Rough handling at work with broken CRTs for surplus leads to a lot of dropped CRTs. Never seen the glass break, usually the plastic shell cracks and shatters but the glass stays intact.

There's an old CRT TV that somebody hauled out to my favorite woods shooting spot. They shot it to bits and left it out there. Very frustrating. If I had a pickup truck I'd haul it to the dump.

AidanExamineer wrote:

Rough handling at work with broken CRTs for surplus leads to a lot of dropped CRTs. Never seen the glass break, usually the plastic shell cracks and shatters but the glass stays intact.

And it keeps working too?

Jorpho wrote:

AidanExamineer wrote:

Rough handling at work with broken CRTs for surplus leads to a lot of dropped CRTs. Never seen the glass break, usually the plastic shell cracks and shatters but the glass stays intact.

And it keeps working too?

Oh my no. 😀

I used to take my old monitors out to a range and unload on them with everything from .22's through 10 guage shotguns as well as old black powder pistols and large bore rifles. Must have popped about two dozen of them over the years. Tried it with an LCD a few years back. Its just not the same thing.

Jorpho wrote:

I've heard breaking a CRT is quite memorable

You heard wrong. In reality it's pretty boring.

Jorpho wrote:

considering what a powerful vacuum exists within

You want something powerful?, stick your tongue in the second anode (actually, please don't)

Jorpho wrote:

I had a physics teacher once who reminisced about the experience fondly

You can't trust teachers these days more than you can trust the government.

Jorpho wrote:

I've heard occasionally about charity events where you can pay a certain amount of money to go psycho on some old electronics with a baseball bat, but never attended one myself

Such an exceeding stupid thing to do.

Lo Wang wrote:

Such an exceeding stupid thing to do.

So true

Kodai wrote:

I used to take my old monitors out to a range and unload on them with everything from .22's through 10 guage shotguns as well as old black powder pistols and large bore rifles. Must have popped about two dozen of them over the years. Tried it with an LCD a few years back. Its just not the same thing.

I agree though i found a new way to have fun with old computer's that no longer function and arn't worth the time, effort or money to fix, such as Core 2 dell's 🤣. I take them out to the country, stick gunpowder inside the case, make a long fuse and light it, almost as fun as blowing up a monitor with a gun 🤣.

If I could spare the unobtainium (aka gunpowder), I might give that a shot one day. Right now its so expensive though, my few remaining jars and cans of varying type are staying right there at the reloading bench. It does sound like a great idea though.

Kodai wrote:

If I could spare the unobtainium (aka gunpowder), I might give that a shot one day. Right now its so expensive though, my few remaining jars and cans of varying type are staying right there at the reloading bench. It does sound like a great idea though.

Scrapping it for parts would be a better idea... 😐

Also shooting on public land will get banned if we don't clean up all the crap we shoot.

Hmm, this is a forum about computers and shit right? Time to get back on topic. 😀

cdoublejj wrote:

that and if i had to guess it also counts as side or edge and tempered glass' Achilles heel is the side and or edge. I've had old timer tell me at the factories they worked at the tempered glass would go up and down and around all the rollers in machines almost like plastic or cellophane or something despite being glass but, one little tap on the edge and it all goes kablooey.

Actually, now that I'm back into the swing of pinball to the point of owning my own machine, I've learned all about the intricacies of what is tempered glass, as the playfield glass sheets on pinball machines are pretty much all tempered. Two of the biggest things you absolutely need to be careful of when having to mess with the playfield glass is to never set it down on its edges on a hard surface, (heck, finding a place to set it down without resting on the edges at all is even better), and to never lift or drop it while sliding it in or out of the machine, since it could create pressure points right at the edges where the glass meets the machine and POOF, thousands of glass shards everywhere. :P

The reason why this happens at all is because tempered glass is under tremendous internal pressure. This is what causes it to be extremely strong for the most part save for the stress points which are incredibly fragile, which for a flat rectangular sheet are the corners mostly and also the edges to a lesser degree.

When I was at Portland Retro Gaming Expo, the metal flange holding the glass in on one of their pinball machines gave way, and the sheet of glass slid out and onto the floor. BLAM!

The machines were all provided by Ground Kontrol arcade in Portland, and they had it fixed before the end of the day.

AidanExamineer wrote:

the metal flange holding the glass in

It's called the "lockdown bar", as it, quite literally, locks the glass in place and is held down from underneath. ;D

However, the fact that it came off on its own with no one in front of it is kind of difficult to fathom... it's one of the few parts of a pin which is pretty much bulletproof. I guess it's possible whoever owned it forgot to lock the bar down with the handle/latches underneath last he took the glass off, or was using the wrong style/size of lockdown bar for the game in question. :P

Having cleaned a few thousand pinball machines (from old school mechanicals through modern machines), I can say that as long as you keep something like a bit of rug under the bottom end, you are safe just leaning it up against the head box.

BTW my choice in regular play field cleaner is Novus polish 1, 2, and 3 using good old blue rags for 1 and 2 and a good lint free polishing cloth for 3. Oh helpful tip, never get caught in the old wives tale of using lighter fluid on the rubber. It softens it to much and the balls will destroy the bumpers fast as well as grind more crud into the play field. Just spend the extra bucks for new bands when needed and your play field will thank you in the long run.

