CRT rebuilding in Germany

[ppppenguin]

Since the original discussion elsewhere is no longer available I thought I'd restart it here with the story as well as I can recall.

At the NVCF in May this year I was approached by a young German man who told me that his family still had a CRT rebuilding business in Germany. As you can imagine I was more than slightly interested. Although his English was good I got hold of Brian Cuff who has lived in Germany and is fluent in the language. He also has a direct interest in the rebuilding of vintage CRTs.

Since then Brian has been in contact and submitted a couple of CRTs to see if they have the capability to work on vintage CRTs.

I hope that Brian will now pick up the story and keep us up to date.

[AlanBeckett]

Splendid. Let's hope it works out.

Alan

[Brianc]

The CRTs are at the works in Germany as I write. They are going to tackle the EMI 3/6A first as it is a pre-war type tube and success in the repair would be great for all who have dim tubes in their favorite TV. Watch this space.

[Murphyv310]

That's really great news, I'll be watching this thread with interest.

[Joe]

It's not a service I'll ever need but so will I.

— Joe

[Alan Douglas]

Wow. The last one here (Hawkeye) shut down several years ago. I have a videotape of the rebuilding process and after watching it I can see why it was so expensive and also why nobody wanted to buy the business and keep it going. I think the owner did train someone, but it looked like the sort of operation you had to do all the time to remember all the details.

[ppppenguin]

The ETF in Ohio is building a CRT plant based on kit and expertise from by Hawkeye and RACS
http://www.earlytelevision.org/crt_project.html

[Radio Fixer]

Really enjoyed the video; thanks for that lead.

The skill and craft of it was impressive and one day will likely all be lost.

Wonder where the generic guns are made? China I guess.

Gary

[ppppenguin]

There are also a few companies mainitined thermionic device capability. This is apart from the almost mainstream production of KT66, ECC83 and similar audio valves in Russia etc. Brimar in the UK (not the same company marketing valves at vintage events) still rebuild military and avionic CRTs. There's a firm in SW London that still makes the glassware but not the guns. In the US there's Ebeam and Thomas, both with extensive thermionic capability. None of these have been willing to engage in our sort of business though I spoke to the firm in SW London who said they could make brand new blown glass CRT bulbs suitable for prewar and early postwar CRTs.

[Brianc]

I spoke to the firm in SW London who said they could make brand new blown glass CRT bulbs suitable for prewar and early postwar CRTs.

Did you get an idea of the cost of the glassware for a typical pre-war tube, Jeffrey?