Absolutely fascinating to watch. I am very grateful that you took the trouble to video and share your wonderful work with us. Many thanks indeed, very enjoyable.
Awesome workmanship ! Thanks a lot for taking us through this build with your elaborate commentary ! Neat trick there to improvise your own little sheet metal press and die !
A lot of these odd tubes were created for a couple of reasons. 1 - To get around patent issues and 2 - "Snake Oil. This tube will cure all your ills. There is a great book on early tubes "The Saga of the Vacuum Tube" by Gerald F. J. Tyne that fills in a lot of the gaps with these early tubes. Always enjoy your videos.
You are an amazing artist, scientist and engineer. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with those of us who only wish we could do such complicated work as this!
Pure genius,do you thee same exact material as the original tube,there can't be more than a couple people in the country that can do what do..I bet you are the onmly one with your skill.,please keep making videos
Your physical skill and analytic ability with both the glass and electronic aspects of your work is amazing. Plus the play by play as you do the work adds to the instructional quality as well. Captivating, as others have noted. Always glad to see your work. 😀
You are a very, very rare professional and your videos are incredible. Thanks for the hours I've spent watching them, and the many hours I have yet to enjoy.
I just love watching this! You are a magician with the glass and plates! Can we see the radio and maybe hear the sound of the new tubes? Please keep posting your videos, Ron!!
Glad to see a new post. I think you are one of the most fascinating TH-cam posters out their because you do such unique work. By making the videos you pass your skills and knowledge not only us today, but your contributions and skill will live forever on TH-cam. Just amazing to watch you work and you make it all look so easy when I know it comes from years of hard work. Thanks.
I'm electronic technician in the Philippines working here in Saudi..I'm your number fans all your video I'm always watch because very helpful to me I wish I will meet you someday
Been waiting a while for another of your videos . . . Takes me back to around 1957 when I was an apprentice with Ediswans - who made light bulbs and radio valves. My designated target was to be a valve engineer, and I spent time in the various departments involved with making and testing valves and TV tubes. When I think of the tests I ran on triode/pentodes, to see if they conformed to the characteristics they were supposed to have, it seems incredible that in the early days the valve components were made in the way you showed here - by eye - and without the aid of micrometers, but they still did the job! Your skill levels are exceptional - making the difficult look easy, and the impossible a piece of cake! Thanks so much - but I missed the pink nail varnish!
How can you make a vacuum tube for high frequency applications like a radio by eyeballing the dimensions? I would think the creases in the imperfectly swaged piece would produce stray capacitance. I wish he would have tested it and shown it working in-circuit in the video. Not that I'm really doubting him, he obviously knows what he's doing.
Very educational video, really makes understanding the vacuum tube much easier for we old farts who used to be tube jockeys. In the 70's I was the go to guy in our small town when the TV went wonky and you didn't want to pay the expensive service calls. I had a quite a collection of old tubes I pulled from sets in the dump grounds and kept in egg cartons. When one of our relatives sets went, they called and I would come over with the most common tubes in my bicycle basket and replace the bad tube. Worked great for a long time, the same when I got in the Army, then the damn officers thought anyone in communications should be able to fix their TV sets for the cost of the tubes. At least then we were in big enough cities so you could go to the local drug store and use their tube tester to rebuild the tube sets.
Great to have you back Ron. Your artistry is amazing. Please keep the videos coming. It is nice to see the different geometries of these valves from the inside out. Thank you very much.
You are the so amazing......I work with my hands everyday and you are a true treasure. I hope this art is not lost. I would love to spend a few days with you...hint hint... Thank you so very much. U-ROCK OUT.........
You have many talents, electronic wizard, machine shop skills (steel/wood) and the skill to do it all like a pro. Great job and a pleasure to watch, keep the videos coming.
Absolutely beautiful, as always. You are very skilled and patient, this takes a lot of time doing meticulous operations. A video showing tubes working in a set would be awesome
I LOVE This! This is a true Art Form! You have talent indeed! I Think that 1900`s to 1920`s Tubes are AWESOME! They made simple things work Beautifully! And the Beautiful if not Very Interesting!
I didn't see or hear a single blooper! I hope you don't cut those out as they make up part of my favorite watching. Yes, I look forward to watching every video you make. Keep making videos. I love them. Amazing how much of a variety of knowledge you have. Keep the videos coming!
