Hello! I have done it! I built a replica of Marconi's "short range radio transmitter-receiver" which is pictured in books. Fun thing to do! ron

Who could dislike this? This is literally the only place that you can learn this stuff. I'm watching this because I'm going to be making some gas discharge lamps just for fun soon.

Ahhh! A not obvious question! The ONLY reason I put the contacts on the side of the tube is because this is a replica of the type C triode! The original had the contacts on the side, so to make the replica accurate I had to do it. It is a much more difficult task than bringing them out through the bottom! Back in the early days common sense apparently didn't have much importance! The old tube designs were full of difficult to manufacture configurations.

I still have a lot to learn about glass blowing. The very nice equipment, namely the lathe, makes it possible for a relatively inexperienced amateur like me to really do some fine work. Without these great tools I would be lost! With tools like I have you can make tubes in a few months of practice. Freehand, consider several years of practice. ron

As a young kid I used to be able to watch the Men repair television and radio's in a nearby repair shop my Dad delivered mail on his route. They would let me scrap parts and salvage chassis and sometimes punch holes in a chassis for mounting a tube socket. I had so much enjoyment in those times. In the early 1970's integrated circuits became the rage and led to a throw away society of electronics. I just bought the full year of Popular Electronics 1956 on Ebay, the wonder never grew out of me.

Thank you for sharing your skills and methods down to younger generations. Through your video, you will live forever!

A stunning display of craftsmanship, reminds me of Engels Coach Shop. "I just machined this scrap of conduit to a 10/1000" wall". Sure, I do that every day. His understanding of this obscure tech is nothing short of astonishing.

Awesome. I’ve been an electronics tech since the 70’s, tubes to the most advanced we have today and I appreciate you putting this out more than I can say.

This video transported me to 1913 when the electronics were in the beginning and the radio engineering was an wonderful and strange thing. In those times, it was possible to do an entire equipment at home. Today with the microtechnology, making an equipment at home is quite impossible. Thanks for sharing this wonder.

I'll bet Rocket Scientists get amazed watching this guy. Completely amazing!

Amazing! Enjoyed it very much! True craftsmanship!

Sir, you are amazing. This is awe-inspiring.

I've only just come across this, amazing. These skills are a lost art. Its fantastic to have this youtube heritage for the younger generation who don't yet know they might be fascinated in this stuff.

I was amazed to see you making vacuum tubes and McGyvering antique parts. I used to watch my Dad fix old radios and TV's back in the early 50's. Mention of signal tracing, push-pull amps, audio transformers and replacing electrolytic filter capacitors brought back memories. I have forgotten how to replace and adjust guns onpicture tubes and common vacuum tube types and numbers. As a kid I saved allowance money and built two-tube and simple transistor AM radios. Remember the "Man from Mars" radio helmet? I put the guts into a small walkie-talkie box with an earphone on the front and whip antenna ( first kid on the block with a "walk-man" )

Thank you for the video. You remind me of my dad. He used to make complicated laboratory glassware and repair HV radio transmitter tubes using this lathe.

This is a beautiful process. Truly an art as well as the high tech of its day. Thank you very much for documenting the process! One of the retired professors of theoretical physics at Goettingen once told me he would have liked to go into experimental physics in the mid 1950s but he could not, because he "had no hand for glass-blowing", so he became a theoretician instead.

This is truly an art form, I was glad to see that you included in it's typical application. This being very old tech, and I'm loving seeing it again.

Actually, there are a few around in private collections and in some museums. But for the ordinary person, they are extinct. Good photos are in the book, "Saga of the Vacuum Tube"

If there was ever something worthy of HD video, this is it! Thank You for sharing this with all of us!

Wow! A lost art. Glad to see this kind of workmanship still exists on some level. Very interesting stuff!

EXCELLENT !!! I'd like to HEAR that tube at work.

dear sir, thank you very much for sharing your great knowledge and experience. No no, there was no boring to watch your entire video..

You, Sir, have a rare and special talent! It was a joy to watch.

Outstanding, sir! Thank you for sharing this with us, it would be a shame to see this knowledge forgotten.

I agree, one of the best instructional videos on KZfaq.

Hello! Tungsten is the only pure metal that has an expansion close to pyrex. (borosilicate glass) The tungsten has to be heavily oxidized for the seal to work properly. It is the oxide layer between the tungsten and the glass that takes up the difference in expansion. Fluorescent lamps are made of soft glass and use dumet seal wire. This is completely different from the seals made in borosilicate glass. Dumet has an expansion that is close to that of soda lime glass so the seal is easy to make.

Hello! The wire diameter and length determines the filament voltage. There is a certain practical length for each tube design so the diameter will be the most significant factor. I have a lot of different diameters so I can make voltages from under 2 volts to about 12 volts. 5 volts is a common voltage that is easy to find transformers for so I use it most.

Human 10, industrial Robot 0. One of the best videos I have watched on KZfaq.

Hello! Yes, the oxide is very important in the seal. The oxide seals perfectly to pyrex and also seals perfectly to tungsten, its parent metal.

