21FBP22 rebuilds moving to PA - Videokarma.org TV - Video

Charlie · #1 12-29-2004, 04:49 AM

I got the following email from Video Display Corp in Dallas yesterday. It looks like there will be no more rebuilding done here in Texas. Of course, I was disappointed because I was planning on taking a couple of duds to Dallas in a few weeks when I get home from the ship. Looks like I will be a day late and a dollar short!

Sounds like the 21FBP guns will be moving to PA, so, if any of you guys up that way are looking to get any CRT's rebuilt, looks like you'll have a place a little closer to home.

The message from Phil is as follows...

Charlie,

Hope this finds you well this holiday season.

Over the past few years, Video Display has taken great measures to consolidate it's manufacturing facilities and reduce overhead. Continuing with this plan, the Dallas plant's CRT production and shipping has been reassigned to our White Mills, Pa. facility. All shipping and rebuilding of direct view CRTs will be done there.

Effective January 28, 2005, we will no longer occupy the building in Dallas. Transfer of all equipment and inventory will completed before that date. Any CRTs for rebuilding must be sent to our White Mills, Pa. facility.

Sales and customer service phone numbers remain the same.
214 638-1993, 800 323-9278, and fax 214 637-6604
email remains vdcdallas@aol.com

Thanks for your past business, and contact me with any questions.
Phil Frierson
VDC

Carmine · #2 12-29-2004, 08:28 AM

That could be bad... What if the guy who has been "user friendly" doesn't move to PA and his replacement considers old-TVs to be worthless junk?

Of course, better PA than China.

bgadow · #3 12-29-2004, 09:12 AM

This does make rebuilding the dud I have more of a possibility. Maybe on a future road trip I could go through that way. I'd hate to have to crate & ship it.

Charlie · #4 12-29-2004, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carmine

That could be bad... What if the guy who has been "user friendly" doesn't move to PA and his replacement considers old-TVs to be worthless junk?

Of course, better PA than China.

I had thought of this as well. I plan on contacting Phil to see if he'll be able to put in a good word for us and our roundies. It sounds like he will be remaining in Dallas and handling the phone calls. He's a really good guy to deal with, and I would think he would let the folks in PA know of our clan and how much this means to us.

Charlie · #5 12-29-2004, 10:29 AM

I called just now and spoke to Phil. He says that there have been many things discussed between the two facilities about moving their operation. We, here at AK, were one of the issues discussed. Phil had explained what he calls a "custom job" of rebuilding these roundies to the guys in PA. From what he tells me, the folks in PA are aware of us and should have no problem taking care of us. He plans on bringing this issue up again to them, and told me he'll let me know the outcome of it. For the most part, though, we should have no problem. If we need a tube rebuilt, we are to continue to contact him at the Dallas phone number and he will be the one to handle the "customer service" end of it. So, sounds like he has kept us in mind and plans on helping us as we need it. Only difference is that the tube will be rebuilt in PA instead of TX.

He was also aware that I was planning to bring a couple of duds to him in January, and told me he had planned to save some guns. As long as I get there before the end of the month, he'll be able to take care of me. That there tells me that he hasn't forgotten about us.

For many of you guys, this move to PA should be a big help since so many of you live in the northern states.

When you consider how large this company really is, it's great to know that they have someone there to think about us little guys!

Carmine · #6 12-29-2004, 02:54 PM

Yeah, that's pretty good customer service in this day and age! Almost makes me want to find the "right" roundie and have the tube re-built!

Tony V · #7 12-30-2004, 01:21 AM

Hi Charlie,
Thanks for keeping us posted on this latest news. I know for me this is good news and for the guys that this move will make it further for them to get this service done..we still have the AK Pony Express set up so that should still help to get theirs done also. I'm glad that we were concidered in this transition and this will keep the possibility of more roundies to be kept in service for years to come.
-Tony

Charlie · #8 01-14-2005, 05:04 AM

Guys,

I've received another email from Phil, and then spoke to him on the phone concerning rebuilds. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it turns out that the VDC plant in PA has decided they aren't going to take care of our roundie tubes.

Phil told me he lobbied for us as much as he could, but it seems that the plant up there is a very large operation... producing as many as 1000 CRT's per day (the Dallas facility doesn't even come close to this number). Apparently, they feel our needs are way too small in the whole scheme of things.

Phil thought for sure the guys in PA would come thru for us. He has seen our sets on AK, and I have sent him photos of mine operating after installing his rebuilds. He's really been fascinated at the time and care we put into our sets, and also the quality pictures they produce. He had hoped for us to have a place to turn to when we needed a tube. When I spoke to him, he was just as disappointed to give me the news as I was to hear it.

The following is the message that Phil sent me...

Charlie,

The final determination has been made that our White Mills, PA location WILL NOT do "custom rebuilds" of antique CRTs such as 21FJP22 and 21FBP22.

Unfortunately, this means that Video Display will no longer offer these types.

Any questions, please call or email.

Thanks,
Phil Frierson
Video Display Dallas
800 323-9278

I am just as disappointed as you guys are. Phil did a great job rebuilding the three tubes I brought him at what I considered to be a very fair price. I had two others lined up to bring to him this week, but, it turns out that won't happen.

From what Phil explained to me, the closing of the Dallas facility is due to the lower demand of CRT's. The toobs produced here in the States go to a wide variety of items... arcade games, airport monitors, bowling alley monitors... just to name a few. Until now, television repair had been in this list as well.

In televisions, these tubes were mainly used for warranty work. If your set blew a tube during the warranty, the replacement tube originated from Video Display Corp. But now, these televisions are so damn cheap, the manufacturer simply gives the consumer a new set instead of paying someone to replace the faulty tube. The fact that we now have LCD televisions lessens the demand for replacement CRT's even more.

