CRT mold [was: HP2648 heartbreak]

From: Scott Stevens <chenmel_at_earthlink.net>
Date: Sat Feb 12 16:16:55 2005

On Sat, 12 Feb 2005 14:00:45 -0800
"Eric F." <elf_at_ucsd.edu> wrote:

> > I know of just a few collectors who have one or two, and some
> > of them have the dreaded crt mold.
>
> This may be moot, but I don't believe that this is mold.
>
> CRT mold has been touched upon on this list many times in the past. I
> was even asking about it sometime last year, as one of my ADM-3A's has
> this unfortunate symptom.
>
> I don't believe I ever reported back on what I did, so I'll do it now.
>
> As has been mentioned in the past, this CRT so-called "mold" appears
> in between the front of the CRT glass and the back of the safety glass
> (at least I think the safety "glass" is actually made of glass.)
>
> So I opened the ADM-3A, and removed the CRT from the clamshell
> enclosure. I then removed a long strand of tape which covers the
> juncture between the two surfaces (which is applied around the edge of
> the CRT). Then, I (if you can imagine this) jammed a flat-head
> screwdriver in between the two surfaces (there is some thick adhesive
> which binds the two together). I know... I know... not the smartest,
> safest act in the world. But the CRT was already toast, and I didn't
> care much about ruining it further. (I've heard about methods to
> gently remove the adhesive, but they all required the use of some
> serious solvents, of which I have no place to appropriately utilize
> them where I live (read: condo).)
>
> Anyway, after I forcefully jammed the adhesive in a few places with a
> screwdriver (with safety glasses on), I noticed the resulting patterns
>
> looked _exactly_ like the existing so-called mold spots.
>
> So, my conclusion is that these perceived mold spots are just actually
> just places where the adhesive has started to pop loose. For what
> reason this happens, don't know.
>
> I do recall there was discussion in the past on this list that it
> wasn't, in fact, mold, but just the adhesive, as I pointed out. But I
> wanted to share this real life experiment in hopes we can narrow down
> what really is going on with this beast that plagues some CRTs.
>

CRT tubes really aren't always as 'dangerous' as people make them out to
being. Years ago when I was in tech school, and buying TV sets from
thrift stores to practice troubleshooting on, I regularly had TV CRT
tubes to dispose of.

You can usually bounce a pretty heavy ball-peen hammer HARD off the face
of a modern CRT tube. (wear eye protection, do-not-do-this-yourself
disclaimer applies)

The tubes are made of safety glass, in any case. One night in drunken
student reverie, someone I know lobbed one of my dead sets (a big 25"
color set) off a third floor balcony onto the yard below. The next
morning, I retrieved and disposed of the chassis. The glass had
disappeared, reduced to crumbles and sunk into the grass.

The really OLD CRTs are much more fragile, i.e. the early 60's sets
which had a pane of heavy glass in front of the tube as part of the
cabinet.
Received on Sat Feb 12 2005 - 16:16:55 GMT