the probe under the anode cap. Hold it there for a minute or so
and the CRT will be discharged
of the screwdriver and slide it under the rubber
suction cup of the picture tube, until you feel the
metal clip inside. Typically, this will be accompanied
by a *CRACK* as the high voltage discharges.
(Although, it is possible that the HV dissapated
earlier, depends on the terminal) Do this twice just
to be sure.
To remove the clip, peel up the rubber suction cup,
and you'll see it's a hooked clip that fits into a
hole in the tube. Squeeze the clip together and gently
remove it.
Normally, once you've freed the edgesof the cape from the CRT glass, you
can move the whole thing over to compress one side of the contact and
release the other. This avoids having to touch the high voltage terminal
(even though it should be discharged.)
[...]
yourself). Once the yoke is level, shut the terminal
off and tighten the yoke so it won't move.
But not too tight. You don't want to crack the new CRT...
The old rule (not to be taken seriously, of course) was to tighten the
clamp until the CRT implodes, then back off a quarter of a turn ;-)
-tony