Pulling tubes out of a chassis Hints & Tips

Take care removing tubes from a radio or TV chassis.

If the tube has any white in it, indicating the envelope has a crack, USE A GLOVE! I have cut myself badly a couple of times when the glass broke trying to pull the tube.

Sometimes the glass crack is in the base, like on a miniature, loctal or compactron, and you can't tell it is there without pulling the tube.



Good example that has happened to me 3X now:

Removing tubes from an AA5 2x and a TV 1x- When someone else had soldered a part to the tube socket, the solder also stuck to the tube pin, so it would not come out.
 Yes, the first time not realizing this I literally pulled hard enough to rip the wafer socket out of the radio. , Thankfully it was my own, and I had replacements handy.
 So if the tube does not come out easily, look for a pin soldered to the socket. (I did know of one lazy tech who did this rather than replacing the bad pin on an octal socket.) Loctals can corrode into the socket and can be a PITA under good conditions to remove.

I have seen this mainly on miniature and octal base tubes. So it is a good idea to remove the tube from a socket before soldering to the lug, unless you are very good at soldering.