Wow ! Great job. I'm so glad to see you again. I have never met you but I think of you as a friend; welcome back. Now enough of that, lol. Hope to see the tube in action. Leo
OMG. I was already mourning your demise :) I have zero interest in the making of vacuum tubes but I find you the most capable of teachers on the subject. Thanks to you I know how they work and why and if needed I could survive without transistors. Thank you! :)
I recently had to get rid of a very collectible TV because of a burned out CRT. Unfortunately CRT rebuilding takes HUGE equipment that I have no room for in my shop.
I have a question about the getter. Why would you flash it while it's still on the pump? I assumed that the getter would be used to get the last little bit of gas that the vacuum pump wasn't able to get? I'm sure I'm wrong, but I'd love to know why :)
Ron the glassmeister, totally amazing! Sure missed your talents, thank you for sharing and teaching. I will have my grandsons watch and sub. I also shared on facebook. I feel more dissbled, but really appreciate your skills. Now when I buy a vacuum tube, I will understand the cost of high grade tubes like the el34 and kt88, if under 50$, a bargain! Don
these vids of yours never cease to fascinate me. i am a confirmed tube junkie.my audio reproduction equipment will confirm this ;-> it's wonderful that skills like yours exist and i sincerely hope you will continue to pass them on to others with a similar appreciation for both the use of these devices and the processes involved in their production. in hopes all is well in life and thank you for your efforts.... =dok=
Wow -- that is some rare and awesome skill! I'd only read about how vacuum tubes were built, and have seen a video of a 1940s production machine, so seeing it done step by step, by hand, is amazing. I wonder how the tubes tested after you were done?
My 40-year engineering career was all post-vacuum tube, so I don't know a lot of detail about the construction (or use) of tubes, beyond what my hobbies provided. But I know enough that hand-building one (never mind several) is a major accomplishment. Glass work alone is a significant skill, not speedily acquired. Bravo.
The fellow that has the radio is working on restoring it. I will ask if he will put it on youtube working when he gets it finished! I want to see it too!
How much cleaning do you do with your envelopes after cutting them? Is it just soap and water, or do you use any solvents? I assume you use something since it'd be a shame to have one of these beautiful handmade tubes fail prematurely from a little bit of of cutting oil left in the envelope that offgassed.
Incredibly, I don't do more than wipe loose debris out of the tube with a dirty rag! The tube is processed at 1000 F which totally evaporates any organic contaminants.
Is the carbonates paste used to increase the emission? If you used glass beads or mica spacers between the elements, the tube performance would be affected?
Your glass work is inspirational. This Cossor tube was particularly neat and tidy. Can you please do a session in which you tell us WHERE you get the special materials such as filament wire, the tiny nickle ferrules you use to ensure welding, the dead-soft nickle wire and so forth. I will have to import these materials from the US, I suspect. Inspirational. Special. Mind-blowing. Please keep up the good work!
Thanks RobTapps88. Yes, I have found a bunch of good stuff on ebay. Look for nickel? 600,000 hits. Most are for nickel coins! fasttech is an eyeopener, especially with what kanthal is mostly used for LOL :-) But lots of nickel and nichrome wires, too in all sorts of gages.
The original tube is a piece of history that is worth over 100 bucks even not working. I do not think it is good to destroy something that will never ever be made again.
Amazing. I bet any money I have had more burns in same time period. And I have never worked with hot burny things! The irony of it! ha ha! Great videos, hope you do many more.
Hi Ron glad to hear from you again. I have a question about the little contact welder you use. What is the gauge of the wire you use and what is the source used to power it? greetings from Holland, Joseph
The welder is made from an old microwave oven transformer core. The secondary is wound with 6 turns of #2 welding cable which extends to the pincher. A 10 ohm rheostat is used in the primary to set the weld current. A relay is driven with a foot pedal to pulse the welder.
Always a pleasure and privilege to watch a true craftsman at work. Thank you.
I can"t express how much I enjoyed this video, thank you for sharing your work.
Absolutely fascinating to watch. I am very grateful that you took the trouble to video and share your wonderful work with us. Many thanks indeed, very enjoyable.
Awesome workmanship ! Thanks a lot for taking us through this build with your elaborate commentary ! Neat trick there to improvise your own little sheet metal press and die !
That was mesmerising to watch. So skilfully done. Great stuff. Graham
A lot of these odd tubes were created for a couple of reasons. 1 - To get around patent issues and 2 - "Snake Oil. This tube will cure all your ills. There is a great book on early tubes "The Saga of the Vacuum Tube" by Gerald F. J. Tyne that fills in a lot of the gaps with these early tubes. Always enjoy your videos.
Sorry, the actual title is "Saga of the Vacuum Tube". No "The" in the title.
You are an amazing artist, scientist and engineer. Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge with those of us who only wish we could do such complicated work as this!
Pure genius,do you thee same exact material as the original tube,there can't be more than a couple people in the country that can do what do..I bet you are the onmly one with your skill.,please keep making videos
A master of forgotten skills. Thanks for all the extra time taken for good camera angles
Time stops when I watch your video's - Amazing work, thanks for sharing!
Very nice indeed!! Congratulations for bringing old technologies back to life...
Your physical skill and analytic ability with both the glass and electronic aspects of your work is amazing. Plus the play by play as you do the work adds to the instructional quality as well. Captivating, as others have noted. Always glad to see your work. 😀
You are a very, very rare professional and your videos are incredible. Thanks for the hours I've spent watching them, and the many hours I have yet to enjoy.
I just love watching this! You are a magician with the glass and plates! Can we see the radio and maybe hear the sound of the new tubes? Please keep posting your videos, Ron!!
Glad to see a new post. I think you are one of the most fascinating TH-cam posters out their because you do such unique work. By making the videos you pass your skills and knowledge not only us today, but your contributions and skill will live forever on TH-cam. Just amazing to watch you work and you make it all look so easy when I know it comes from years of hard work. Thanks.
It's always great to see a true craftsman at work! Imagine that back in the day most of these tubes had to be made by hand...😀
Ron where have you been!???? good too see you. Don't leave it so long next time!
I'm electronic technician in the Philippines working here in Saudi..I'm your number fans all your video I'm always watch because very helpful to me I wish I will meet you someday
Been waiting a while for another of your videos . . . Takes me back to around 1957 when I was an apprentice with Ediswans - who made light bulbs and radio valves. My designated target was to be a valve engineer, and I spent time in the various departments involved with making and testing valves and TV tubes. When I think of the tests I ran on triode/pentodes, to see if they conformed to the characteristics they were supposed to have, it seems incredible that in the early days the valve components were made in the way you showed here - by eye - and without the aid of micrometers, but they still did the job!
Your skill levels are exceptional - making the difficult look easy, and the impossible a piece of cake! Thanks so much - but I missed the pink nail varnish!
How can you make a vacuum tube for high frequency applications like a radio by eyeballing the dimensions? I would think the creases in the imperfectly swaged piece would produce stray capacitance. I wish he would have tested it and shown it working in-circuit in the video. Not that I'm really doubting him, he obviously knows what he's doing.
The procedure of making a tube just blows my mind. Awesome job and video!
An amazing display of skill, patience, and pure craftsmanship.
Very educational video, really makes understanding the vacuum tube much easier for we old farts who used to be tube jockeys. In the 70's I was the go to guy in our small town when the TV went wonky and you didn't want to pay the expensive service calls. I had a quite a collection of old tubes I pulled from sets in the dump grounds and kept in egg cartons. When one of our relatives sets went, they called and I would come over with the most common tubes in my bicycle basket and replace the bad tube. Worked great for a long time, the same when I got in the Army, then the damn officers thought anyone in communications should be able to fix their TV sets for the cost of the tubes. At least then we were in big enough cities so you could go to the local drug store and use their tube tester to rebuild the tube sets.
Great to have you back Ron. Your artistry is amazing. Please keep the videos coming. It is nice to see the different geometries of these valves from the inside out. Thank you very much.
Wow! Lovely to see real craft. I always had questions, on how tubes were actually made. I came away, all questions answered. keep up the good work.
It's a privilege to observe a craftsman.
Who even knew this kind of skill actually exsists 😲 I’m flabbergasted. Amazing.
What a fascinating video.Fabulous stuff.Thank you glassinger.
Always a great day when you see a new Glasslinger video pop up in your subscribe list! Instant thumbs up, too... you KNOW it'll earn it!
