CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[nautikal]

The glass on the green tube from my NEC XG broke from the coolant pressure, so I will be sending it in to VDC to get replaced and resealed (as well as bleeding the other two tubes ). I would prefer to leave the coils and magnets on the tube so I don't have to redo all the relevant mechanical setup procedures. Gina said it was okay to send the tube without removing any of the coils and magnets as long as I make sure to pack it really well. I was planning on using a layer of small bubble wrap, then a layer of large bubble wrap, filling the box with peanuts, and then double boxing. I was just wondering if anyone who has shipped tubes before has any specific advice? Or is shipping a tube without removing the magnets/coils completely insane?

[Curt Palme]

Generally YES, VDC doesn't want the magnetics anyways, and might not accept the tube with it on them.

The big thing is protecting the neck of the tube, so it can't shear sideways while the face of the tube is stationary.

VDC boxes line the entire tube with foam,, but two in 100 or so smashed thanks to UPS.

NEC doesn't protect the neck at all really, but clamps the front of the tube tightly with heavy cardboard, and since the neck weighs less than the tube, if the face portion gets bounced around, the neck glass simply follows. (a damn poor description if I say so myself. )

[Curt Palme]

Generally YES, VDC doesn't want the magnetics anyways, and might not accept the tube with it on them.

The big thing is protecting the neck of the tube, so it can't shear sideways while the face of the tube is stationary.

VDC boxes line the entire tube with foam,, but two in 100 or so smashed thanks to UPS.

NEC doesn't protect the neck at all really, but clamps the front of the tube tightly with heavy cardboard, and since the neck weighs less than the tube, if the face portion gets bounced around, the neck glass simply follows. (a damn poor description if I say so myself. )

[Elaine Benes]

When shipping a tube, or anything else for that matter, you just want to insulate it from shock, and immobilize it...your plan for packing is fine, personally, I wouldn't even bother with the small size bubble wrap.

Wrap the neck in enough bubble wrap to make it the same size as the tube front, then wrap the entire tube in enough bubble wrap that if you dropped it from chest height it would just bounce around. I've used this method to ship tubes as far as New Zealand via "ground" postal shipping. It took 6 weeks to arrive, but arrived safely...

Peanuts should only be used to fill voids in the box, don't depend on them to provide shock absorption, that's what the bubble wrap is for, shake the box to settle the peanuts, put more in, shake some more, put more in etc. then add more peanuts in the end so you've got to push the box closed. You want the tube, in its bubble wrap envelope to be wedged tightly in the box so it doesn't move around inside.
Double boxing is good too, but I've personally only used it a couple of times when the item had to go a long distance.

[Nashou66]

Find a 12x12x24 sized box and make sure the neck does not move like curt said. You could build 12x12 card board squares with a hole the size of the tube neck
to help keep it from moving in the box then stuff foam not peanuts, never use peanuts they shift around too much. If doing the squares with the hole put about 4-5 along the length of the tube neck. But make sure you pack it well between each section of the supports and all around and under. use lots of news paper crumpled up if you cant find any soft foam(convoluted).

http://www.uline.com/BL_863/Convoluted-Foam-Sets

Athanasios

[Tim in Phoenix]

Hello

Get a box an inch longer than the tube neck, and four inches by four inches, secure it over the tube neck, then box the entire tube, so if the tube falls on end, the impact is transferred to the tube bell which is much stronger than the neck.

[stefuel]

I've got three brand new 9" tubes coming via UPS today
I'm either going to be happy or pissed off when I get home from work today.

[Nashou66]

[stefuel]

Yippidy doo daaaaa. No broken glass
One thing I've noticed while checking these tubes, Phosphor grain focus is out the window cause there is no phosphor grain to focus on. These suckers are milky white. It will be interesting to see how long the will hold up in HT use.

[bbfarmht]

Now that I have 9" housings I am going to try some of the thomas tubes. I would like to hear more from you Chip on what you think of the picture quality on these tubes.

[stefuel]

If anyone's really interested in following the Thomas tube road, I should probably start another thread instead of hyjacking this one. Right now, there's a used green Thomas in my projector for testing and it seems to be fine.
I just spent three hours stripping out a old LCP from it's LC housing, cleaning everything up and glueing in a new blue.
I hope to do the same with a new green tomorrow night. I still have two neck boards to mod before they can be installed.
To bad the pin-out is so far off from LCP's or LUG's

[cmjohnson]

The best way to ship a tube is to pack the bell end firmly and the neck in a softer material. I use foam plumbing pipe insulation on the necks and use stiff foam to secure the bell end in the middle of the box so it won't move around, and softer foam to fill the space
around the neck. So far so good. I've had no tube breakage as of yet, but I don't ship too many.

I would strongly suggest removing magnetics from any tube neck unless the shipping carton is form fitted to the complete assembly.


CJ