View Full Version : Questions regarding removing and reinstalling anode leads


mrking
02-22-07, 09:27 PM
Hello,


As I was sitting and swapping lc chambers and anode leads from a set of old burnt tubes from a Marquee 9500LC to a set of mint bare tubes I accidentally slipped with the razor while removing one of the anode leads which resulted in the boot being damaged.

I was going to use this old hv lead on the new tube since they are bare but because of this I'm wondering if I can still use an anode lead with a damaged boot or is it important that the boot is smooth and even if you are going to use it again?
Or can you just use more silicon and make the boot sealed like that instead?


I find this especially hard on the Barco tubes since the boot or cap or whatever you call it is so small there. Once you've removed it you can't get it to suck to the glass unless applying alot of pressure on it which poses a problem while siliconing it since it's hard to keep that same pressure on it for the week that the silicon should sit and cure. It's alot harder to put back in when you've removed it too since the boot isn't really that flexible and the pins are tiny.


I had an very unpleasant experience with a tube I used an old anode lead on but that was because the silicon i used didn't cure at all. What happened was that when you hooked all three tubes up to the HV-splitter you would hear a very loud arcing sound which sounded more like an exloding capacitator or something and it was continous
I think what happened was that when the high voltage built up it would leak right through the wet silicon and spill out of the boot.

I'm using high temperature silicon for this procedure

Also, once the silicon has cured and the anode lead is attached t tube. Can you then apply more silicon afterwards to make sure it will stay attached or will this pose a problem?

Would be nice if someone with experience in this area would share their opinions in this thread.

mrking
02-23-07, 08:16 AM
Hmmm... noone? I was hoping that this was the place for questions like these.
Come on people help me out.

Curt Palme
02-23-07, 08:45 AM
While I'm sure you can use enough silicone to cover the slice point, I'd replace it with a new one. I have stock of new anode leads...

mrking
02-23-07, 09:59 PM
Ok, thanks for responding.

How much for a set?

Ile
02-24-07, 08:18 AM
Have you read this?
http://www.curtpalme.com/HV_Lead_Removal.shtm

Proper rtv should take only few hours to cure and tube can be used next day without problems. Intact connector should keep cable in right place until rtv is cured.

MadMrH
02-24-07, 04:20 PM
I think maybe too much silicon might have been used the first time round ?

And so did not cure correctly..maybe ?

mrking
02-24-07, 06:21 PM
Well the anode lead is fine now. I had 2 arcs after I put it on the ceiling. But I ran the run in cycle and that took care of that. Probably some micro flakes that had landed in the wrong place inside the tube and caused the arcing. This happened on one of the other tubes as well but only once during the run in cycle.

So I'm going to assume that this boot was intact enough to reuse.