Make Magazine has a link to and discussion about Claude Paillard who makes his own vacuum tubes. Not only that, he makes the machines, tools, and equipment he needs to make the vacuum tubes. The site has a link to a 17 minute video (125MB) that shows the whole process. It's fascinating to watch.

If you happen to live in Hong Kong, then Sheung Wan is the place to go. There are stores like WiWi Tubes with thousands of square feet of them. The site has some information on and pictures of the manufacture of tubes, for instance the 300B.

To find out what a vacuum tube actually does, check Wikipedia's entry and links.

Tags: Vacuum Tubes, Interesting Stuff