Mom And Pop CRT Rebuilders
 

Back in the mid 1960s I remember ads in TV magazines advertising complete CRT rebuilding equipment aimed at the small to medium size repair shops. Considering the expertise needed to rebuild CRTs, could this rebuilding equipment have been any good? Was it just a sham? I realize that this equipment only replaced the electron gun, but that is still a skill-intensive procedure.

Hmm. It was a skill-intensive procedure, but not exactly rocket science, either. And it fit together nicely with mom and pop type radio and TV servicing shops, which were also considered quite skill intensive operations back in the day. So I'd say not a sham. Consumers expected things to get fix and rebuilt, and so many families earned a decent living providing such services.

We just posted a story about just such an operation:

http://www.earlytelevision.org/pdf/Antelope_Valley.pdf

They were quite successful.

Quite the adventures that fellow had. :)

That is indeed an interesting story.

...

After reading the ETF article, I see how one of these one-person rebuilding operations could work. I repaired TVs during the 1960s while I was going to college. We had a ready source of very good rebuilt CRTs (Video Display Corporation) so I never had occasion to look for a local rebuilder.

That was an awful lot of work, for the rewards.
I guess, we didn't appreciate them, when they were around. :sigh:

In the 1960's, I worked at a TV shop that considered buying one of those "rebuild it yourself" packages. The boss considered it for quite some time, but concluded that he could get rebuilt tubes with a warranty for $10 - $15 from a local distributor. Buying the equipment and learning how to use it just did not seem like a good idea. I think he was probably right.

That was a really good story.....
I often wondered how profitable it could have been with the really long time
needed for each tube.... Needed volume, good connections, and a few stations
and a few people working each station to be worth it I think.....

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