Got this all at a garage sale for $65
Did I do good /diy/?
Never really done anything with tubes, but each box was $20 and there has to be atleast 50 in each box, and looking a couple up ranged from $5-$20ea on ebay. They had atleast 10 more boxes exactly the same, and 20 more radios of different types ranging from $25-$45. Should I go back for more tomorrow? Maybe buy in bulk and strike a deal?
>>1006693
can you feed those to your children when you can't afford to buy groceries?
Well as someone with a massive erection my advice might not be the best
BUT YES GO BACK AND BUY AS MUCH AS YOU CAN AFFORD
get em in bulk steampunks will be all over that shit
i recommend when selling look up the normal price but sell it for like 2-5 more and then in the title say RETRO STEAMPUNK VINTAGE stuff like that make the title clickbait as fuck
>>1006706
This is what I came to say
TV Tubes and some of the more obscure tubes are fucking worthless. And there are a ton of them out there. Thats why they are going for 5-20$ on ebay. And just because thats how they are listed, doesnt mean people are buying them.
You had better know what you are buying if you are gonna blow hundreds of dollars.
Nobody wants that garbage, and you missed the huge "pay retarded amounts of money for tubes on Ebay" market that existed in 2008
>>1006706
Like lube?
Op here. I think you guys got confused about pricing. One box = 30-50 random tubes, not $20 per tube. Also the majority of these tubes look to be audio tubes. They say "radio" on the side of them. The people having the garage sale collect old radios, so I don't know why they would have a bunch of TV tubes laying around. I can post more pictures when I get home from work.
What about the radios? Are they a dead end? The lady said most are on working condition. I feel like I could get a really good dollar if I fix up the broken ones even.
>>1006797
>. The people having the garage sale collect old radios, so I don't know why they would have a bunch of TV tubes laying around
Thats even fucking worse, so the people who have been buying any and everything tube related from garage sales/estate sales know exactly what they have and what its worth.
You are gonna go buy 10 more boxes of these tubes and will never EVER come close to making your money back after spending a retarded amount of time trying to sell them online.
These people have taken every single tube of value and kept them. If they had any radios with potential for real value, they wouldnt be selling them for 25$. This isnt some sort of grab bag where there is hidden treasure.
Just because it has tubes in it, doesnt mean its quality or that its valuable. The whole "lets convert every tube radio into a guitar amp" fad died very quickly 7 or 8 years ago. Companies jumped on it and buying new tube equipment isnt hard.
If you think this is fun, go ahead. You arent gonna make a lot of profit by buying the scraps from someone who is knowledgeable in the field.
Its like buying big boxes of baseball cards for cheap from a card store and expecting to find a rookie Mantle card.
>>1006797
>I think you guys got confused about pricing.
Doesn't look like that to me.
>They say "radio" on the side of them.
They seem to be saying mostly "electron tube" which covers pretty much all uses. Or Radiotron, which was just RCAs trademark and not limited for radio use. Also, it's not like TV tubes are somehow fundamentally different from the other tubes, it's just that the most tubes optimized for TVs have relatively little value in audio equipment. Why force IF tubes to amplify audio, when tubes optimized for audio use are easy to find and relatively cheap?
>Also the majority of these tubes look to be audio tubes.
Dunno about the majority, but the type designators I can see are mainly for stuff you see in TVs, like damper diodes and tubes for IF amplifiers. Also, the tubes in your typical radio are mostly for handling RF, not audio.
>I don't know why they would have a bunch of TV tubes laying around
Because people who repaired radios were likely to repair TVs as well. Your typical tube TV had much more tubes than your typical tube radio and there was more variation between TV sets as well. Thus, your random maintenance guy was likely to have more tubes meant for TVs.
>>1006693
If there are any 12AU7 or 12AX7 tubes in there, you just scored.
>>1006974
lol
>>1006797
if the tube numbers start with anything other than 1, 6, 12, 14, 17, 18, 35, or 50 they are probably TV tubes (does not matter what the box says).
The most common radio tubes start with 1, 6, 12, 35, and 50.
12ax7 tubes can be worth a lot, but only certain brands and types.
>>1006797
>I feel like I could get a really good dollar if I fix up the broken ones even
at the prices you quoted you would only break even (maybe).
Octal AA5 radios used:
Converter: 12SA7
IF amplifier: 12SK7
Detector and first audio amplifier: 12SQ7
Audio power output: 50L6
Rectifier: 35Z5
Miniature tube AA5's used:
Converter: 12BE6
IF amplifier: 12BA6
Detector and first audio amplifier: 12AV6 or 12AT6
Audio power output: 50C5 or the less-common 50B5
Rectifier: 35W4
I salvaged a bunch of tubes from a wrecked organ that I couldn't just leave alone. Let me crawl out of bed and post a model number. But first, what's a sweet little project I can make from tubes to test that they work? I saw a mini amp kit, but it was like 80 bucks. I already have tubes, so that just seems too expensive. I basically want to make something easy, then sell off the tubes for a fat wad and buy a tube amp maybe. I'd love to wave the wad in front of the assholes that wrecked the organ.
>>1007124
Muh_tubes.jpg
6SN7
GTB
I think the kit I saw used 2 of these types. Also, how can I safely bend the crooked leads straight? Pliers and patience?
>>1007124
>>1007127
unless it is a kit, there is no such thing as an "easy tube amp".
