To discharge or not to discharge?

[2panther]

I have a 27" Sony TV with component I'd like to use in my project arcade cabinet I'm building but as it stands it won't fit the way I have it built so far. I have read a bunch of threads about people taking the tv's out of their cases and making them a bit smaller so they'll fit in cabinets.

I'm a tad confused about if I need to discharge the tv or not if I'm not going to be servicing or making any kind of repairs to it, just a simple de-casing and mounting. Will the tv be safe to handle without discharging?

Thanks!

[Dr Zero]

Watch your hand placement stear clear of the big suction cup on the top and you should be ok. Oh and watch the back of the tube dont grab it or hit it you could crack it then its toast.

[BurgerKingDiamond]

Be very careful with the small PCB that is attached to the neck of the CRT in the back. I caught my hand on it doing some adjustments inside the cab and it broke the CRT neck. This part of the tube is very fragile (I learned this the hard way). If you break it the whole tube is toast and you're stuck with trying to do a tube swap, or buying a whole new monitor.

[chriso]

What they said - every time you discharge you will damage the AquaDag coating on the back of the tube.
Unless you expose the anode you will be fairly safe.

If you do discharge and remove the anode cap - discharge again - you will again see a pretty blue spark.

Tape over the anode with Gaffa.

The shock might not kill you but the muscular contraction will hurt and your arm might contact sharp bits as it withdraws itself.