2 Jan
2014
2 Jan
'14
1:33 p.m.
On Thu, 2 Jan 2014, Robert Jarratt wrote:
I recently bought a lovely PDP11/45 in a H960 rack,
with the CPU, a Unibus
Expansion box and an RK05 drive. I am guessing the whole thing must weigh at
least 100Kg, possibly 150Kg or even more (my worst case estimate is 200Kg).
I am concerned whether the floor of the upstairs room where I now have it
can bear the weight. I have placed it right next to a load bearing wall to
ease the strain on the joists. Can anyone tell me what sort of weight a
normal UK upstairs floor can bear? If my guessed weight is anything close to
the limit I will weigh parts of the machine to get a more accurate idea of
the actual weight.
I'm afraid I can't answer the question directly, but I had similar
concerns when moving a fully-loaded IBM SP/2 rack into my upstairs office
- some 2200lbs of machinery.
I placed a three foot by three foot sheet of 3/4" structural ply and built
the machine on top of that (having to dismantle it to get it upstairs to
begin with), reducing the 2200lbs over four castors (550lbs per
square-inch) to a much more reasonable ~2lbs per square inch (~240lbs per
square-foot).
It's not exactly attractive, but in my case, the rather large side-skirts
of the SP/2 actually make the base rather difficult to see.
For what it's worth. Congratulations on the purchase, and good luck.
- JP