Awesome workmanship ! Thanks a lot for taking us through this build with your elaborate commentary ! Neat trick there to improvise your own little sheet metal press and die !
Pure genius,do you thee same exact material as the original tube,there can't be more than a couple people in the country that can do what do..I bet you are the onmly one with your skill.,please keep making videos
A lot of these odd tubes were created for a couple of reasons. 1 - To get around patent issues and 2 - "Snake Oil. This tube will cure all your ills. There is a great book on early tubes "The Saga of the Vacuum Tube" by Gerald F. J. Tyne that fills in a lot of the gaps with these early tubes. Always enjoy your videos.
I'm electronic technician in the Philippines working here in Saudi..I'm your number fans all your video I'm always watch because very helpful to me I wish I will meet you someday
Absolutely fascinating to watch. I am very grateful that you took the trouble to video and share your wonderful work with us. Many thanks indeed, very enjoyable.
I just love watching this! You are a magician with the glass and plates! Can we see the radio and maybe hear the sound of the new tubes? Please keep posting your videos, Ron!!
Been waiting a while for another of your videos . . . Takes me back to around 1957 when I was an apprentice with Ediswans - who made light bulbs and radio valves. My designated target was to be a valve engineer, and I spent time in the various departments involved with making and testing valves and TV tubes. When I think of the tests I ran on triode/pentodes, to see if they conformed to the characteristics they were supposed to have, it seems incredible that in the early days the valve components were made in the way you showed here - by eye - and without the aid of micrometers, but they still did the job! Your skill levels are exceptional - making the difficult look easy, and the impossible a piece of cake! Thanks so much - but I missed the pink nail varnish!
How can you make a vacuum tube for high frequency applications like a radio by eyeballing the dimensions? I would think the creases in the imperfectly swaged piece would produce stray capacitance. I wish he would have tested it and shown it working in-circuit in the video. Not that I'm really doubting him, he obviously knows what he's doing.
You are a very, very rare professional and your videos are incredible. Thanks for the hours I've spent watching them, and the many hours I have yet to enjoy.
Your physical skill and analytic ability with both the glass and electronic aspects of your work is amazing. Plus the play by play as you do the work adds to the instructional quality as well. Captivating, as others have noted. Always glad to see your work. 😀
I recently had to get rid of a very collectible TV because of a burned out CRT. Unfortunately CRT rebuilding takes HUGE equipment that I have no room for in my shop.
Glad to see a new post. I think you are one of the most fascinating RU-vid posters out their because you do such unique work. By making the videos you pass your skills and knowledge not only us today, but your contributions and skill will live forever on RU-vid. Just amazing to watch you work and you make it all look so easy when I know it comes from years of hard work. Thanks.
You are the so amazing......I work with my hands everyday and you are a true treasure. I hope this art is not lost. I would love to spend a few days with you...hint hint... Thank you so very much. U-ROCK OUT.........
You are an amazing artist, scientist and engineer. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with those of us who only wish we could do such complicated work as this!
OMG. I was already mourning your demise :) I have zero interest in the making of vacuum tubes but I find you the most capable of teachers on the subject. Thanks to you I know how they work and why and if needed I could survive without transistors. Thank you! :)
I didn't see or hear a single blooper! I hope you don't cut those out as they make up part of my favorite watching. Yes, I look forward to watching every video you make. Keep making videos. I love them. Amazing how much of a variety of knowledge you have. Keep the videos coming!
I LOVE This! This is a true Art Form! You have talent indeed! I Think that 1900`s to 1920`s Tubes are AWESOME! They made simple things work Beautifully! And the Beautiful if not Very Interesting!
You have many talents, electronic wizard, machine shop skills (steel/wood) and the skill to do it all like a pro. Great job and a pleasure to watch, keep the videos coming.
Absolutely beautiful, as always. You are very skilled and patient, this takes a lot of time doing meticulous operations. A video showing tubes working in a set would be awesome
Very educational video, really makes understanding the vacuum tube much easier for we old farts who used to be tube jockeys. In the 70's I was the go to guy in our small town when the TV went wonky and you didn't want to pay the expensive service calls. I had a quite a collection of old tubes I pulled from sets in the dump grounds and kept in egg cartons. When one of our relatives sets went, they called and I would come over with the most common tubes in my bicycle basket and replace the bad tube. Worked great for a long time, the same when I got in the Army, then the damn officers thought anyone in communications should be able to fix their TV sets for the cost of the tubes. At least then we were in big enough cities so you could go to the local drug store and use their tube tester to rebuild the tube sets.
Great to have you back Ron. Your artistry is amazing. Please keep the videos coming. It is nice to see the different geometries of these valves from the inside out. Thank you very much.
these vids of yours never cease to fascinate me. i am a confirmed tube junkie.my audio reproduction equipment will confirm this ;-> it's wonderful that skills like yours exist and i sincerely hope you will continue to pass them on to others with a similar appreciation for both the use of these devices and the processes involved in their production. in hopes all is well in life and thank you for your efforts.... =dok=
Wow ! Great job. I'm so glad to see you again. I have never met you but I think of you as a friend; welcome back. Now enough of that, lol. Hope to see the tube in action. Leo
Wow -- that is some rare and awesome skill! I'd only read about how vacuum tubes were built, and have seen a video of a 1940s production machine, so seeing it done step by step, by hand, is amazing. I wonder how the tubes tested after you were done?
My 40-year engineering career was all post-vacuum tube, so I don't know a lot of detail about the construction (or use) of tubes, beyond what my hobbies provided. But I know enough that hand-building one (never mind several) is a major accomplishment. Glass work alone is a significant skill, not speedily acquired. Bravo.
The fellow that has the radio is working on restoring it. I will ask if he will put it on youtube working when he gets it finished! I want to see it too!
Your glass work is inspirational. This Cossor tube was particularly neat and tidy. Can you please do a session in which you tell us WHERE you get the special materials such as filament wire, the tiny nickle ferrules you use to ensure welding, the dead-soft nickle wire and so forth. I will have to import these materials from the US, I suspect. Inspirational. Special. Mind-blowing. Please keep up the good work!
Thanks RobTapps88. Yes, I have found a bunch of good stuff on ebay. Look for nickel? 600,000 hits. Most are for nickel coins! fasttech is an eyeopener, especially with what kanthal is mostly used for LOL :-) But lots of nickel and nichrome wires, too in all sorts of gages.
Ron the glassmeister, totally amazing! Sure missed your talents, thank you for sharing and teaching. I will have my grandsons watch and sub. I also shared on facebook. I feel more dissbled, but really appreciate your skills. Now when I buy a vacuum tube, I will understand the cost of high grade tubes like the el34 and kt88, if under 50$, a bargain! Don
