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EI yugoslavia gone forever.

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Jazid

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Joined 2009
A bit of further hearsay info on an old thread. What I heard from someone who worked and traded with them throughout their operating period was that the workers were not paid by either the new owners or more likely the company that sold the plant and the outstanding salaries and ownership rights were fought for in the courts. As I understood it the owners won their claim to the material assets of the company which they could have removed and sold/used elsewhere, but the workers won a claim to the property rights which had not been sold. This meant that the owning company had no right of access across the property to extract the equipment whilst the workers (who had not still been paid) had no right to remove the equipment. This stalemate dragged into the start of the war, and thus continued through it. The equipment is reputedly still in there but obviously a 'clean' production line no more, and so the factory is now effectively beyond reinstatement. A sad story indeed. The EL84 are supposedly very good indeed
 
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nzoomed

Member
Joined 2015
Jazid said:
A bit of further hearsay info on an old thread. What I heard from someone who worked and traded with them throughout their operating period was that the workers were not paid by either the new owners or more likely the company that sold the plant and the outstanding salaries and ownership rights were fought for in the courts. As I understood it the owners won their claim to the material assets of the company which they could have removed and sold/used elsewhere, but the workers won a claim to the property rights which had not been sold. This meant that the owning company had no right of access across the property to extract the equipment whilst the workers (who had not still been paid) had no right to remove the equipment. This stalemate dragged into the start of the war, and thus continued through it. The equipment is reputedly still in there but obviously a 'clean' production line no more, and so the factory is now effectively beyond reinstatement. A sad story indeed. The EL84 are supposedly very good indeed
Click to expand...

Ive just stumbled across this thread and im keen to know more, there was a website (eitubes.com i think) that was running since 2007 but has since shut down sometime around 2012 that claimed that "production would be starting, watch this space" etc.
But anyway this could be still good news if all the machinery exists, the question is who owns it?
The company Ei does still exist, and i expect that the machinery is sitting redundant in their factory.
They appear to have two websites running, they are EI Elektronska industrija - O nama and Who we are

I also believe that the factory used machinery from Philips/Mullard, not just telefunken. Even their boxes had the same printing as the early philips tubes.

Anyway, if the machinery exists and there is people there who can run it, im wondering if crowdfunding would be a possible solution to pay whatever and whoever needs the funds to unlock this equipment.

IDK if Mike Matthews would be interested in looking into this, but he probably knows more than anyone else on the matter, but im sure he does not want to see any more tube factories shut down and we really need more plants. I know he is worried if the reflector plant ever shut down.

If something could be done just like how film ferrania ( FILM Ferrania )has saved the old film ferrania factory in Italy to produce colour film, i dont know why the same could not be done, as this appears to be in the same situation. But really we need some local contacts over there who are interested in starting production, and really this comes down to people who used to work there, so i would be interested in contacting anyone who may have worked at the plant, as this is our best bet. Im sure crowdfunding would be extremley successful, i think alot of money would easily be raised for such a venture.
 
Yugo

Yugo

Member
Joined 2004
N

nzoomed

Member
Joined 2015
Yugo said:
All the machinery,tooling an the whole factory went on the first junkyard in 2012!!!! And a 3-4 hundreds of workers left unemployed !!!
R.I.P. Ei Nis - Yugoslavia factory !!!! Charles Whitener(manager of Western Electric co.) came couple of times in Nis for a negotiation with the workers who own the biggest part of the factory.

Regards,
Yugovitz

Ei Ni? - vesti i dogadjaji - Page 6 - Audiohard

Ei Ni? - vesti i dogadjaji - Page 5 - Audiohard

Ei Ni? - vesti i dogadjaji - Audiohard
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This is sad, i cant believe no other companies such as new sensor or some of the other competitors making valves wouldnt have been interested in this!

Ei tubes were the only modern tubes that had the same identical construction as that of the old vintage tubes because they were using the same tooling etc.
I wonder if any of it remains in japan from the toshiba or panasonic plants?
 
N

nzoomed

Member
Joined 2015
Ive been in regular contact with the GBVP and they have just old me that more machinery has come to light out of Serbia.

