China Grand Tour 2009
Shuguang Vacuum Tube Factory
Report By Steven R. Rochlin
Welcome to perhaps
the largest vacuum tube factory in the world! Shuguang manufactures 40 percent of the world's tubes. They make more than 30
different types of power output tubes alone, plus of course many preamplifier, rectifier and others. They have eight production lines
operating today that are only making power tubes. A total of 4800 small signal tubes can be manufactured each
day!
Upon walking through the entrance, seeing this
display and being met by their staff, i felt like Charlie as he walked into
the entrance of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. There was so little to see
and so much time. Scratch that, reverse it. In fact during the tour i was
waiting for one of the workers to turn and say to me "We are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of
dreams.".
Here is one of those burn in racks with 572B
glowing in all their glory! These are high-frequency tubes for medical
purposes, yet i wish they could be my new winter holiday display with the
family sitting around them all aglow as we sing merry songs and drink our
favorite beverage.
Up close and personal with a 572B tube.
Here is a 5AR4 before it is inserted into a
glass envelope.
So how do they attach the various bits of a
tube together? Well, am glad you asked.
Inspection of the final assembly under a microscope. Adjustments can be made as needed.
Heating the lower glass to then seal the bottom section.
This is a modern, proprietary vacuum machine
that Shuguang's employee invented! It is said to produces a vacuum 100x more than the older Russian variety.
Wong Yue Rong (right) and Ian Grant of Grant
Fidelity. Wong Yue Rong is the chief technical officer of the
factory and designed the very special vacuum machine seen to the right.
By comparison here is 1927 American tube vacuum machine. My guess is that it came from the RCA factory.
While it does function, it is here more as a historic piece is my guess.
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