Storing TV tubes?

gameguy1957

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I've found a virtually unlimited supply of 80's era TV's and have been told I can have as many as I want. Even better, I can pilfer through them in the warehouse and just pull the ones with tubes that I can use.

Problem is storing them. I'd prefer to keep them in the original TV case, but The TV's are too large and not square enough to stack.

Any good way to store just the tubes in a more compact manner? I can probably get boxes large enough for them and packing materials to fit, but would like to get them as compact as possible.

Any better ideas than a large square box full of styrofoam peanuts to hold them?

- JM
 
i would leave them in their TV housings this will help prevent neck breakag

then i would pack them in boxes so stacking would be an easy way to keep them around.

just remember they can be heavy and i would not stack any more than three high without reinforcing the boxes.

take the chassis out to make them lighter save the neck boards for adapters.

and if you have abunch to pick from be sure to keep an eye out for possible color vecrtor tube swap canidates.

Peace
buffett
 
Stacking bare tubes is 10X harder than stacking TVs.

Also- go ahead and keep the chassis and yoke with the TV/tube.

I've seen a decent writeup by some guy that experimented with getting some good-looking output by plugging straight RGB into a TV chassis.

How about that? You might have a direct replacement chassis/tube/yoke/everything there instead of Frankensteining a tube into a 30y old chassis.
 
Space wise the best is to remove the tube and store in a cardboard box, but I wouldn't use 'peanuts'. You need to make and install proper protection for the neck since you plan on stacking (peanuts provide no support). You also should get heavy duty boxes as well. Ideally an box that was built to ship tubes would be best. If you want, send me a pm message and I can take some pictures of an actual CRT shipping box with it's neck protection.

That being said the next best idea is to just leave them in their cases (you can remove everything else to help with the weight) with the backs on. Or if it is a odd size case, you can transfer the tube to a smaller better case.
 
I guess I'm going to wait and see how many I get out of it. There's about 30 palletts stacked 5ft high and many of the TV's are wood-grained sided, but no guarantee of them having compatible tubes.

I pulled two off of the top of the neares pallett yesterday. One had a usable tube for a 4600, but the other one was not compatible with anything I've ever seen.

Hopefully there will be a ton of them that will work with 4600's, 4900's and G07's. If so, I'll give away anything I can't store.


- JM
 
Burn free 19's? Store some at my house. =)

I've already got a stack of TV's with a tube that matches the WG K7000 series, but only one game that has that tube in it.

If you pass by this way I can give you several of them.

Same on these others. I want a few of each for myself, but will get as many as I can from the batch just to keep them from being crushed or ground up.

If I find some 19" or 23" b&w, burn free tubes then I'm going to be a very happy person.

- JM
 
Agreed - keep them in their cases. But, as you go through each one, get some masking tape, crack the case open, and write the tube number/B & K adapter/yoke reading on each. It may take a while, initially, but in the long run you'll save time, so you can grab and go when you need a particular one.
 
Agreed - keep them in their cases. But, as you go through each one, get some masking tape, crack the case open, and write the tube number/B & K adapter/yoke reading on each. It may take a while, initially, but in the long run you'll save time, so you can grab and go when you need a particular one.

Exactly what I do. May I also suggest, while its open, that you eyeball the hot, voltage regulator, and any ICs. I have several TV's that have parts common to arcades. Note that on the case as well. Keep Bob's parts page up for quick reference.
As to stacking. Get creative. I have some 25" consoles upside down on top of others to store 2 in the footprint of one. The tube does not care if its upside down or sideways. Play TV tertis with them to maximize space.
 
Exactly what I do. May I also suggest, while its open, that you eyeball the hot, voltage regulator, and any ICs. I have several TV's that have parts common to arcades. Note that on the case as well. Keep Bob's parts page up for quick reference.
As to stacking. Get creative. I have some 25" consoles upside down on top of others to store 2 in the footprint of one. The tube does not care if its upside down or sideways. Play TV tertis with them to maximize space.

Just don't rub the tubes against one another - they WILL scratch!
 
Agreed - keep them in their cases. But, as you go through each one, get some masking tape, crack the case open, and write the tube number/B & K adapter/yoke reading on each. It may take a while, initially, but in the long run you'll save time, so you can grab and go when you need a particular one.

+1. I also hook up my rejuver and test/clean the guns while its open and the write the readings down. That way I can get rid of bad tubes rather than storing them. If I need a tube, then I can have my pick of the good/better/best one.
 
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