Removing lettering from Russian TH4B tubes

[Yohan Park]

I've received a few boxes with TH4B tubes which I think look quite nice as coluns.
However, since these are not meant to be used as neon tubes there's printing on them which I have to remove.
I've tried putting the bulb in the usual suspects like alcohol (97%), Acetone and sticker remover GooGone and WD40) but all to no avail.
There's a layer of lacquer protecting the printing which I can scratch off with my finger nail but this is quite tedious and I would like to be able to process many bulbs at one.
Does anyone know how this can be easily removed?
Thanks in advance.

[Nicholas Stock]

I'd try soaking them in either IPA (no, not the beer...)...isopropylalcohol (unless you're referring to that when you say alcohol above)....or, dichloromethane (if you can get hold of it), or paint thinner (mineral spirits). Or hot soapy water may work. I used hot soapy water on some old RFTZ568 tubes many many years ago to remove the red lacquer on the tubes and it worked remarkably well....

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[martin martin]

hi Yohan

Those are very cool!  I looked them up; 400 VDC to glow?!

~

mcve...@gmail.com

On Tue, Jan 5, 2021 at 4:16 PM Yohan Park <w...@kitsunegari.net> wrote:

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[Yohan Park]

Yeah I really like them and they're (still) cheap.
No luckily it doesn't need 400V, it needs 150V DC. I was driving the one in the pictures directly from 230V AC mains with a 51K resistor and a 1N4001 diode.
It works best if you use the cathode (pin 4) and the first grid (pin 3).
I've made a Google translation of the specsheet with my phone:

[Yohan Park]

Oops, I think I got that backwards, should be the anode (pin 1) and the second grid (pin 2)

[Ryan B]

Found this too. 

[Erick Anderson]

Goof Off may be what you need. I've used it to remove lacquer paint and it should work on these tubes as well. It evaporates quickly, so pour a bit on a paper towel and use that to wipe off the lettering.

[Nisei]

Thanks I’ll try that combination as well.
But 1MΩ? I’m almost certain it won’t light up with that value.

 

From: neoni...@googlegroups.com <neoni...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Ryan B
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2021 3:31 PM
To: neonixie-l <neoni...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [neonixie-l] Removing lettering from Russian TH4B tubes

 

Found this too. 

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[Yohan Park]

IPA (which I was referring to as alcohol): nope
Dichloromethane: I've got quite a bunch of chemicals lying around but unfortunately not that
Paint thinner: Yes! I let it sit in a test tube with Naphtha for a while and everything rubs right off!
Thanks.

[Nicholas Stock]

Excellent!

I'm blessed with access to solvents as I'm a chemist by trade.... :)

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[Yohan Park]

Every job comes with its benefits.
I wish I had more jobs ;)
Nice to know you're into chemistry. Always nice to know which people are into what.