Degaussers - if you don't have one...make one!

[SirPeale]

My lovely daughter got her hands on some earth magnets and was watching the pretty rainbow colours on our television earlier today.   

After getting tired of people looking green AND purple at the same time, I built a degausser.

I'd read what people had done before me, took that information and built this in about ten minutes.  I'll put finishing touches on it later, like soldering it together and installing some kind of momentary switch.

I've used a corded drill in the past, but it only performs with mediocre results.  I thought I'd eventually break down and purchase one, but this works well for the very few times I'll have to use it.

I used three things in the construction: the degauss coil from an old television, the cord from the same television, and some electrical tape.

I cut the ends off the plug on the coil and stripped the wire back about two inches.  Then I stripped the wire on the cord back about an inch.  I wrapped the wire from the coil around the cord (hence the extra length) and wrapped with electrical tape.

Note to Darwin award seekers: make sure the wires are SEPARATE.  You don't want to connect the two wires together!

The coil is probably roughly rectangular shaped from being around the TV tube.  Get it into as round a shape as possible.  Then twist it into a figure eight, and bring the ends together.  Use zip ties to hold it into a round shape.

Now...you do NOT want to just plug this into a wall.  It will get VERY hot, VERY quickly.  Find some way of having it switched, either by wiring a switch inline, or plugging it into an outlet strip (which is what I did until I can get a proper switch).

I would also wear gloves, unless you can insulate a handle to hold it by.  It gets THAT hot.  It's also a good idea if there's an unseen break in the insulation going around the coil, you don't want to get a nasty shock.

It worked great for me...took the impurity out in seconds.

The biggest problem with making one of these is that you need the degaussing coil from the television.  I'm not sure how you would make one from scratch.

[qrz]

I'm not sure how you would make one from scratch.

 a length of old garden hose ( or other suitable item)  for a circular frame . a 200-500 ( or more) foot spool of 22 ga or smaller magnet wire . (length will vary with wire guage). good electrical tape . pwr cord. a power switch is highly recommended.
various hand tools and time for construction.

note: use more wire for 220v/50hz applications

qrz

[richms]

When we had an issue with a tv with no degauss I just put it infront of another tv which had a working degauss and did that tv, cleard the other one up as well.

[Jimbo]

After getting tired of people looking green AND purple at the same time, I built a degausser.

Wow, nice one!  Please post pics!

[Zebidee]

note: use more wire for 220v/50hz applications
qrz

What do you mean?  In Australia we use 240v and I'd like to know how to do this safetly.  Mind you, you can buy a degauss wand on ebay for $25 (australian) and I have two already, so it isn't a big deal.

[Mauzy]

I don't think you know how happy I am to see this here. I just spent and hour trying to degauss my most recent tube swap, and I was about to take a brick to the tube (that oughta show it). I actually have the old coil from the TV I took the tube out of. As soon as I find a suitable pair of gloves and a power strip, Ill be all over this!

[AndyWarne]

Its worth mentioning that all TVs and monitors have built-in degaussing which activates on power-on. Before resorting to an external de-gausser its worth checking this is working. You may need to switch on the monitor a few times, waiting 15 mins before each switch-on for the de-gaussing to work.

If you need an external, then using a coil from an old monitor or TV is fine, I have one wired-up for this purpose. The correct procedure is place the coil near the CRT, switch it on then pull it away quickly to several feet away then switch off. The whole process should take 10 secs max before the coil melts.

Andy