How to take apart TV

Do you have an old TV or monitor lying around in your house? You don't want it and planing to throw it away? Well don't! You can make good use of its parts!

Taking apart a TV or a monitor may sound easy, but they can be very dangerous if you are not careful...

This instructable will be your guide of taking apart a TV or a monitor.

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Disclaimer:
Taking apart the TV or monitor can be very dangerous. High voltage presents inside the CRT - even when the power is off! And the CRT is fragile. You could get seriously injured or die. I am NOT responsible what ever happens to you if you take apart the TV or monitor!

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Step 1 Tools...

Okay, go grab your tool box, you may need all sorts of tools to dissemble the TV or monitor...

What I used are:

• Screwdrivers in various types and sizes
• Some types of pliers
• A wire cutter
• A safety goggles

Safety goggles are very important, who knows the CRT may implode while you are busy dissembling the TV or monitor... It is better to be safe than sorry about losing your eyes...

Comments

[science rox]

will this wok for every single old tv? justn to check

[schumi23]

Mostly. They wont have all the same parts, but they will all have a capacitator, and a flyback transformer. Also, the screw will obviously not be in the same place.

[synchr0nize]

This is nuts.

[peckert]

I have a really small TV (the ones which can be operated by batteries). I just want to place it in a different case (together with an old pong clone) to make a pong-station out of it.
If i discharge the tube, for safety reasons, as you described here, will it still work after putting it then in a differnt housing? I don't wanna break it.

[red9er]

what is a flyback transformer? and what can it be used for?

[brady911]

i wanted to point out that the most high voltage can do is burn you from the inside out if you are in contact for long, not kill you. The current is what killsm not the voltage.  It takes 50mA to kill, a CRT transformer only puts out about 20mA to 30mA.  It shouldn't hurt you, but could give severe burns.  I hope this helped you! :)

[dmccormick1]

i touched a capacitor in a TV and it threw me across a room and i was unconscious for a while. my father also touched one, though his was a microwave and it burned a hole in his finger lasted about a year before it healed over. but they can kill you there are countless reports of it happening. its always best to be careful.

[Applez00800]

Actually, lethal current is only around 30mA, but current as low as 20mA has known to kill. It depends mainly on the contact time and what path the current flows through your body(eg. your heart). The cause of death by electrocution is mainly due to the alternating current altering the rhythm of your heart's beat which causes it to freak out and eventually stop. You should probably avoid this. I have always thought it much safer to wear a grounding cord and strap (a bare wire wrapped around your arm with the other end grounded would suffice) on my arm if working with high voltage. At least this will give the electricity a path to follow that isn't through my heart, but instead through my arm and down the wire. I haven't tested this however...

Note that while it's the current that kills in most cases, high voltage can still cause serious and lethal burns to internal organs. This requires more contact time though.

[brady911]

Yes, that's a good point.

[tinstructable]

When I took mine apart, it never made the small *pop* like you mentioned. I did get the suction cup cap off and the vacuum filled, and then took everything else out very carefully. I had it on the day before, why did it not discharge?

[coilsinamotor]

you should have kept the electron gun and took the enamal copper out

[Intercom D]

Hey what do you know about electron guns and where can i find them?

[croslandjr123]

Electron guns can be found in the neck of the CRT (thin glass tube at the back of the CRT, with a circuit board or wires attached to it. However, if you really want it, you will have to break the tube which is highly dangerous because the CRT will implode and you could lose your vision or what from flying glass fragments. Electron guns shoot out red, green and blue electrons in a beam that scan up and down on the screen at a certain rate to create a moving picture. By the way, why would you want one...? Just wondering, cos' they don;t have much use in normal atmospheric pressure lol.

[pfred2]

I'm pretty sure electrons are all the same color and the dots inside the tube are just colored differently. Have a look with a magnifying glass, I just did its freaky!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CRT_color_enhanced.png

From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model

[croslandjr123]

I currently threw all mine away so I can't have a look and really see if your comment is right or not though! :-(

[Jimmy Proton]

you dont have to break the tube to get them, ive had four of them and never broke the tube, all you gotta do is loosen the screw...

[croslandjr123]

Hang on a minute... Are you talking about the deflection yokes with lots of enameled wire on them?

[Jimmy Proton]

o, ya sry, i have gotten one of those but i threw it away, can it be used for anything?

[croslandjr123]

Uh, no not really... Has a lot of enameled wire though... It would be useful if you could get all of it off but it can be rather difficult sometimes.

[Jimmy Proton]

i was talking about the electron guns, i do play with the electromagnets some times tho.

[coilsinamotor]

this is a really cool descution cuz iv taken like 5 tvs apart and i never wondered any bit about that big glass tube.. all know is that theres some reallly high tempaerature coils in there and i use thoes to build coil guns so its grat to learn somethin new thnakx guys :)

[Jimmy Proton]

why didnt you get the electromagnet???

[pfred2]

Do you mean the yoke?

[Jimmy Proton]

Yeah, when i made that comment I didn't know what a yoke was.

[madrobot3600]

where is it?

[Jimmy Proton]

you see in the middle, the coper, thats it. TVs also hide a much more valuable secret though! check out my instructable on how to get tons of free enameled copper wire.

[superrust]

Hey Jimmy in which instructible do you describe this? I've been trying to figure out a good method for awhile.

[Jimmy Proton]

http://www.instructables.com/id/how-to-get-tons-of-free-enameled-copper-wire/

[Computothought]

Just what I needed to know.

[bigbunyip]

wicked information dudes, i got an old tv and a monotor i been dyin 2 rob 4 parts, but haven't been game cos i knew u could get a nasty shock if u don't know what ur doin, so thanks,

[Jimmy Proton]

one day while searching around in my local junk yard i found a really old mini color TV/radio in a van and i took it apart, because the vacuum tube was so small i kept it and i was wondering, could i power it with a MOT or will i burn a hole in the screen?

[AnarchistAsian]

one time, when he was young, my dad made a tv with his friends... and whenever our tv breaks, he fixes it... lol, yay!

[Plasmana]

He... Made... His... Own... TV!?!?! Wow, that is amazing!

[AnarchistAsian]

lol, i told you he was smart!

note, this was back in the 70's-80's, maybe 60's? i forget, but it's still pretty impressive...

[Plasmana]

Yeah, that is really impressive! Do you have a picture that you can show to us?

[AnarchistAsian]

70'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i don't think there's any pictures... all i know is that it's the only tv his family owned... and he made it with his friends... yeah.... he had a cool childhood... they played alot, and made alot of stuff... *sigh* times were simpler then...

[Plasmana]

That is really cool! And yeah, All of the great electronic components are just getting rarer and rarer as we advanced in technology... :-(

[muttyfutty]

Agreed! you Know there going to start replacing the massive transformers in microwaves with some fancy circutry? (I think a boost converter ) Makes me sad just thinking about it...

[Plasmana]

Yep! :-( I also heard they have an safety feature that they will shut off for good if tampered..

[croslandjr123]

OMG! That is so sad... D-; Damn the government and overtaking technology! I just don't want to happen...