Need help finding a replacement CRT for a Hitachi scope.

[gkmaia]

When I turn the CRT around I can hear a kind of a bouncing spring sound. And there are a couple of small shattered pieces of glass bouncing inside it.

I've sent a question to sphere a couple days ago, still waiting.

The anode takes 10kv and I have attached the socket configuration.

[james_s]

That definitely sounds ominous and suggests a mechanical fault inside the CRT. It's very likely that one of the glass support structures has broken and something is bent out of alignment, probably one of the deflection plates.

[gkmaia]

should I crack it open so we can see?

[drussell]

haha...  Yeah, sounds like there is something broken in the gun-plate support structure...

I still can't fathom quite how something would have possibly managed to break in such a way as to make it bend on the lower part and produce that wacky output you're seeing, though...  Very, very strange...

I suppose it's probably already completely toast anyway, but generally if there is something loose and rattling around in a CRT, do NOT wiggle and flop it around with the screen pointed downwards even to 45° like was suggested above!!  If there is anything loose in the envelope and it even briefly strikes the phosphor coating, for sure you have instantly ruined the tube!!

There is a reason that tubes used to be shipped in cartons with the neck DOWN and arrows on the outside of the carton saying This Way Up

I suppose that was all well before the modern shipper method of "oh, gee it says fragile on it, maybe we should kick it around some" 

[gkmaia]

It was packed with expanding foam 15cm thick. Costed me $250 to ship the thing.

So... imagine how much they had to kick and drop it around to manage to brake it...

[TERRA Operative]

It was packed with expanding foam 15cm thick. Costed me $250 to ship the thing.

So... imagine how much they had to kick and drop it around to manage to brake it...

  What about insurance for that shipping cost? Did you get any insurance payout?

[james_s]

haha...  Yeah, sounds like there is something broken in the gun-plate support structure...

I still can't fathom quite how something would have possibly managed to break in such a way as to make it bend on the lower part and produce that wacky output you're seeing, though...  Very, very strange...

I suppose it's probably already completely toast anyway, but generally if there is something loose and rattling around in a CRT, do NOT wiggle and flop it around with the screen pointed downwards even to 45° like was suggested above!!  If there is anything loose in the envelope and it even briefly strikes the phosphor coating, for sure you have instantly ruined the tube!!

There is a reason that tubes used to be shipped in cartons with the neck DOWN and arrows on the outside of the carton saying This Way Up

I suppose that was all well before the modern shipper method of "oh, gee it says fragile on it, maybe we should kick it around some" 

I've seen an xray of one of those Tek handheld CRT scopes that had a bent deflection plate, physics can act in strange ways if something is dropped in just the right way.

I would definitely try to get the shipping company to pay for the damage, usually the sender has to file the claim. My anecdotal observation has been that boxes marked "Fragile" arrive considerably more beat up than those which are unmarked. Thus I never put any kind of marking on a box to indicate that it is fragile.

[gkmaia]

Yes the seller is keen to refund part os it as I said I wanted to keep it.

I managed to find the GW instek 6103 uses the same CRT and there are heaps of cheap ones on ebay. Already got one parting out.

What is the best way to ask the seller to pack it? Expanding foam? Bubble wrap? Foam pods?

Im a bit skeptical about expanding foam as it is too rigid and does not allow the object to bounce inside a bit. I would say bubble wrap surrounded with foam pods.

[james_s]

I've shipped a few electrostatic CRTs without issues. I wrapped it in a couple inches of bubble wrap, taped that securely, and then wrapped that in soft foam and taped then stuck it in a sturdy box. In another case after wrapping in thick bubble wrap I put it in a box, and then I put that inside a larger box packed with foam peanuts. You want to make sure the tube is secure enough that it can't bounce around and bang into any side of the box but packed in something that has enough give that it doesn't transmit impacts into the tube. It takes some basic physics understanding.

[TERRA Operative]

I suggest shipping it like they used to ship mercury arc rectifiers.

A wooden box with the part suspended with straps and springs for shock absorption. 

[naikm]

Hi,
I have a Hitachi Oscilloscope VC6025 with a defective flyback Xfmer. If you still need a CRT or other parts, please let me know.

Thanks.