• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

Tube as a desk lamp

Status
Not open for further replies.
Jump to Latest
#5
How about one of these - a pre WW2 Brit Silica Valve (triode)
 

Attachments

  • silicavalve.jpg
    silicavalve.jpg
    40.8 KB · Views: 596
#8
Hara said:
I don't know any tube suggestions but I think it'd be best if you picked a large and cheap one. Since an incandescent lightbulb is basically a tube, you can mod the tube by putting in your own filament, fill it with an inert gas like helium, seal it to your liking, and walah! your own custom tube lamp.

Check this out for info
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/how20/58daceed683e7010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
Click to expand...

Here's another way to do that. Every bit as easy, and uses hydrogen instead of helium. Actually gave this one a go, and it works great. :yes:

Clicky
 
#10
i really don't care about practicallity. i really don't care if the tube is bad... just that the filament is ok.

i could even parallel some tubes i guess.

i am just looking for something that looks unusual.

thanks for input so far though!
 
#12
Hi,

I'would suggest 833A.
Or the GU81. This tube is extremely cheap here, a non-used, NOS GU81M/GU80/5S045T costs about 15USD. But an original socket is about 80USD...
833 is to good and expensive for this purpouse I think.

Regards,
 
#14
tube as a desk lamp

Rather than using a tube for illumination...use it as a base for illumination. Here's a technique i used to make a lamp base out of an 833 (the best candidate for this project):
First, find a dud 833. Check with older 500W or 1KW AM stations...lots of them used Gates transmitters with 2 833s in the modulator deck and 2 in the RF deck. Examine the tube carefully...note if the plate has a strap bonded to a cylinder extending from the plate cap into the envelope. (most do) Then, wearing plain cotton work gloves (so you can wring them out afterwards) and safety goggles, immerse the tube in a 5 gallon bucket of water. Taking a sidecutters, snip off the evacuation nipple at the bottom (between the filament pins). Had you done this in the open air, the rapid loss of vacuum would have least cracked the tube, if not imploding it. The rapid inrush of water through the little hole slows this process considerably. Great...now you have a tube full of water! What next? Drill about an 1/8" hole in the top of the plate cap, and the water will drain out! Then, chuck a small diamond bit in your Dremel andcarefully enlarge the hole where the nipple once was to about 1/4" or so, smoothing out any rough edges, etc. in the process.
Using about an 11/32" drill, enlarge the hole in the plate cap enough to allow you to force-thread a common lamp nipple (brass tube...all threads) into the plate cap. A 1 1/2" nipple should work OK. Now, the part that requires patience and plenty of @#$%&^!...take about 18-20" of #14 solid copper and work it through the plate cap and down through the tube and out through the hole in the bottom. Use clear lamp cord for effect...strip both conductors about 1/8" and solder to the #14 and pull the lamp cord through the tube and out the plate cap. The rest is EZ...fabricate a wooden base, drill hles slightly smaller than the filament pins (for a press-fit), then attach the socket of you choice, insert bulb, add shade...and volia! 833 desk lamp!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom