In this little video I give the Getter its due. Enjoy!
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By Fran

16 thoughts on “Why are tubes mirrored?”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Jeff Brooke says:

    Thanks and I'd love hearing about your home built hifi sometime!

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Steve the tool man says:

    Great video. So the halo gitter ring is heated during manufacturing to deposit barium material on the glass. That barium continues for the life of the tube to remove unwanted gases. So does the round halo getter get powered after manufacturing? Or is it a one and done ? Ty Steve

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars John Bordley says:

    Art and Engineering come together. Been fascinated with tubes since I was a boy making amplifiers. My parents had no clue I was playing with such high voltages 🙂

  4. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars John Bordley says:

    Thanks!

  5. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Tim York says:

    Thanks Fran, very interesting!

  6. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Music & lyrics By E C Daley / C 2019 says:

    I'll need a cold shower after this video, I guess I really love tubes Fran ! ; ) ( Of course my views are a little distorted after I heat them up to a nice warm crunch, as I never just thrash, preferring a more sophisticated definition-think blue baby ) *S *

  7. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars longbow62 says:

    I have a guitar amp based on overbuilt Bendix 6094 power tubes. A tube similar in power to 6bq5/EL-84. I also have quite a few Bendix 6384 tubes. They are kinda a grossly overbuilt 6L6. You should do a video about them as they were built to withstand very harsh environments for aerospace applications.

  8. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars guluta alan says:

    In accelerator vacuum chambers, after scroll, turbo and ion pumping, the last two "stages" are the cleaning done by the synchrotron radiation and the "getter pumps" which are nothing but Titanium hot filaments, capturing part of the very last molecules. From that, I deduce the high-power tubes you've shown might not need a highly reactive layer. A part of the hot surface, on the opposite side with respect to the conduction one (otherwise the capture would be reversed by the electrons, tending to sputter), plated with Titanium, Magnesium or Zirconium should be enough. Not sure, is just an hypothesis, the accelerators vacuum is usually quite extreme (~10^-13 to 10^-15 bar).

  9. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Don Bosse says:

    The getters in the matrix display looks a whole lot like a doped header pin with the case removed.

  10. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars saturdayboy4454 says:

    What kind/brand of 300B are those?

  11. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Tom Collins says:

    Really enjoyed this presentation very much. Thank you for your efforts!

  12. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars John West says:

    I often hear nonsense on YouTube, but you have done quite well describing the process. On CRT's a mechanical 'roughing' pump was used, followed by a diffusion pump, followed by a cryogenic pump using ceramic beads and liquid nitrogen. All in all, it was about a 4 hour process. All the while the tubes were sitting in an electric oven to excite the molecular energy of gasses in the tube to hurry along the 'pump-down' process. Heating the getter by induction was indeed called 'flashing' the getter. After flashing, the vacuum would actually improve over time as the gasses 'stuck' to the getter flash. Over very long periods of time the biggest problem was/is helium seeping into the tube, because it will not combine with the barium and stick to the side of the glass. If you see a flash that has turned white it has "gone to air', and the tube is dead. Some knowledgeable people will 're-flash' a tube that has not been fully flashed and get a few more years of service out of it. That requires about a thousand Watt induction heater in close proximity.
    While I never made Nixie tubes I do know that they are filled with a gas (neon?) that ionizes and glows, so they clearly don't need to have a high vacuum in the tube, which is what flashing barium getters is all about. I built CRT's for 'scopes and monitors at HP, and did all of the processes involved and that you described.

  13. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Marc Fruchtman says:

    This was very educational. Thank you very much for making this video!

  14. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Hola! David Hill says:

    Thanks, very informative.
    I have subscribed.
    More smart ladies on YouTube please.

  15. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Niche Sound says:

    Tubes~!! My wife says that they multiply at night!! I guess cuz I have collected like a lot of them! Building musical equipment tube amps you come to appreciate the valve/tube for what they represent – works of art! Though I knew about the getter and like seeing them in the various shapes and sizes you did a great job of explaining the reason behind the silver laden area on a vacuum tube! That 300B is a great example of a vacuum tube and worth a lot of money! A pair of New Old Stock..NOS go for around 10K! Johnne

  16. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Tom says:

    Wow Fran, I had watched a few videos featuring the large AM transmitter tubes, I believe it was David from El Paso Tube Amps, and knew they were larger than average output tubes, but had never seen them in someone’s hands before… They are really neat.. and large.. Thanks for posting…

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