glass from tv's

If I'm not mistaken, ComputerScrapper has built a machine that is separating the two kinds of glass in the tubes and he has buyers for both kinds,,, He's maximizing a TV/monitor to the limit.

I'm just guessing that you guys are 'devacuuming' the screens first.

Breaking off the little pig tail of glass on the pointy end of the screen to let the air into the tube.

I tried to remove the metal band from around the screen without devacuuming it first.
It EXPLODED!

Covering a area of about 12 foot dia with 4 inch glass shards.
I nearly sh@t myself & still wonder how I didn't get cut or loose my eyesight....

With the Nuclear power stations in Japan blowing up...
Would they import the lead glass to use as radiation insulation or even to mop up the radiation?

Hmmm weird. how does a sealed container under vacuum explode? Wouldnt it implode? Just a thaught.

I read this yesterday, and I can't find the book now, someone else has it.

That theres a 17Lbs per square inch of pressure (vacuum, the pressure is from the outside) in a TV screen.

That works out to be over a TON of pressure over the whole TV screen!!!
Now playing around with a ton of pressure is pretty dangerous....

Just because its vacuum dosn't mean its all going in a inwards direction, it means its like crushing a lemon, some goes in, some squirts out.
Considering the glass is about a inch thick on the front screen, the shards are 3-4 inches long, tapered to a point 7 fly in every direction & theres a LOT of force involved.

Just imagine what would happen if you put a small amount of dynamite (one ton of pressures worth) inside the screen & let it go bang, thats just whats happening with the vacuum...

On a side note, where I have been scrapping for a while, I consider it 'my spot', TV's get dumped off.
A fat kid on a bike went past a couple of weeks ago, asked what I was doing.
I told him, & warned him about the TV screen & their propensity to explode.

So next time I go there, theres TV bits everywhere, cases, boards screens, just all ripped apart & the yokes & degaussing cables gone.
I figure its him, he's made a **** mess of the place & never cleaned up, didn't rip the boards, just the easy stuff, probably cost me $50.
So I clean it up a bit.
Next thing he arrives, gives me a story about "Someone who's watching this place & not to scrap there again".

Bull$h!t I think, next he starts undoing my cleaning up, probably thinking its all new TV's.
I say "Some dikhed made a real mess here & they are gonna put in a CCTV security system in now because of that. & not to muck around with the screens as he's gonna get hurt".

So he's still mucking around with them, ones on its side, hes 6 foot away, I give it a slight tap on the steel band....

BOOM!! Glass everywhere. He nearly ****z himself. I say "Told you so"

Hes as white as a ghost, can't believe it, says he saw "a shockwave" from the CRT as it exploded, still unsure if I had anything to do with it.
He got glass embedded in his jeans. I start cleaning the glass off the ground & talk about idiots who don't know what they are doing, theres 3 other screens ready to explode just like that one.
The ones he placed there....

He gets on his bike & leaves. Same thing will happen next time he arrives too.

Im no expert but I would think even a tube under vacuum set outside for a long enuff perioud of time could and would heat up and that vacuum could turn to pressure. Ill have to do some searching.

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Im no expert but I would think even a tube under vacuum set outside for a long enuff perioud of time could and would heat up and that vacuum could turn to pressure. Ill have to do some searching.

A vacuum will never heat up. Their is nothing inside a vacuum to expand so no pressure will ever be their.

to put this in perspective , I believe an atomic bomb explodes and a hydrogen bomb implodes. not sure but I read this some where years ago. Also for every action there is an equil and oposite reaction.

Maybe I am just lucky, but no matter how rough I handle TV's, I have not had one explode.

me either and I had one last week a 27 inch fall off my tailgate and land straight on the glass. Only scratched it.

If you test it out, the first thing you will do from now on is break that little pigtail of glass inside the ring of wire connectors on the point of the rear of the screen & listen as the air gets sucked in.

If someone fell onto the point of the rear of the screen & the glass broke, it'd suck most of their blood or insides into the screen.

I place it face down on the ground, on something soft, not stones etc, then I break the case just around where the tail is & then either start tapping the bit of circuitboard or pull the board off & tap the glass bit, till I hear it crack & start sucking in air.

It sounds like when you purse you lips & suck a lungfull of air in. When its stopped I can now carry on.

I'm facing the other way, with eyes closed.
Don't pick up a screen by its tail or the metal band around it. Sometimes they slip out of the band.

First thing you should do anyway is release the vacuum.

I couldn't find any videos on the net that really show the screen exploding, most are bullet holes etc.

All I did was tap where the band in, its on its join, its weakest point.

I had 3 screens lying face down on the lawn in a corner, when I came back from holiday there were only 2 & a big ring of broken glass, I couldn't figure out what happened until my first & last experience of breaking a whole screen.

I guess its like mentioned above, the sun got to it, heated it up in different places & BANG!