CRT implosions

[Scott Stevens]

On Tue, 4 Oct 2005 23:00:29 +0000
jpero at sympatico.ca wrote:

> 
> > On Tue, 4 Oct 2005, J.C. Wren wrote:
> > 
> > > Some useful information here:
> > > http://repairfaq.ece.drexel.edu/sam/crtfaq.htm#crtcir
> > 
> 
> > I work with CRTs all day on some days (unfortunately) and once in a
> > while a monitor or TV will fall off the pallet I'm stacking, from
> > heights of anywhere from a couple feet to 6-7 feet.  In most cases,
> > the case gets cracked up pretty bad but the CRT remains intact.  If
> > anything does break, it's usually the neck or stem, and you can hear
> > the hiss of the air rushing into the back of the tube: nothing to
> > worry about there.  On rare occasions, the TV or monitor falls flat
> > on its face, and that usually
> 
> > Basically, I'm generally in awe of the durability of CRTs.  I've
> > dropped bare CRTs before and they tend to just bounce.  I've dropped
> > monitors that then continue to work just fine.
> > Sellam Ismail                                        Vintage
> > Computer Festival
> 
> My coworker was taking something from shelf and unfortunely he 
> snagged a line cord belonging to the 13" tv sitting on top shelf 9 
> feet up and yanked it down I was only 10 feet away.  That tv hit the 
> cement floor dead center on it's face with a glassine shrill "BOOM!"
> 
> Opened it up, yoke & neck went through inside the CRT leaving huge 
> jagged hole where flare used to be and only mark on face is scratch 
> marks.
> 
> I will not forget that sound.  "BOOM!" of air imploding in a instant.
> 
> When I am disposing junk CRTs,
> Yes, I have heard the "whish!" if neck accidently shattered or the 
> long fading sigh of  "whoooosh" or a quick whoosh  if the little pip 
> broken or a long, long hiss if someone cracked the pip partially.
> 
> I heard of CRT "explode" but my days was before the time when CRT was 
> just that, big glass bottles without implosion protection.
> 
> Over the years, I have heard of stories of TVs falling.  Some made it 
> through, most didn't make it either CRT shadow mask wrecked or 
> circuit board in pieces or CRT cracked.  Only one that stuck was a 
> older philips TV had chassis completely popped out of it's rails and 
> board is completely intact but CRT mask wasn't.  Rails is very 
> strong and deep yet board escaped.  Wow.
> Plastic didn't make it very often.  BTW, don't drop a Sanyo TV.   :)
> Their plastic is complete cr*p, simply shattered into pieces 
> like a lead glass.  I even smashed through Sanyo TV cabinet plastic 
> when hitting it trying to get it to act up with a flat slap.   :(
> 
> Cheers, Wizard

Safe disposal practice (if you don't think a dumpster diver is coming
along afterwards, in which case you're ruining the kit for him) is to
evacuate the CRT before pitching it by breaking off the little nipple on
the neck and evacuating the tube.  You get a whooshing sound as the air
pulls in.

But back when I was in tech school and practicing troubleshooting by
buying and fixing thrift-store TV sets to give away to friends, my
experience was that it's HARD to break the CRT on a TV set.  I remember
bouncing a 9" portable set face down off the blacktop and bouncing a
hammer off the face.  (it's easy when you're in your early 20's to think
you are indestructable and try stuff like that all the time)  The glass
is REALLY thick on the face of any modern (later than early 60's) TV
set.