You are the so amazing......I work with my hands everyday and you are a true treasure. I hope this art is not lost. I would love to spend a few days with you...hint hint... Thank you so very much.
U-ROCK OUT.........
Amazing work. Beautiful. Thank you for you time and effort to publish your work.
You have many talents, electronic wizard, machine shop skills (steel/wood) and the skill to do it all like a pro. Great job and a pleasure to watch, keep the videos coming.
Fabulous, just fabulous. Ohhhhhh-kay' ?
good to see you back!!
Excellent! Both a good looking and practical approach for the tube home brewer!
I've never seen such a small spot welder. It's awesome! And explains a lot about tube making.
Absolutely beautiful, as always. You are very skilled and patient, this takes a lot of time doing meticulous operations. A video showing tubes working in a set would be awesome
I LOVE This! This is a true Art Form! You have talent indeed! I Think that 1900`s to 1920`s Tubes are AWESOME! They made simple things work Beautifully! And the Beautiful if not Very Interesting!
Glad to see you again ,,great work ,hope to see you again
Welcome back :) lovely to see you again. Thank you.
Amazing work thanks for sharing your skills with us!
Omg I can't believe you were able to do that. Genius!
I'm so glad to see you're back. I love the work you do.
great skills. good to see you back
I didn't see or hear a single blooper! I hope you don't cut those out as they make up part of my favorite watching. Yes, I look forward to watching every video you make. Keep making videos. I love them. Amazing how much of a variety of knowledge you have.
Keep the videos coming!
Wow ! Great job. I'm so glad to see you again. I have never met you but I think of you as a friend; welcome back. Now enough of that, lol. Hope to see the tube in action. Leo
You are very talented. Thanks for making the effort to let us watch you work, I always enjoy it.
Good to see you back! Amazing job, I'd love to be able to do that.
Really excellent video please keep them coming my friend
Skill and a wealth of knowledge I love watching your videos they are mesmerising. Please keep them coming, thanks for posting
OMG. I was already mourning your demise :) I have zero interest in the making of vacuum tubes but I find you the most capable of teachers on the subject. Thanks to you I know how they work and why and if needed I could survive without transistors. Thank you! :)
wow , you never cease to amaze Ron
another wonderful job and video - thanks for sharing - always a pleasure to watch....
That was very intense. Must be a good friend.
I hope you haven’t given up making videos. I’m fascinated watching you work. Hoping for some new ones.
Nice job. You've got skills and expensive equipment i wish i had in my garage. You should look into crt re-building. Thanks for sharing.
I recently had to get rid of a very collectible TV because of a burned out CRT. Unfortunately CRT rebuilding takes HUGE equipment that I have no room for in my shop.
Wow! Well done.
Beautiful tubes.
Been wondering when you would make some more videos.... great to see you back at it...
Excellent work!!! and what a patience to do that!!!
Such pleasure to watch you at work....
Where you been? Hope to see you bringing back some old radios soon. Pretty cool stuff...You do great work
Missed you, Ron! I hope you're well?!
I always love watching you work :D Every one of these videos is just captivating :)
Glad to see you are back. Wonderful video as always.
I have a question about the getter. Why would you flash it while it's still on the pump? I assumed that the getter would be used to get the last little bit of gas that the vacuum pump wasn't able to get? I'm sure I'm wrong, but I'd love to know why :)
every time im more amazed at what you can do
Ron the glassmeister, totally amazing! Sure missed your talents, thank you for sharing and teaching. I will have my grandsons watch and sub. I also shared on facebook. I feel more dissbled, but really appreciate your skills. Now when I buy a vacuum tube, I will understand the cost of high grade tubes like the el34 and kt88, if under 50$, a bargain! Don
WOW! What an amazing piece of work!
Good to see you back! Great video as usual.
That was just amazing to watch thank you for the post!
these vids of yours never cease to fascinate me. i am a confirmed tube junkie.my audio reproduction equipment will confirm this ;-> it's wonderful that skills like yours exist and i sincerely hope you will continue to pass them on to others with a similar appreciation for both the use of these devices and the processes involved in their production.
in hopes all is well in life and thank you for your efforts....
