[Captainhemo]

Apparently , "the tube store" recently  visited the Shuguang factory in China and filmed the build process of a Shuguang EL34B
http://thetubestore.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=276a96b978e58436375924228&id=a4a6ef460f&e=5a877cdb98

jay

[FullRangeMan]

Thanks for posting, the second video is very interesting.

[JakeJ]

I like it!  The process of flashing the getter always amazes me.  Would be neat to see close ups in many shots during the three videos.  Longer and more detail, please.

Thanks for posting.

[newzooreview]

Wow. You can really see the lack of quality control in action. There seems to be hardly any attention given to consistency in any step of the process. It would be interesting to compare this to a top notch tube production facility back in the 50s and 60s.

[FullRangeMan]

For the camera they made a special effort.

[FullRangeMan]

It would be interesting to compare this to a top notch tube production facility back in the 50s and 60s.

Mullard skip to 10 minures:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCWejeRR_s

[newzooreview]

Here's how it used to be done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-JzxX75oYc&feature=youtu.be&t=11m48s

"Here in the Western Electric vacuum tube plant, each operator is a skilled craftsman."

Jigs to provide precise, reproducible alignment. Machine tools to perform all operations needing reproducibility of high tolerances (e.g. almost all steps). Records kept over years tracking the long-term performance of randomly sampled tubes.

[newzooreview]

@FullRangeMan

Here's the Mullard movie starting at the point of the factory production footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCWejeRR_s&feature=youtu.be&t=9m4s

[newzooreview]

Jumping ahead on the Mullard movie, this link starts after the lengthy discussion of refining the tungsten wire:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WCWejeRR_s&feature=youtu.be&t=16m51s

[FullRangeMan]

Unfortunately WE records were unable to register how to make a 300B sound equal to the old days.

[newzooreview]

It doesn't look like the modern tube production was much better off in the former Eastern bloc compared to China. This is from 1998, so nearly two decades on it's likely much much better. It would almost have to be. But I would think that without carefully machined production equipment to maintain tight tolerances, an operation like this or Shuguang can only approximate (unreliably) the quality of a tube made in the old factories.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcRTGVenN9U

It kind of looks like what the Professor might end up doing if Gilligan asked him to make some tubes for the defunct ship's radio.

[FullRangeMan]

Iam not referring to Sino factories, I mean say WE modern production 300B is very different sound to the vintage tubes, let alone time life.

[Captainhemo]

It kind of looks like what the Professor might end up doing if Gilligan asked him to make some tubes for the defunct ship's radio.

 Too funny

Love the old Mullard videos.

Do you guys figure the employees in the  tube factories over in China are paid  low wages like we typically hear about over there ?

-jay

[FullRangeMan]

There is videos on YT from employees of these factories stating that the average salary is 30 USD per month.
Labor regime is 12hs per day, every day, there is no weekend there.

[Captainhemo]

Pretty brutal... approx  $1 / day
You'd think at that rate, these factoyies would  be more inclined to worry about  QC and go the extra mile.. OTOH,  , it's easy to see how the  workers aren't overly concerned about  it.

At those rates, it's quite  amazing they turn  out a functioning product at all.

jay

[newzooreview]

OTOH,  , it's easy to see how the  workers aren't overly concerned about  it.
At those rates, it's quite  amazing they turn  out a functioning product at all.

They should certainly be paid more, and their hours she be humane. But I think they are doing a very good job considering a) the lack of precision equipment; b) little support for stringent quality controls; and c) lack of knowledge or training.

For what it's worth, factory wages in China average about $690/month: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/wages-in-manufacturing

I would be happy to pay twice as much per tube if the quality were better. This would require investing in equipment and materials that can produce better tolerances and reproducibility on the results, and it would require the factories testing and rejecting more carefully.

[FullRangeMan]

Pretty brutal... approx  $1 / day
You'd think at that rate, these factoyies would  be more inclined to worry about  QC and go the extra mile.. OTOH,  , it's easy to see how the  workers aren't overly concerned about  it.

At those rates, it's quite  amazing they turn  out a functioning product at all.

jay

The doorkeeper of my condo earns $13 usd for each 12 hour duty service.