If you guys have looked at standard TV prices lately, you'll know what I mean. I had browsed the TV department of Best Buy a couple of months ago. They had 25" black boxes for roughly $150.00! Imagine that... $150 bucks for a 25" color TV! I'm guessing that a repair shop would charge at least that much to change a CRT! No wonder companies simply replace the set with a new one during the warranty period.

All of this stems down to one thing... importing goods from other countries. Kinda gives ya a warm fuzzy feeling in your heart... doesn't it?!

jstout66 · #9 01-14-2005, 06:19 AM

Charlie, I hear ya! I sure miss the days when you could call a distributor and get whatever picture tubes you needed. I remember a time when our RCA supplier had a sale on 25XP22's for $29.99 I remember as late as 1981, you could get 21FJP22's for $75.00 and that was for a Sylvania tube! Electronics sure have become a throwaway item. I had a recent problem with something new. I got a Toshiba 13" TV/DVD combo for my office. It saw light use and just went dead after 3 months. I took the back off to see if it was something simple (it wasn't) and noticed that the picture tube was an "Orion" from China. WTH??? Are makers not even using good tubes anymore? I thought that set would have a Toshiba "Blackstripe" brand. Anyway... I took the set back and got a new one. Took it out of the box and the tv worked, but the DVD portion was dead. I took it back and just got my money back. I was laughing tho when it didn't work because I could hear my late grandpa yelling and telling me "that's what you get for getting a combo unit!" When we had the shop he did NOT believe in combo anything at ALL!

Charlie · #10 01-14-2005, 06:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstout66

I was laughing tho when it didn't work because I could hear my late grandpa yelling and telling me "that's what you get for getting a combo unit!" When we had the shop he did NOT believe in combo anything at ALL!

Yeah, many of the guys here on the ship with me have combo units in their rooms... mainly because we have limited space. I always recommend not buying the combo units to them. For the ones that do, they usually find that they crap out within a year... or at least half of the unit does. Then they wise up and buy individual units.

As far as the CRT rebuilding goes, does anyone else know anyone that does rebuild these tubes and how much they charge? Phil told me a guy named Hawkeye does it in Iowa... and I think I've heard some guys here mention him. Anyone here have any past business experience with him? Does he do the job in a timely manner? Anyone know his prices or have his phone number?

Is there anyone else that does this other than Hawkeye?

jstout66 · #11 01-14-2005, 07:25 AM

Charlie, I talked to the guy at Hawkeye about a year ago. I'm in Omaha, they are in Des Moines. ABout a 21/2 hour drive. They will rebuild with a dud. Here's their site. http://www.hawkeyepicturetube.com/

Carmine · #12 01-14-2005, 07:52 AM

Thanks Charlie for your efforts.

Even though I don't have a pressing need to have a tube rebuilt at the moment, it was nice to know that I could still get it done for what I believe to be a very fair price. I'm not super "attached" to any of my current roundie sets, but if I came across a few like Doug has, I'd probably rebuild the tube just to have the set at peak performance.

All of these throw-away junk sets pi**-me off on so many levels. First the slave-labor wages paid to the people who build them, while the factory owners run around the streets of Bejing in knock-off Mercedes-Benz's, the manufacturing chemical byproducts that get dumped in the Yang-see river, the eyesore bad looks of them in our homes, and the space those pieces of junk take up in our landfills within a few years. Now I can add "economically unfeasible" to rebuild CRTs to my list of complaints!

Yesterday I saw new TVs in the candy/checkout isle of my local grocery store!!!

I've heard that Hawkeye only does B&W tubes... Many somebody who has done business with Hawkeye could tell them to get in touch with Phil at Video Display and see if they could buy up their remaining guns and roundie-specific tooling? Must be a business case to be made here even if the price goes up a bit. I never thought Hemi 'cudas would be selling for $1 million, so who knows?

Chad Hauris · #13 01-14-2005, 09:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstout66

Charlie, I hear ya! I sure miss the days when you could call a distributor and get whatever picture tubes you needed. I remember a time when our RCA supplier had a sale on 25XP22's for $29.99 I remember as late as 1981, you could get 21FJP22's for $75.00 and that was for a Sylvania tube!

Sure wish I would've been older back then in the early 80's, could have bought enough crt's to keep all my sets working with brand new CRT's for a lifetime!
Sometimes I worry about what it will be like in, say, 30 years as far as buying replacement parts to keep my equipment operating...I doubt anything built then will use conventional electrolytic caps, transistors or diodes, etc. At least now we still can go to a distributor and get brand new 450 volt electrolytics or orange drops.

It is amazing how much 2000's model equipment we are seeing brought in for repairs or being brought to the recycling days. It seems like in the mid-late 90's most of the late 70's early 80's stuff that was the last really reliable equipment had given up the ghost and been replaced by the really cheap stuff..in many cases this new equipment such as DVD players, TV's, combination units, CD players, etc. is only lasting for 3 years or so before it develops problems. Some of its construction is REALLY cheap, like using a TO-220 transistor for a horizontal output transistor.

andy · #14 01-14-2005, 09:38 AM

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Chad Hauris · #15 01-14-2005, 10:13 AM

I hope that the 21" round tube doesn't suffer the fate of the 15GP22 regarding rebuildability (I know the 21" doesn't have the vacuum leak problems of the 15"). Seems like there have been people trying to rebuild the 15GP22 but they have run into a lot of problems because they're having to retrofit/rebuild parts. Has there ever been a rebuilt 15GP22, or were the replacement tubes available in the RCA distributer's stock through the 70's just new old stock units built in the 50's and never used?