Ah a modern city then, but alkali rain instead of acid rain!
P.S. will the hot wire (string) method work on vacuum tube glass? It is more resistant to temp. stresses than a bottle..
So if water mixes with the dust it gets dangerously alkaline, is there any way I can clean out the dust when I do break/crack a tube?
I use a lot of them in my art, and I have certainly broke several. I would always hold my breath, wrap them up in a bag and throw them away, because I had always been told they were dangerous.
In reality, I would LOVE to clean them out and use them for art.
I use a lot of them in my art, and I have certainly broke several. I would always hold my breath, wrap them up in a bag and throw them away, because I had always been told they were dangerous.
In reality, I would LOVE to clean them out and use them for art.
Barium, strontium, calcium are safe I think. The volume of getter is not enough to worry about, micrograms of alkali aren't a threat. Thoriated dust in the lungs is a potential death sentence though, any alpha-emitter lodged in tissue will be a strong cancer source due to the very intense local damage, and dust lodged in the lungs cannot be treated (yes the lungs self-clean themselves of dust, but its not a perfect mechanism).
That's a great short-list. Tube makers had many other ingredients. This book tells a lot about the technology, nothing about toxicity.
Materials Technology for Vacuum Tubes, Walter Kohl
http://www.tubebooks.org/Books/kohl_materials.pdf
I do think the dangers of tube-guts are over-stated, but I don't want anybody to get sick from our ignorance. (FWIW, I had some of the short-run Beryllium diaphragms from JBL-- while a bit of foil inside 30 pounds of steel is not much danger, the Be factory workers got sick and died so much that defense contracts were cancelled.)
Materials Technology for Vacuum Tubes, Walter Kohl
http://www.tubebooks.org/Books/kohl_materials.pdf
I do think the dangers of tube-guts are over-stated, but I don't want anybody to get sick from our ignorance. (FWIW, I had some of the short-run Beryllium diaphragms from JBL-- while a bit of foil inside 30 pounds of steel is not much danger, the Be factory workers got sick and died so much that defense contracts were cancelled.)
You can try this:
put a length of properly fitting silicon rubber tube sleeve over the tube.
Heat up to about 150 deg C and shock break in a cup with cold water.
I have not tried that with vacuum tubes but with ordinary glass tubes
it gives a clean cut.
Maybe you have to "vent" the tube first by cutting the tip off.
A grinder should do.
But if you want to be sure the tube does not shatter cut the tip off under water
in your bathtub (you need 30cm of water in every direction).
I use old household scissors for cutting thin glass plates to size this way.
The water prevents the glass to brake where you do not want it to brake.
put a length of properly fitting silicon rubber tube sleeve over the tube.
Heat up to about 150 deg C and shock break in a cup with cold water.
I have not tried that with vacuum tubes but with ordinary glass tubes
it gives a clean cut.
Maybe you have to "vent" the tube first by cutting the tip off.
A grinder should do.
But if you want to be sure the tube does not shatter cut the tip off under water
in your bathtub (you need 30cm of water in every direction).
I use old household scissors for cutting thin glass plates to size this way.
The water prevents the glass to brake where you do not want it to brake.
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