Unless you have some VERY rare tubes (not likely) you are not going to make a "wad" of cash.
Bending the pins back may work or they may break, no way to tell till you try it.
Pic related (some of my collection).
>>1007124
>project I can make from tubes to test that they work
Astable multivibrator?
Those are low power tubes, so you'd need other tubes as well if you wanted to build an amplifier. Amplifiers also need (quite expensive) transformers.
>>1007124
>project I can make from tubes to test that they work
buy a tube tester eico 625
>>1007130
>>1007139
>>1007145
I got about 30 of them. I only had a screwdriver and the dumpster was sketchy to the max, so I didn't gut the transformer or anything else other than a foot switch and the speakers.
I've seen the tubes on ebay for $20, I figure $10x30= store bought tube amp. I'd rather DIY, but wage slavery kills the free time and my soul. God willing I can quit in 18 months and work from home day trading in my underwear again.
I don't know about getting a tube tester since this is probably a one off project. :/
OP here
Went back and bought another radio
Also fuck you negative nancys, I think these tubes are pretty rad. I didn't just buy this stuff to make money, I'd like to actually get into tubes.
>>1007149
>I've seen the tubes on ebay for $20
Is that asking price or actually sold price? I buy tubes off of ebay and rarely pay more than $9 for any tube, I usually pay about $3 for the tubes in the picture above.
![20160611_111632[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/VTn9pWr.jpg "20160611_111632[1].jpg")
>>1007155
I think it be the bees knees to turn one into an alarm clock, controlled with a arduino and use some of these nixies for a display
>>1007158
Sold price. Pointless to look at listing prices when trying to find a value for an item
>>1007155
That Airline is nice looking but the 250 to 450 band is not used anymore.
>>1007155
I started collecting and fixing radios in 2012, You are not going to make any money at it unless you do full restoration: refinish the radio to original standards and replace the bad capacitors and resistors with modern equivalents but keep the original look of the components.
Collect because you like something, never to make money.
>>1007164
Neat info, but false. It's easy to make money off of collecting pretty much anything. The more you collect it, the more you know about it, the more you know about prices, handling, sources ect.
>>1007166
yes, but the market for old radios is all over the place right now. Because of ebay there is a flood of radios. Radios that once were rare are now common. There are dreamers and shills galore driving the prices up and morons who do not know what they are buying.
Audiophools are ruining the hobby for those of us who work on radios for fun, taking once mundane and cheep tubes and inflating the prices because of "that tube sound".
There are people who make lots of money at this, but they spend all their time doing it and have either mad skills or are liars and cheats.
Take this guy for instance :http://www.ebay.com/usr/radios10467?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
makes a killing at selling old radios, but he has an army of shills and he lies about the condition of his radios, yet he has a pile of followers that would sell their left nut for the stuff he sells. he combs the radio shows and buys up anything the "looks" good, starts the bidding low and shills the price up.
So yes the more you collect the more you know, and the more you realize that you have to have exceptional pieces to make money and those are getting harder and harder to find for reasonable money.
Buy to resel, then repeat. Nothing worth listening to comes over radio any more making old shit nothing but shelf decorations.
OP should part those out for monies. Selling if you "do it yourself" is /diy/.
>>1007155
>I didn't just buy this stuff to make money, I'd like to actually get into tubes.
That's not what you said.
>>1007192
OP never said in OP that he was trying to make money, he was just asking if he got a good deal.
>>1007159
That sounds kinda cool
Would definitely be different
>>1007174
I had a very good Idea for takeing a certain type of old radio and modifying it to be something that most people might find useful, I made 3 examples, took them to swap meets. everyone who saw them thought they were "cool" and "a neat idea".... Nobody would buy them unless I priced them to about half of what I had put in to them (and that was not alot).
I bought nice looking $10-$20 tube radios, added my magic (which cost $15 to $20) and then marked them up to between $60 and $75 an amount that if your calculate for labor meant that I would break even.... No dice "too expensive".
>>1006700
>steampunks
kill yourself
>>1007210
The answer is that on the tubes he got a good deal if there are some useful tubes in there. As for the radio that was maybe a little high if it was broken, about right if it works.
>>1006700
nixie tubes aren't steampunk.
>>1007127
>>1007130
>bent pin
If the vacuum is still good, maybe just extend all the pins so the tube can fit the socket without bending anything?
>>1007231
Yeah, that price point isn't going to sell at a swap meet. You're competing with purpose-built cheap chinese novelties there.
>>1006693
See if you can use any to make X-rays!
http://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/xray1.html
>>1007240
>Yeah, that price point isn't going to sell at a swap meet. You're competing with purpose-built cheap chinese novelties there.
not that kind of a swap meet.
>>1006695
kek
>>1006693
good, good. you can use them to repair/restore old tvs and radios all day.
>tv and radio tubes are virtually worthless
feels good man
>>1006715
>says he spent $65
>blow hundreds of dollars
>>1007492
>if you are gonna blow hundreds of dollars
>if
You know, OP says he has an opportunity to buy 10 more boxes of tubes and 20 radios and he's asking whether he should buy more.
Only go back if you plan on selling.
Don't become a hoarder, as when you pass on your relatives will have to organise a garage sale and sell them by the box load.
>>1007159
Were they selling those at the sale too? If they were you should have bought all they had.
