22 Nov
1998
22 Nov
'98
1:52 a.m.
At 18:32 11/21/98 +0000, you wrote:
Tony, do you recall if these bearings could be a standard type from, for
example, SKF, IKS, MRC, TIMKIN, etc., etc.? If you had replaced a bearing
or two on an RK07 do you still have the old one laying around to get the
number from? Would the DEC parts list have the industry std. part number
(if not a custom bearing) for them as part of the description? Being an
engineer, I know well the folks at both major bearing distributors in
Jamestown. Therefore, I should be able to purchase directly from them just
about any commercially available bearing. So, an industry part number would
help immensely if there's one to be found. In fact, the company which makes
the engine bearings for most of the world's military and commercial
aircraft has their factories in Jamestown (MRC Bearings). I'm keeping an
eye on them to watch for a job in machine control systems and process
controls which had been my specialty at ACU-RITE Inc. Anyway, at worst, I
can check the bearings and spindle in a parts unit RK07 that I got in the
load and use them if needed. I got five of those RK07's in that Great Haul.
I really appreciate your time helping with this! But please, don't take
time from what you really need to do just to dig into this problem. I can
wait as you may have gathered I must keep busy with the two houses, family,
and keeping an eye open for a decent engineering job around this area.
Also, to help my wife out, I has to compress all the DEC gear and misc
stuff into one side of the garage. The 11/34A and the ornery RK07 are easy
to roll out but the other RK's (which will be spare parts units on this)
are stuffed together.
I forgot to mention Tony, I swapped all the boards out using the second
RK07 which was said to be part of the working 11/34A system (this is the
drive w/lousy spindle bearings). Still had the same problem as we last left
it. I put all original boards back to get back to ground zero on this
problem.
I hope with the on-list communicating we are doing here other folks with
less technical experience will pickup a few tips on troubleshooting their
problems on their equipment (DEC or even non-DEC.)
Already tried
that today. The two RK07's that were useable did not work.
One had a terribly noisy spindle bearing and faulted upon spinup and the
Be warned that new spindles - if you need a spindle, in my experience,
fan or motor bearings are more likely to fail - are _very_ expensive. other has some sort of problem where the Fault
light comes on after it does
Sounds like I'll be digging out the prints before long and figuring out
what can cause a 'fault' lamp to appear. Not that I mind - it's been a
couple of years since I was inside my RK07, and it'll be fun to go
through it all again.
Do you have a quad-height extender board? You're going to need one...
Oh gee thanks for the "ominous" message here Tony! :-) :-) No, I don't
have an extender board. That definitely would be a good tool to have as I
plan to keep the MicroVAX II and MicroPDP-11 machines plus maybe the 11/23
in a BA-11 (5.25" box). Anybody out there have a spare extender board they
are willing to part with? Hmmm, does Vector Electronics still sell them? I
should get a Unibus extender too!
Thanks yet again, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt(a)netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
URL: http://www.ggw.org/freenet/a/awa/