=dok=
Excellent, a real genius, thank you for sharing your time and skills,
Wish I was there to work with/for him!! Thanks, Carl
Wow -- that is some rare and awesome skill! I'd only read about how vacuum tubes were built, and have seen a video of a 1940s production machine, so seeing it done step by step, by hand, is amazing. I wonder how the tubes tested after you were done?
As can be expected the results are not equal to production line tubes. They do function quite well in a circuit though.
My 40-year engineering career was all post-vacuum tube, so I don't know a lot of detail about the construction (or use) of tubes, beyond what my hobbies provided. But I know enough that hand-building one (never mind several) is a major accomplishment. Glass work alone is a significant skill, not speedily acquired. Bravo.
Absolutely amazing. I've never seen this done before. Thanks!
Excellent video. Question. Why flash the getter before end sealing? I had thought the getter was used after sealing.
Again a great video, I would love to see the tube working in the radio it is made for.
The fellow that has the radio is working on restoring it. I will ask if he will put it on youtube working when he gets it finished! I want to see it too!
Awesome. This is astonishing. I learned so much! Thanks for sharing this.
Wow. Just wow. I love your work. Inspiring!
dang its been awhile.. glad to see another video. Thanks.
I love your videos and wish I had the same skills. Many thanks.
Amazing skills. I'm in awe.
I love people who make things.
A unique channel for sure.
Great work ! Please do a video regarding the functioning of that tube.
Amazing skills... love your videos.
Absolutely mesmerizing 👍
How much cleaning do you do with your envelopes after cutting them? Is it just soap and water, or do you use any solvents?
I assume you use something since it'd be a shame to have one of these beautiful handmade tubes fail prematurely from a little bit of of cutting oil left in the envelope that offgassed.
Incredibly, I don't do more than wipe loose debris out of the tube with a dirty rag! The tube is processed at 1000 F which totally evaporates any organic contaminants.
I thumbed it up before i even wathed the video since i allredy know it´s not gonna be dissapointing.
Very nice work!
Fascinating! Ok, was I the only one who watched this to the end knowing I would never actually make this?
Is the carbonates paste used to increase the emission?
If you used glass beads or mica spacers between the elements, the tube performance would be affected?
one thing is for sure you do great work when it comes to glass.
Your glass work is inspirational. This Cossor tube was particularly neat and tidy. Can you please do a session in which you tell us WHERE you get the special materials such as filament wire, the tiny nickle ferrules you use to ensure welding, the dead-soft nickle wire and so forth. I will have to import these materials from the US, I suspect. Inspirational. Special. Mind-blowing. Please keep up the good work!
virtually all the parts and wire etc come from, where else, ebay!
Jem Stanners lol fasttech sells nickel, stainless, kanthal, along with a host of mixed wires.. #vapenaysh
Thanks RobTapps88. Yes, I have found a bunch of good stuff on ebay. Look for nickel? 600,000 hits. Most are for nickel coins! fasttech is an eyeopener, especially with what kanthal is mostly used for LOL :-) But lots of nickel and nichrome wires, too in all sorts of gages.
Wow! great work!. is it possible to fix the original tube? wouldn't be easier to fix the old one than creating a new one?! or that is not possible?
The original tube is a piece of history that is worth over 100 bucks even not working. I do not think it is good to destroy something that will never ever be made again.
Great job Ron,i enjoy this video so much.Thank you so much. 73 KI7DYM
view Days ago i thaught: Hey where is glasslinger.. and there you go. What a lucky event.
Amazing to watch this. How do you get used to the burns to your fingers?
I have been working with glass for 15 years and have only had one or two small burns! (knock on wood!)
Amazing. I bet any money I have had more burns in same time period. And I have never worked with hot burny things! The irony of it! ha ha! Great videos, hope you do many more.
Hi Ron glad to hear from you again. I have a question about the little contact welder you use.
What is the gauge of the wire you use and what is the source used to power it?
greetings from Holland, Joseph
The welder is made from an old microwave oven transformer core. The secondary is wound with 6 turns of #2 welding cable which extends to the pincher. A 10 ohm rheostat is used in the primary to set the weld current. A relay is driven with a foot pedal to pulse the welder.
Superb fascinating I am truly impressed keep them coming
Thank you for sharing how to build your own vacuum tube. A most interesting video. Look forward to your next session.
Awesome! Great to see you back :-)