My congratulations, incredible! This is a magnificent art that fewer and fewer people in today's world will possess such knowledge.

Interesting how you do this- I'm retired now, but worked in aero space for years , It was nice to have vacuum ovens, etc. You've come up with many ingenious techniques, you're very talented- It proves people can make their own stuff, whatever it may be- when I started out in tool and die, we always made our own stuff, and improvised- Anyway, Good Vids!

You sir have the patience of Job! I hope you make a lot of these videos to pass on your rare skills that should not be forgotten.

I don't know why you call yourself an amateur...you are a seasoned and knowledgeable professional.....the price of tubes nowadays makes this a very viable business. I was in TV service for 38 yrs and I started in late 70's just as tubes were becoming obsolete....I wish I saved all my tubes. Had literally a few hundred of them... If only I knew then..!!!!

Just amazing stuff and I think I missed the era for getting a(ny) crafmanship doing arts. Very, very happy to see this highly skilled person in action. Well done !!!!

Also very often they would take leads out the top or even the sides to reduce the capacitance between electrodes.

Amazing! I now want to finish building my equipment that is needed and build my own tubes. The plate was the critical part that I was wondering how to make and you solved that so easily! Thank you!

Hello! It is all a matter of money! Uranium glass is over 20 times as expensive as 7740 pyrex. I just can't afford it. The 7740 seals just fine by the way.

You totally explain how a vacuum tube made. Good job!

What a privileged to watch a master craftsman at work. I build and repair vacuum tube guitar amplifiers. I will never look at a vacuum tube the same way again!

I have not made light bulbe.(they are so cheap at walmart!:) The glass from lightbulbs and other old tubes is extremely brittle and is soft glass so it is much harder to use than pyrex. The extremely critical annealing makes it hard to get a good tube cooled off.

You make this look easy...What incredible skill you have! Love you and your videos! More please!

wow I am impressed by your patience and skill.

The fact that the tube is actually being use is amazing, honestly wasn’t expecting the tube to be used in something till I seen the end. I’ve have learned a lot these past few days I’ve always loved old radios and tubes just something about it and the simplicity as well !

Brilliant stuff. I was...many years ago, a "pre seal engineer" in a company that manufactured light bulbs (fascinating machinary) but to see a triode hand made is just stunning. I learned a great dael from your video....thanks for sharing. C

glasslinger, You are amazing, the work you are capable of, just blows my mine. very intelligent man. nothing like the old technology.

I can't believe what I am seeing..... Amazing! It would take me a lifetime to develop the skills to do this.

A lot of skill, patience and good eyesight needed for this

One of the best videos on KZfaq. Such gold information! Well done

Just rewatched this now. You are amazing! What you can do is beyond describable! I hope you are OK and I hope to see more videos soon!

You are one very clever guy! Congratulations to you. We need your knowledge spread to younger generations so we have some guys left to fix our tube gear:)

Hello! I got it at a junk swap meet. I have no idea on where it was first used. It was some kind of industrial production equipment. A lucky find! ron

Fascinating to watch the tube construction process, and your reconstructed Marconi transmitter is a wonder to behold; absolutely gorgeous.

I am here after BitHead1000 recommended this channel in one of his latest videos. Very interesting. 👍

Simply beautiful craftsmanship!-John in Texas

I love watching these videos. Even back in the day the tubes took almost as much then as it takes to cast a die for an integrated circuit does today. The only exception is the making of IC's needs extreme cleanliness. But other than that - it's essentially taking silicon glass and overlaying dopants, etc. on it.

You are truly an amazing craftsman! Thank you for illustrating and passing along to future generations an art that is in short supply.

This is so so awesome!! Imagine being able to make your own tubes. Mindblowing to a tube freak like myself. Respect to you sir!!

It was magic and only a thing in the books and museums until you demonstrated it.

Great video! I hope that you have an apprentice to pass on your amazing skill to. Nobody teaches what you know.

Very much respect! Modern day renaissance man

You are amazing!! What an incredible job. Thank you so much for showing us this process.

I'm teaching myself the fundamentals of shortwave tube radio repair. I find this an amazing precursor to what I'm learning. Thanks for taking the time!

It's amazing how you can build such a device from scratch, from speculation.

That is some specialised work there. Kudos to you for doing this!

I was lucky enough to get a CCTV camera maintenance contract with Phillips lighting Co.'s Little Rock AR incandescent light bulb plant backing the late 80s. Spent many hours all over the actual facility and campus I was amazed at how many steps it took to produce bulbs they could make in a day with at that time "antique" machinery... It had been there since pre WWII. Your process is an art, and a damn cool one at that. Amazing.

You, sir, are a master at your craft! I enjoyed watching the entire video. Thank you!

Great video! This video brings me back to my childhood where I used to build vacuum tube radio transmitter/receiver !

I have watch your videos you are amazing and your knowledge of old time electronics is astounding you are a human marvel

Some of the most skillful, practical work I've seen on KZfaq, a truly knowledgable technician & technologist

I'm absolutely amazed by your skill! You make it look so easy!

