Lifting heavy rack-mount gear (was Re: PDP-8/e rack questions)

Not as dramatic as some other stories on this thread, I recall when I acquired my 11/34. I'd specified a truck with a lift gate - and arrived at the rental agency (Enterprise - to be avoided!) to find a ramp truck. The person from who I was acquiring the machine (plus a dozen terminals and a boatload of documentation) was moving out of area and that day was my only opportunity to do the pick-up, so I couldn't just reschedule. When I picked up the machine, I was aided by its former owner and his father; the latter gentleman had worked as a longshoreman and knew all the tricks. Plus, we were pushing this six-foot rack (with the processor and two RK05 drives) UP the ramp. As it happened, my brother-in-law was visiting that day and I drafted him to help me unload - which meant bringing that six-foot rack DOWN the ramp. It wasn't pretty. Then, to get it up the two steps from my garage into my basement, we laid it over on its back and slid it, then stood it up again. I wonder why my brother-in-law rarely visits anymore? :-) -- Ian ________________________________________ From: cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org [cctalk-bounces at classiccmp.org] On Behalf Of Jules Richardson [jules.richardson99 at gmail.com] Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 6:51 AM To: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts Subject: Re: Lifting heavy rack-mount gear (was Re: PDP-8/e rack questions) Henk Gooijen wrote: We used to do that a lot for museum stuff - but the problem there is that some of the bigger machine cabinets only fit on the tail-lift with an inch or so to spare - we were always paranoid that one was going to just drop straight off the back. Ramps seem a bit better *if* you've got the necessary cables/straps to safely cope with the distance/weight. (I'm having the reverse to the unloading issue right now - we've got a huge cabinet in the basement of our house that I want to get back up to ground level, and working against gravity rather than with it is a major pain!) cheers Jules