Fairlight-CMI

Many early I, II and IIX monitors I've seen have been affected by age 
and possibly contamination that results in the screen image becoming 
cloudy, and difficult to see clearly. I picked up a monitor that was 
so bad as to be unusable, so embarked on a "kill or cure" operation. 
I discovered that the CRT screen actually has a thin piece of glass 
like a contact lense, bonded to it with a thick layer of adhesive 
resin (both the contact lense and the resin layer are about 2mm thick 
each). After carefully removing and supporting the tube, I gradually 
worked a sharp knife into the resin gap between the two bits of 
glass, with the idea of removing the contact lense in one piece. 
Unfortunately, the edges seemed to come away easily, whereas the 
screen centre was stuck solid. End result: contact lense cracked. 
Pushing on anyway, I eventually broke off the rest of the bits by 
prising with a screwdriver, cleaned the front with alcohol and re-
assembled. The screen now looks good as new. However, before you 
attempt this yourself, heed these safety WARNINGS. Firstly, CRT tubes 
having a vacuum inside contain a huge amount of energy. If you break 
one, the potential for grief is great. Also, there are voltages in 
the tens of thousands of volts needed to form that lovely green 
image, and some of this remains even when the monitor is 
disconnected. If in doubt, get a TV repair person to look. It's not, 
as we say, the science of the rocket....