Thanks for the speedy and informative reply! I'm looking forward to your future posts, have seen all on you channel now and they really are some of the most informative DIY videos I've seen.

I wish I could make my own vacuum tubes, very cool stuff.

What a fascinating video! It’s rare to see workmanship like this any more. Thank you for posting these videos of a nearly lost art … I’m watching them all :)

I know very little about tubes, but i really enjoyed watching the amazing craftsmanship!

Glassinger! We need more of your excellent videos

wow, I always wondered how tubes were made until now but I am almost certain that in mass tube production there are machines that do that as well. great job

_What you do is perfection. I can only say BRAVO._

Your craftsmanship is an inspiration!

Thanks so much for making the videos. Love watching you build amazing things.

There’s a place down the road that does this type of glass blowing, they make lab equipment, but it’s equally as fascinating to watch.

You have some serious skills . I have watched a few of your videos . I have picked up a few tips . Thanks for taking the time to make these very helpful videos .

Great to see you can now post videos greater than fifteen minutes. I will soon be making my own vacuum tubes....thanks for the inspiration !!

I didnt know that is posible to make a vacum tube out of factory. This is art.

You must be 1 in 100,000,000 in this talent!

Gasslinger .... This is absolute the top of craftsmanship I'd ever seen....

An example of true craftsmanship which was fascinating to watch.

Ron, thank you so much for taking the time and energy to make these important documentaries and share them with the world. I hope it is okay to offer a suggestion, and also ask a quick question. If you put your camera in manual focus, place your hand or an object with a contrasty pattern the distance from the camera to where you will be working (camera to subject distance), and center it in the viewfinder, you can press the "autofocus" button which most cameras have to momentarily activate the auto function. This will leave the camera in manual, locked at the focus plane you set up with your test subject. No more focus drift, hunting, or incorrect focal plane selection. So, my question

Really great video. Thanks for posting it...Absolutely amazing, and I used to work in a scientific glass shop..!

And this tube will still be working after all the silicon devices we use today have fried and died. What the world needs to do, is to keep these skills alive and up to date, because one day, perhaps not in our lifetimes, they may well be needed again. Sir, you are a craftsman, and an inspiration. I thank you for such a wonderful video.

You Sir definitively have really nice toys. Thanks.

You are a good collor full role model and i learning mutch. Sorry my terrable bad english. Greetings from Norway

Fantastic painstaking work, thank you for sharing

Wauw! what a craftmanship! RESPECT! I wish i had that kind of tools and knowledge,CHAPPO! Love your videos,greets/greens,the Netherlands.

Blown away man!. Nothing as impressive as a homemade Tube. Amazing.

I was looking at some old tube amps, cause i'm playing my guitar with an old 225/a geloso, and i saw your video. I have to say that i am not a techinician, but watching you doing this job it's pure art!

After 30 years working with television i worked with television made with tube . After this passed years, finally i get to see, how to do one of this tube. I saw grow up the tecnologies until today i still work with television, but now not with tube but with integrated circuit, the modern lcd. Since 1982 until now. Depois de 30 anos trabalhando com televisão, eu trabalhei com televisão feita válvulas (tubos). Após estes anos passarem, finalmente, eu começo a ver, como fazer um deste tubo. Eu vi crescer as tecnologias até hoje eu ainda trabalho com televisão, mas agora não com tubo, mas com circuito integrado, o lcd moderno. Desde 1982 até agora. God bless this man.

That was a great video, and you are one heck of a craftsman!

Awesome! It nailed me to the screen from start to finish. I can't help but wonder how many years it took to a) Acquire the knowledge b) Acquire the almost superhuman skills necessary to put that knowledge into practice.

Still very cool to see these things made. Mind boggling how they managed to invent this tech in the first case.

Thank you for the for the video brother - I have always wanted to do this, but have yet to invest in the equipment. (Maybe I'll find some decent quality eastern import gear somewhere to get started) Love your transconductance meter. Most people don't bother to label their gear - so by the time you borrow it or help them out (HiHi) you have to reverse engineer it to determine how to use it. I borrowed a differential reflectometer (lol) from a local operator on VHF...I had to take readings (with no absolute units) then ascertain the ratio between the two to calculate the behavior of the network. Man it was something to take a measurement with no unit - wrapping my head around that took most of the day! It was really nice of him to loan it out though - considering it was a world war 2 surplus type father-son project from his SK father. I was really surprised he trusted me enough to loan it out - No labels was a trip though for sure, sitting here with my tech class cousin and this crazy Dr. Who reflectometer made from old military parts calculating the aerial's response curve. The striking simplicity of it, and its effectiveness, cannot be understated - gives confidence operating with a minimum of support infrastructure. Makes me wonder how many of us modern guys never had the Heathkit experience - devoid the warm glow of nostalgia under the thermionic lights, the only affordable option used to be to learn until you understood - now you just type in the Visa card and wait for UPS hihi.