I take it that this must be more than likely from the Ei plant?
I did give them the contact details for Ei some time back, so perhaps not all was scrapped?
 
A

Aries1470

Member
Joined 2005
nzoomed said:
Ive been in regular contact with the GBVP and they have just old me that more machinery has come to light out of Serbia.

I take it that this must be more than likely from the Ei plant?
I did give them the contact details for Ei some time back, so perhaps not all was scrapped?
Click to expand...

Is there anymore updates on this news? Really interested to know.
What type of machinery?

Thanks.
 
smoking-amp

smoking-amp

Member
Joined 2001
Don't know anything about the EI factory, but there is/was a tube factory for sale right here in our own backyard (California):

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/205380-vacuum-tube-factory-sale.html

http://www.kenrockwell.com/Images/audio/2012/tube-factory.pdf

Looks like some GE equipment for making Compactron tubes. If one could make 6LX6 tubes, could just forget about making "audio" tubes altogether. (using Crazy/Twin drive, goodbye UL) (or make a super 6LX6 power triode by putting a new plate design in place of grid 2. )

----

Looking at the situation in a more modern light, one really just needs a 3D metal printer to make grid winding forms, and a cheap Ebay sourced metal lathe with a fine thread winding feed box. (change some gears for ultra fine feed for frame grids) (eventually one could make a custom PC automated grid winder using stepper motors/gears, PC etc. for fast production.) Vacuum equipment available on Ebay now is superb compared to the old stuff. No need to buy old headaches. The old automated glass working and sealing equipment would be quite useful still, this should be preserved.

A modern E&M finite element program (free from Field Precision) could get one on the way to designing superb grid and plate designs. (grid surfaces placed on Laplacian equipotential surfaces between cathode and plate for constant Mu to 1st approx.) Solved grid shapes exported directly to the 3D printer for the grid-winder form making.

..
 

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N

nzoomed

Member
Joined 2015
electrix said:
Refreshing this old thread. I found some more information what happen to the EI factory.
Unbenanntes Dokument
Click to expand...

Im pretty sure that alot of this ended up at the GBVP, as their equipment was ex-philips and was from the same part of the world.
I also was in touch with them regarding some more equipment i had located that was potentially available, and im sure this was from EI.
Im sure some stuff got scrapped, but im sure some has been saved.
 
N

nzoomed

Member
Joined 2015
electrix said:
Indeed! Good to know it didn't go to the junker.
Click to expand...

Yes I agree, I hope I hear back from Bob soon to verify the source of the machines.
I will be very happy if its from Ei.

Dont know the truth about any of the stuff Ei used was from Telefunken, everything i can find seems that their machinery was from Philips, even their boxes look identical to philips. I think some sort of partnership was going on with them at the time.
Anyway, i know their ECC83 did look like a telefunken smooth plate, so perhaps its possible they did have some telefunken tooling also.

its hard to find any contact with any sources from employees from the company, would be good if we can find more contacts from that country who could help, but good news if some of their equipment has been saved.
Just hope we have decent quality control from the new Brimar factory, having the right tooling is one thing, but even better is the right skills and knowledge which is sadly lacking these days.
 
D

dewy1

Member
Joined 2016
Dont know the truth about any of the stuff Ei used was from Telefunken, everything i can find seems that their machinery was from Philips, even their boxes look identical to philips. I think some sort of partnership was going on with them at the time.
Anyway, i know their ECC83 did look like a telefunken smooth plate, so perhaps its possible they did have some telefunken tooling also.


here is some info about:
Who we are
 
J

Jazid

Member
Joined 2009
Interesting. I have a late 1980s/ early 90s tube made with classic four seam Philips glass, Telefunken-like smooth plate innards, the standard Philips factory etched code indicating 'foreign' provenance as I have seen on every EI tube I own, ie (what I call) a target symbol, and on the bottom glass disc a Telefunken diamond. This tube was bought new from a VERY reputable international seller in the late 90s before the fashion for fakes arrived.

I interpret this as a tube with Tfk metallurgy pre-mounted, contracted out to EI for production. Who else could deliver the quality, consistency and volume in Europe at that time?
I have (distant) family relatives in Nis, I will ask them for input as it is interesting history.
 
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