Repair scratches on CRT glass?

TheYeti

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I acquired a CRT monitor with a couple of scratches about 2 inches long. Right in the middle of the screen. The scratches are not super deep but they are enough to distort the light passing through.

Is there any way to safely polish away the scratches? Do I need to worry about removing a special coating that might be there?

Anyone have experience and/or success doing this?
 
replace the tube. scratches in a tube or tempered glass is either way too expensive and/or not possible to fix.
 
replace the tube. scratches in a tube or tempered glass is either way too expensive and/or not possible to fix.

Well crap...that's a bummer. Although, this tube did have some significant burn anyway.

I've never been tube shopping before. Guess I'll need to figure that out!

Thanks!
 
For lighter surface scratches:

1) If the monitor is going in a games that has a dark tinted bezel (Midway game, such as Pacman/Galaga, or Qbert):

I've been able to take a buffer attachment to a drill and use Cerama Bryte and Novus 3 and then Novus 2 with several rounds and get the scratches down to where you won't feel them when moving your hand over. The scratches are no longer then visible through the tinted glass or during game play.

You can also use clear nail polish over a single larger scratch to greatly reduce the visibility of a deeper scratch.

2) If the monitor is going into a clear glass bezel, you may not wish to use any tube that has more than small surface scratches unless you really buff the entire screen. But this is mostly not worth the effort I've found unfortunately.
 
For lighter surface scratches:

1) If the monitor is going in a games that has a dark tinted bezel (Midway game, such as Pacman/Galaga, or Qbert):

I've been able to take a buffer attachment to a drill and use Cerama Bryte and Novus 3 and then Novus 2 with several rounds and get the scratches down to where you won't feel them when moving your hand over. The scratches are no longer then visible through the tinted glass or during game play.

You can also use clear nail polish over a single larger scratch to greatly reduce the visibility of a deeper scratch.

2) If the monitor is going into a clear glass bezel, you may not wish to use any tube that has more than small surface scratches unless you really buff the entire screen. But this is mostly not worth the effort I've found unfortunately.

Thanks! This is great advice. Very appreciated!

It's actually a CRT for a Pac-Man so it will be behind tinted plexi. Unfortunately, it's visible behind the plexi at the moment, if you can believe it.

I'm actually going to try a buffing wheel on an electric drill with some Cerium Oxide.

Bought this today: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007KOC19C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'll post some before and after pics as long as you all promise not to laugh at the burn in!
 
Vacuum + glass + abrasive + vibration from drill = boom sometimes.

Well...farts! I'm just going to have to be really careful.

Here is a picture of my situation by the way:

R6QTKBiw2Fin-JVzKBSs_29mNgU9AbKYD-uScekAgqUeJxFPc


The burn left on this monitor indicates in might have been in a Zoo Keeper at one point...I think.
 
I would find a donor tube from a TV. Will be better in the long run.

I might need help finding a TV tube if this doesn't work. I remember there was some website you could plug your tube model into and it would tell you all the compatible tubes out there.

Question: If I can even find a compatible tube...how do I know what model of TV to look for, housing said tube?
 
the wankers at work built a large wooden shelf for monitors. so what did they do? they set them face down, I'm guessing under the impression it would save space (it doesn't 25+")

one of said tubes was for a Nanao 2931, otherwise known as a candy cabinet monitor. I don't even want to stand it up. they destroyed a perfectly fine K8000 tube doing this.

needless to say, I want to bludgeon people.
 
a granite supply close to you? they carry a "crazy glue" they use to glue slabs together and it has a spray catalyst for it also. put that in the scratches , hit it with the spray, run a razor blade over it , sand with 1500, then 3000 and polish with cerium or tin oxide. seriously it is so much work, your better to find a donor tube, or tint the bezel and turn the brightness up.
 
I might need help finding a TV tube if this doesn't work. I remember there was some website you could plug your tube model into and it would tell you all the compatible tubes out there.

Question: If I can even find a compatible tube...how do I know what model of TV to look for, housing said tube?


This site is a good starting point:
http://junknet.net/donor-tvs

I've found many TVs on this list and most every kind vector/raster. Also, many TVs that are not specifically on this list still will have the same tube number inside of them. Not sure what your original chassis is, but if it works with a CR-31 (thin neck tube) you probably can find a tube fairly easy - 1995 or later 19" often have these. I've found CR-23 are a bit more challenging to find, but certainly are out there.

If you look inside a TV and find the tube number, such as A48... etc you can enter it in at: http://tubular.atomized.org/ - this will tell you what type of socket it is (CR-23, CR-31 etc) if you are unable to tell and displays compatible tube info
 
This site is a good starting point:
http://junknet.net/donor-tvs

I've found many TVs on this list and most every kind vector/raster. Also, many TVs that are not specifically on this list still will have the same tube number inside of them. Not sure what your original chassis is, but if it works with a CR-31 (thin neck tube) you probably can find a tube fairly easy - 1995 or later 19" often have these. I've found CR-23 are a bit more challenging to find, but certainly are out there.

If you look inside a TV and find the tube number, such as A48... etc you can enter it in at: http://tubular.atomized.org/ - this will tell you what type of socket it is (CR-23, CR-31 etc) if you are unable to tell and displays compatible tube info

Wow! Right on man! Thanks for this info. Really helpful. I'm going take the monitor out soon and start looking up some numbers.
 
Just picked up a game with some small scratches on the bottom left..... going to have to try a few of these suggestions out.
 
I've taken out some pretty deep scratches out of a car windshield (from windshield wipers) with Cerium Oxide. It took several hours to do a line of scratches that was a couple feet long, but wasn't particularly difficult.

I'm considering trying it on my SF Rush 2049 that has some scratches on the face of the tube, but it's kinda messy, so I've been avoiding doing it. On the windshield, I used a Dremel Multi-Max with felt pad (similar to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoxdAsdH3Bc ) instead of the wheel on a drill, which is really messy. But, it's still a messy process.

DogP
 
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