Can cigarette soot get into the monitor guns?

No, the tube is a vacuum - no air inside. The cigarette tar does get all over the face of the tube though, and I've seen it on there so tough that most cleaners wouldn't touch it. You usually need something with ammonia in it (some versions of Windex), or straight isopropyl alcohol to clean some of that nasty gunk off the face of the tube. One time I even had to scrape it off with a razor.

-Ian
 
Ah, ok. But I swear I've read posts where people talk about their monitors having dirty guns. How would that happen?
 
Ah, ok. But I swear I've read posts where people talk about their monitors having dirty guns. How would that happen?

Ah, that's much different. "Dirty" is just a term - the guns aren't physically dirty from outside dust, they're contaminated with exhausted cathode material. The electron guns in a picture tube are heated by the filament, and that causes the cathode in the gun to emit electrons. Over time, the cathode builds up a coating of contaminated material from being heated for so long. A picture tube rejuvinator will "zap" these cathodes with a burst of electricity in order to burn it off, stripping the used material from the outside and exposing a good surface, allowing the cathode to emit more electrons, and thus produce a brighter picture.

The guns get "dirty" from age and use, not from any external source. Similarly, it's also possible for other crud to fall into them, tiny bits and flakes of material that have fallen off the internal assembly, or burned away phosphor crud from the inside face of the tube, etc. These contaminents can cause shorts in the gun - turning one full on. But anything that falls into the gun in this manner was already inside the tube when it was manufactured - there is no possibility for anything outside the tube to enter it, as it's a sealed, evacuated, glass structure. If ever the tube gets cracked or punctured, it's destroyed, and cannot produce any picture at all.

-Ian
 
I've seen it on there so tough that most cleaners wouldn't touch it. You usually need something with ammonia in it (some versions of Windex), or straight isopropyl alcohol to clean some of that nasty gunk off the face of the tube. One time I even had to scrape it off with a razor.

-Ian

Try a product called Kork rub. It literally melts nicotine like butter. Its also amazing for cleaning up control panel overlays. Its fine on most artwork and cab paint but you cant leave it on too long.
 
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