Tube Factory for Sale

[seamonkey]

FWIW



http://www.kenrockwell.com/Images/au...be-factory.pdf

Could it be in the US?
this might be an ancient add - I can't find much info on it.

[NoFretsNoWorry]

Very cool!

Tube Trivia: How/why did vacuum tube (valve UK) manufacturing survive in USSR and Asia, but NOT in the USA?

During the cold war, vacuum tube tech was thought to be the most resistant to EMP (electro magnetic pulse) of nuclear weapons!

So they kept the factories going, even when transistors (EMP sensitive) took over in the rest of the world market place.

A general in the Air Force told me that circa 1995!

BONUS: it saved the musicians from having to pay way too much for tubes these days!

[seamonkey]

Sorry, I Don't believe it.

USSR was just way behind in manufacturing semiconductors. They just couldn't build Solid-State.
Even their own EMP tests knocked out tube equipment, radar and radios.

Electromagnetic Pulse - Soviet Test 184 - EMP

What kept the vacuum tube industry alive in other countries was telephone equipment. As the US upgraded to SS equipment, the old tube telephone exchanges were shipped to countries trying to set up initial telephone infrastructures. It just took a few more decades for those coutries to start to upgrade to our levels. Today, forget it, you can't have reliable internet over tubes.

Tubes were cheaper for musicians because they too came from telephone equipment. Look up the schematics. Same audio tubes were used.

[NoFretsNoWorry]

Sorry you don't believe it. You really don't have to.

I do like your info re: telephone tech! Very interesting and probably also contributed to the continued manufacturing of tubes abroad.

No electronic is EMP "proof", but tubes are generally EMP resistant under certain conditions and the soviets knew this.

My friend, a retired general (good friend to my father, a retired colonel) form the Air Force told me this. He was an engineer, and studied soviet tech at that time. He had no reason to make this stuff up.

PEACE

[seamonkey]

Oh No, I'm not saying a retired General made stuff up.

We have more information now on historical events in parts of the world we didn't have before.
Even recently, Military Intelligence may not have all the information right. i.e. WMD? ***?

Turns out that Soviets tested EMP on tube gear and it failed. This was at a time before the Soviets had semiconductor technology. The physical tube may survive but the circuitry doesn't.

It doesn't really matter today, Tubes used for MI and Audio have no modern military use. This tube factory would be good for audio tubes only.

[mongo2]

Originally Posted by NoFretsNoWorry

Very cool!

Tube Trivia: How/why did vacuum tube (valve UK) manufacturing survive in USSR and Asia?

During the cold war, vacuum tube tech was thought to be the most resistant to EMP (electro magnetic pulse) of nuclear weapons!

So they kept the factories going, even when transistors (EMP sensitive) took over in the rest of the world market place.

Truth.

[hdracer]

A tube factory in California?
Gee, I wounder why it is shut down?

[JTE]

Another reason tube manufacturing survived outside the US, GB, etc. was that the USSR and PRC didn't worry about pesky things like toxic chemicals getting into the ecosystem...

John

[BogeyBass]

They make tubes in Russia and China because the labor is cheaper.

You can use old equipment to make 10 tubes at once, but the cost of the electricity and natural gas and labor. Makes it extremely slow and very costly. Having a good set of production managers helps too. Since owning old RCA equipment doesn't mean you will get a RCA tube. Alot more to it than that.

Investing in the equipment and paying the operating cost is expensive for anyone. But the cost of American labor and the cost of taxes makes it impossible to keep up with Russian and Chinese companys.

Making 10 tubes at once would further eat up cost, that is why many have relied on Russians and Chinese because they invested in more modern cost effective production lines. And even if you invested in modern equipment......again Labor cost would put you out of business.

Most likely a modern production line spit out 100 tubes in the time it took to write this. You could spend the next 3 months trying to find qualified people to run this equipment. Guarantee you, They wont work for 3 bucks an hour. Nevermind the fact that most of the plates and mica spacers you would buy to make the tubes come from.........Russia. Most likely from the same factory that makes hundreds of tubes way before you made your 10. Most likely under the supervision of a Russian engineer thats been doing it for 20 years+