TVs used to be round, and the GE M935AWL is a great example of that. [bandersentv] found one of these ancient sets, but found it had a “cataract”—a large ugly discoloration on the tube. He set about repairing the tube and the set, restoring this grand old piece back to working order.
The video begins with the removal of the round CRT tube. Once it’s extracted from the set, it’s placed in a round garbage can which serves as a handy work stand for the unique device. It’s all delicate work as it’s very easy to damage a picture tube, particularly an old one. Removing the discoloration is quite a job—the problem is caused by adhesive holding the front layer safety glass on, which has going bad over the years. It requires lots of heat to remove. In doing this repair, [bandersentv] notes he’s also giving up the safety of the original extra glass layer on the front of the tube. Worth noting if you’re worried about a given tube’s integrity.
Of course, cleaning the tube is just part of the job. [bandersentv] then gave us a second video in which he returns the tube to its original home and gets the TV back up and running. The quality is surprisingly good given what poor shape the tube was in to begin with.
It’s funny, because modern TV repair is altogether a rather different affair.
I feel like I read this same post here a month ago. love seeing these old CRT repair vids.
Same topic, different person! https://hackaday.com/2024/09/29/curing-crt-cataracts-freshens-up-retro-roundy-tvs/
Same feeling, different person
Cool! Thank you.
Instead of leaving the viewers unprotected from implosion, place a sheet of Lexan or plexiglass in front of the set.
Another YouTuber does similar, but tries to preserve the original safety glass. He removes the adhesive and re-attaches the safety glass with double-sided 3M [?] foam tape around the edge to keep dust out. Not sure if it’s as effective as being directly glued to the CRT glass, but it’s something.
Too many people are afraid of CRTs imploding on them, this is almost always fairly harmless… This is one style of tube where it is not, especially if you take off the safety glass. But I like it, it’s a very pretty tube
I wonder what the adhesive was as there would have to be a way to get bubbles out. Did they vacuum the whole tube and face plate? Can the face plate be cleaned and epoxied back on? Bubbles. Is the dome face under more stress without the composite face glass? Clean and glue on at the rim the original glass is an option.