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Tube❄️Time

Tektronix used to have their own CRT fabrication shop (the Engineering Tube Lab) for building prototypes for oscilloscopes under development. apparently, as a joke, they made two CRTs out of old coke bottles. named the Coketron, natch.

a long and narrow cylindrical cathode ray tube made out of a coca-cola bottle. an electron gun assembly has been attached to the mouth of the bottle.
24 comments
Byte⏩Shift

@tubetime I assume these aren't functional, because there's no anode, aquadag, shadow mask, or phosphor.

Tube❄️Time

@byteshift69 fully functional. they coated the inside at the end with phosphor (can't see it in the B&W photo) you don't need post deflection acceleration for a demo like this. shadow mask only needed for color CRTs.

Григорий Клюшников

Ones made out of green or brown beer bottles, with matching color of phosphor, would look cool af

Tube❄️Time

@North there's some discussions of the challenges at groups.io/g/TekScopes/topic/co. the seal between the coke bottle (soda glass?) and the borosilicate tube with the electron gun is...tricky.

Nick Poole

@tubetime oh, yeah, if you don't build your own electron gun. Just make it out of soda lime glass with dumet seals. I think I'll try to do a working CRT out of Boro first before I face the challenge of working soft glass, though.

Tube❄️Time

@North yeah if you're not building the electron gun it would be easiest to sacrifice one from a working tube i think

Adam Burns

@tubetime In 2018, The mayor of Weisswasser, Germany took me on a tour of the old Telux glass factory where they made light bulbs, valves, and early television tubes, which were circular like scopes, not square. This is a press used in the early TV tube manufacturing process.

Dan Price

@tubetime legit had to check if this was coming from @NanoRaptor

acb

@tubetime How long until there are people making artisanal CRTs, in the way that happens with nixie tubes?

Tube❄️Time

@acb there are a few folks already making some crude ones. it's very challenging.

DrScriptt

@tubetime @acb I was going to be mildly surprised if there weren’t people doing so already.

Bernice

@tubetime Awesome, I can't quite see but did they weld a flat screen to the bottom of the bottle, in innovation the Tektronix are famous for or even phosphor the bottom of the bottle?

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