Gemini000 wrote:

Two of the biggest things you absolutely need to be careful of when having to mess with the playfield glass is to never set it down on its edges on a hard surface, (heck, finding a place to set it down without resting on the edges at all is even better), and to never lift or drop it while sliding it in or out of the machine, since it could create pressure points right at the edges where the glass meets the machine and POOF, thousands of glass shards everywhere. 😜

If it's tempered glass, then it should crumble into little granules rather than shatter creating shards.

Still makes a mess, but it's considerably less dangerous to clean up.

Kodai wrote:

Having cleaned a few thousand pinball machines (from old school mechanicals through modern machines), I can say that as long as you keep something like a bit of rug under the bottom end, you are safe just leaning it up against the head box.

BTW my choice in regular play field cleaner is Novus polish 1, 2, and 3 using good old blue rags for 1 and 2 and a good lint free polishing cloth for 3. Oh helpful tip, never get caught in the old wives tale of using lighter fluid on the rubber. It softens it to much and the balls will destroy the bumpers fast as well as grind more crud into the play field. Just spend the extra bucks for new bands when needed and your play field will thank you in the long run.

My method is to use my laundry hamper with the lid removed and a blanket on top. Makes for a flat surface I can place the glass on without touching ANY of the edges or corners. Then again, I have the space to do that since I only own one pin. ;)

And yeah, rubbers are relatively cheap, so "fixing" them is usually a bad idea compared to buying fresh ones, not to mention things can spark inside a pinball machine, especially the leaf switches for slingshots and flipper buttons which circuit in high voltages, so using anything flammable on or under the playfield is a monumentally bad idea. x_x;

SquallStrife wrote:

If it's tempered glass, then it should crumble into little granules rather than shatter creating shards.

I know, I'm just used to saying "shards" when talking about glass. ;D

I've never seen or heard tell of fire issues from using lighter fluid on the bands and rigs as ending up flammable (it normally a small drop or two that is worked into the surface of the rubber), but if seen and been forced to clead the aftermath on the playfield. It a total nightmare and it does permanent damage to the play field surface that can not be repaired.

As far as tempered glass goes, I've (more often than not) seen it break a long, sharp shards. I thank some of you are thinking of safety glass which is also tempered but with extra steps that may include stacked sheets with glue and clear mylar. I have seen tempered glass crumble into smaller, safer bits but not very often.

Kodai wrote:

I've never seen or heard tell of fire issues from using lighter fluid on the bands and rigs as ending up flammable (it normally a small drop or two that is worked into the surface of the rubber), but if seen and been forced to clead the aftermath on the playfield. It a total nightmare and it does permanent damage to the play field surface that can not be repaired.

Go dig through Pinside and you'll definitely find stories of people's games catching fire or at the very least, smoking. Substances like contact cleaner and WD-40 are considered absolute bad news as far as dealing with playfield components. x_x;

Kodai wrote:

As far as tempered glass goes, I've (more often than not) seen it break a long, sharp shards. I thank some of you are thinking of safety glass which is also tempered but with extra steps that may include stacked sheets with glue and clear mylar. I have seen tempered glass crumble into smaller, safer bits but not very often.

I know the differences. What you're talking about in terms of glass breaking into long, sharp shards, is NOT tempered glass, it's plate glass, often used as a substitute in pinball machines due to being cheaper and incapable of exploding. The trouble is it's nowhere near as strong as tempered glass across its surface and breaks into larger, ultra-sharp fragments. Plus, if a pinball strikes plate glass hard enough, it can crack or break it.

It is physically impossible for temepered glass to break into large shards. The instant the integrity of tempered glass is compromised, it explodes into many thousands of tiny, dull fragments, due to the extreme internal pressure it's under. Here's an article detailing the stuff which you may wish to read through: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toughened_glass

Another good read to learn more about the properties of tempered glass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Rupert%27s_Drop

Kodai wrote:

As far as tempered glass goes, I've (more often than not) seen it break a long, sharp shards. I thank some of you are thinking of safety glass which is also tempered but with extra steps that may include stacked sheets with glue and clear mylar. I have seen tempered glass crumble into smaller, safer bits but not very often.

Your local glassier has been pushing fake products! Get your money back!!

😉

On three ocassions I've seen tempered glass break into long shards. Two were on display cases. One from a bowling ball dropped on top by a careless friend, and the other was my stupid temper and cracked toes on my right foot (was a couple decades ago, live and learn). The third was from an attempted break in through the front security window at my store. Trust me, non of it was plate glass. It was all 1/4" and 1/2" thick tempered glass. But it was all secured under tension. Also the front security window was about 20’ tall, 5' wide, and weighed in at over 450lbs. These types of setting are abnormal and may very well have been the reason it didn't break into smaller, safer parts.

Something to note is the damage to all three were local, and did not spread to the rest of the glass. I'm pretty sure that plate glass would have caused the entire surface to shatter. Besides, the new security window cost almost $6000.00 (this was over 20 years ago), and would not have stood up to its vertically placed location had it been plain old plate glass.