7 Mar
2012
7 Mar
'12
1:42 p.m.
On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Jochen Kunz <jkunz at unixag-kl.fh-kl.de> wrote:
Gotcha. I remembered that some racks had the cluster of large pop
rivets and some were welded but I wasn't sure which were which by
model number. I spend more time in front of the machines than
figuring out how to move the empty racks up impossible inclines or
into impossibly small automobiles.
A VW Microbus, BTW, can haul two H960s if you drop the rear seat and
remove the middle seat - you just slide them in one at a time and load
the middle area where the bench seat used to be with all the CPUs and
disks you just removed from the racks. Easiest time ever. *That*
works solo.
Second easiest move was a VAX-11/750 in an Astro Minivan with no
middle seats. The only hitch was the swivel chair mounts were taller
than the casters, so the bottom of the VAX hung up on insertion and
removal. Even so, it was still possible (and safe) solo. An 11/750
is mostly air and not as heavy as some things of similar size (like
tape drives).
-ethan
On Tue, 6 Mar 2012 17:59:21 -0500
Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
I understand the technique, and for a straight stairway, I think it
would work just fine. In the 100-year-old house I was doing this in,
there's a landing and a 90 degree turn to the left in the middle. The
top of the rack would hit the wall while the bottom of the rack was
still 3-4 stairs from the landing. Oh... and there was a
stained-glass window at the landing as well (not broken by me, but
later, when someone was moving a mattress, the window did not fare
well).
The rack had to go up the stairs nearly perfectly upright, except for
the middle of the stairs, when it had to be tipped back about 10
degrees to clear the sloped ceiling. Again... I will never repeat
that experience solo. I almost ended up at the bottom of the stairs
under the rack.
In the end I did succeed, but had the rack
slipped (which it almost
did do!) I would probably have severely regretted the consequences.
Well. Remove everything that you can remove easyly so that only the
four posts, bottom and top are left over. Lay the rack on its left or
right side. Step _into_ the rack so that you look at the bottom. Pick
it up, so that the posts stay horizontal. You have to try a bit to find
the right position to grab to have the whole thing in balance. Now
walk. Surprisingly easy. I even got a rack upstairs that way. Is there
clearance between the side of the H960 and the grey sides for
the M6 bolt heads, or does your rack lack the hang-on metal sides?
There is plenty
of space. The rivertrs aren't that small too.
Ohhh, sorry. I just noticed that my racks are not H960. They look much
more than the aforementioned SA600 rack. That confused me. So they may
be of the H9612 / H9613 variety. Actually the H960 is welded. My
PDP-11/34A came in a H960. I had to leave the rack behind as I could
not dismount it. It didn't fit my car... :-(