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Author Topic: Xenon Cathodes Chase Pickett Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Irving, Texas, USA Registered: Nov 2010 posted 12-02-2010 08:25 PM                     Does anyone else recycle the tungsten from their bulbs? Seems to be a foreign idea to anyone I've talked to but there is a significant amount, especially in those bigger bulbs.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-02-2010 11:01 PM                     I know several people that used to save them but ended up tossing them because the recycled tungsten price was not worth all the effort. Sometimes there are other alloys mixed in with the tungsten and some of them may also be doped with radio active Thorium.... Mark  |  IP: Logged Chase Pickett Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Irving, Texas, USA Registered: Nov 2010 posted 12-02-2010 11:10 PM                     It does take some time to collect enough to make the trip to the recycling center. I don't know if different bulb manufactures use different alloys but the LTI bulbs which we use are about 85% according to the recycling center. The price of Tungsten varies on a daily basis, but I usually get $15-$20 per pound. It's not a huge amount but it does pay for some extra supplies every now and again. I haven't heard about the thorium though. I'll let you know if I begin sprouting random bits from that exposure.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 12-03-2010 04:39 AM                     Burn 4 to 6K LTI bulbs in your digital units and you can fill the gas tank per visit to the recycle.  |  IP: Logged Chase Pickett Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Irving, Texas, USA Registered: Nov 2010 posted 12-03-2010 06:15 AM                     That's the only thing I like about our sony 4k  |  IP: Logged Tony Bandiera Jr Film God Posts: 3067 From: Moreland Idaho Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-03-2010 12:57 PM                     I'm sure things are different now, but in the late 80's when I was a tech with RCA, I used to collect all the old bulbs that theatres didn't want, have a lot of fun breaking them, then saving the electrodes. After accumulating close to 200lbs of tungsten, I couldn't find ANY places here in the L.A. area that would recycle them!! They ended up in the trash. Nowadays I don;t service enough theatres to resume the collection effort, and don't know if there are any places accepting tungsten here either.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 12-04-2010 09:47 AM                     Ha Ha Tony! I'm laughing WITH you not AT you, because I did something very similar once. Also, I remember back in the good 'ol carbon arc days, we'd save the copper drippings from the carbons. Over the course of a year we'd wind up with several coffee cans full of copper nodules. Once a year someone from the union would go around to all the theaters & collect the cans. I think all the money was donated to either the Will Rodgers fund or some children's hosptial. Also, I do think the cathodes contain a small amount of thorium. I can get a reading off of an old one with a geiger counter, but it's not much above the background radation level.  |  IP: Logged Chase Pickett Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Irving, Texas, USA Registered: Nov 2010 posted 12-04-2010 01:10 PM                     Are you sure it's thorium? It would make sense if it is but the cathode also goes through beta decay while operating. Ionizing it to a small extent.  |  IP: Logged Jim Cassedy Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1661 From: San Francisco, CA Registered: Dec 2006 posted 12-05-2010 09:50 AM                     quote: Chase Pickett Are you sure it's thorium? No. But I get a definite hit on the counter, and I seem to recall reading in a detailed technical paper about the manufacturing of Xenon lamps that the there was a small amount of it (thorium) in the the cathodes, but I don't remember why. (I don't remember why it was used in cathodes, not why I read the paper! ) I know for sure thorium was used to dope the filaments in incandescant light bulbs and high-power vacuum tubes. In the case of the vacuum tubes it facilitated electron emission. Perhaps it it was used for a similar reason in Xenon cathodes.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 12-05-2010 11:29 AM                        All I know is that it (thorium) migrates and is necessary to get the bulb started. (bad series of events with Hanovia when they bought Strong.) Louis  |  IP: Logged System Notices Forum Watchdog / Soup Nazi Posts: 215 Registered: Apr 2004 posted 07-07-2012 11:51 AM                 It has been 580 days since the last post.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-07-2012 11:51 AM                     Just recycled a bunch of old lamps today. We were cleaning out the booth at the Tom Ridge Center and I ended up with nine old, dead 6,000 watt lamps. Took them home and busted them in the garage. Used a large screwdriver and a hammer. Just punched the screwdriver through the cardboard box and the foam rubber until it contacted the glass. One rap with a hammer on the handle of the screwdriver and, "Pop!" Wearing a pair of leather work gloves and some eye goggles, took the hammer and busted all the glass away from the metal. Separated the tungsten from the steel and put the glass chips in the trash. Each lamp had about a 1/2 kg. of tungsten. Ended up with a little under 8 lb. There was about 2 lb. of stainless steel in the lot. The scrapyard pays for stainless by the ton. Only got about a dollar for that but the tungsten brought $8.00/lb. The whole project made $65.00. Split the proceeds 50/50 with the boss. The rest goes into the projection booth slush fund. Just don't tell the guy at the scrapyard that the tungsten might be doped.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 07-07-2012 12:31 PM                     Heard that the anode ends are the ones you want to recycle where the cathode ends, being laced with thorium .. just toss them.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 07-07-2012 01:43 PM                     They didn't differentiate. I put everything in a plastic bucket and just handed them over. Anodes, cathodes, the rods and all. I gave the bucket to the guy at the scale and said, "Tungsten." He didn't know what it was so he called the supervisor. He took one of the pieces out of the bucket, tossed it in his hand to feel the weight and looked it over. "Yup, tungsten," he said. They listed it as "Tungsten/Carbide" on the scale ticket. Knowing that some or all of it was either alloyed or doped, I didn't quibble. I checked prices for scrap metal on the internet before I took the stuff in. The market price for "tool grade" tungsten-carbide is about $12.00/lb. Low grade "scrap/other" is about $9.00 or $10.00/lb Taking into account the scrapyard's overhead, I got 80% of the scrap price or 70% of the tool grade price. Not a bad deal for either side when it all comes out in the wash. Like I said, since I know what the content of that metal is likely to be, I was not about to make a stink over $2.00/lb. I took my money and got the hell out of there. I didn't even ask for my bucket back, seeing as it was radioactive.  |  IP: Logged Bill Enos Film God Posts: 2081 From: Richmond, Virginia, USA Registered: Apr 2000 posted 07-08-2012 06:50 AM                     The 6192F melting temp of tungsten might be a detriment to its recycling.  |  IP: Logged

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