3 Jul
2015
3 Jul
'15
12:39 p.m.
From: tony duell
OK, I've done it many times, but ... I had the
drives out in under 5
minutes. It is not that hard...
With a previously un-seen rack, it is _not_ guaranteed to be that easy, as
Bill D and I can attest!
Twice I've been up to get racks with stuff in them from him, and both times I
had the same thought: 'Oh, no problem, we'll just whip the units out of the
racks, and then load the resulting smaller objects.' Not so fast, kemo sabe.
On both occasions there was an hour-long struggle to get things out of the
rack; in both cases some of the bolts that held the slides onto the rack
(removing them being the usual approach when something won't come out of the
slides - detach the slides from the rack) were not all accessible
without... getting the unit in the slides out. (Catch-22...)
One time, we had an RK05 hang up because the front size Dzus fastener on the
RK05 cover had popped out, and it was in the vertical channel of the H960
where i) we couldn't get to it, and ii) it prevented movement of more than an
inch either way. The worse (worst) one was a BA11K that had one of its slides
rust, and freeze. We finaly had to give up on getting that out, and load the
rack with the BA11 still in it. That particular slide is _still_ frozen; my
son and I finally resorted to partially disassembling the rack (one of the
lowboy corporate racks) by punching out a couple of rivets, to get the BA11
out of it with the entire slide still attached; once out, we could then get
the slide off the BA11.
So I will echo the advice to take tools. Lots of tools.
Noel
3 Jul
3 Jul
7:40 p.m.
On 7/3/15 9:39 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
My recommendation is to
(once all of the cables, drive heads, etc are
properly secured) is to have a lift
gate truck (my preference is for a "rail lift" as opposed to a "tuck
under") and just load the entire rack
that way. It relieves the stress of trying to disassemble the rack on
site. Of course lots of cardboard,
shrink wrap and straps are required.
The other trick that I've done (of course I do have a large pickup
truck...but only works for 2 H960 style
racks at a time) is to have *lots* of helpers and lift/lay the rack in
the bed of the truck (ie lift it so that you can
use the tail gate as the fulcrum so the rack lays on it's back/side in
the bed of the truck).
Now that I have an equipment lift that is capable of lifting ~500lbs, I
don't try to de/re-rack anything by
hand. Typically any of the items in that go in racks are at least
100lbs and except for items higher than
about mid-point in the rack, there isn't sufficient leverage (unless you
have 2 or 3 people) to remove or
replace any of these without chance of injury.
TTFN - Guy
From: tony
duell
OK, I've done it many times, but ... I had
the drives out in under 5
minutes. It is not that hard...
With a previously un-seen rack, it is _not_ guaranteed to be that easy, as
Bill D and I can attest!
So I will echo the advice to take tools. Lots of tools. 
4 Jul
4 Jul
10:34 a.m.
In a day when digital cameras are available, always take lots of pictures.
Even short videos with voice description is a good idea.
Bring snack baggies with a sharpie pen to put notes as to where
to put the pieces back, for small parts.
Of course, do the minimum necessary to removing pieces. Worry
more about securing things. Tie wraps can help a lot. If your worried
about original, use colored tie wraps that look out of place.
Dwight
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 2015 16:40:55 -0700
From: ggs at shiresoft.com
To: General at main.local; main.local:On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts cctalk at
classiccmp.org
Subject: Re: seeking advice on moving PDP 11 and related gear
On 7/3/15 9:39 AM, Noel Chiappa wrote:
My recommendation is to
(once all of the cables, drive heads, etc are
properly secured) is to have a lift
gate truck (my preference is for a "rail lift" as opposed to a "tuck
under") and just load the entire rack
that way. It relieves the stress of trying to disassemble the rack on
site. Of course lots of cardboard,
shrink wrap and straps are required.
The other trick that I've done (of course I do have a large pickup
truck...but only works for 2 H960 style
racks at a time) is to have *lots* of helpers and lift/lay the rack in
the bed of the truck (ie lift it so that you can
use the tail gate as the fulcrum so the rack lays on it's back/side in
the bed of the truck).
Now that I have an equipment lift that is capable of lifting ~500lbs, I
don't try to de/re-rack anything by
hand. Typically any of the items in that go in racks are at least
100lbs and except for items higher than
about mid-point in the rack, there isn't sufficient leverage (unless you
have 2 or 3 people) to remove or
replace any of these without chance of injury.
TTFN - Guy
From:
tony duell
OK, I've done it many times, but ... I had
the drives out in under 5
minutes. It is not that hard...
With a previously un-seen rack, it is _not_ guaranteed to be that easy, as
Bill D and I can attest!
So I will echo the advice to take tools. Lots of tools. 
10:51 a.m.
In a day when digital cameras are available, always
take lots of pictures.
Although undoubtedly useful, photographs (digital or otherwise) are not IMHO
a replacement for making notes. It s still a good idea to document where
cables go and which way round (this may not be obvious in the photo), any
non-obvious mouting hardware (special washers, locknuts, ettc) and so
on.
Oh, and make sure you know how to take a decent close-up with your camera.
Based on the out-of-focus things which seem to consist mostly of flare from the
flash unit which people asking for help expect me to be able to understand, being
able to take good close-ups is by no means a universal skill
IMHO do not use flash unless you really have to. Keep the camera as steady
as you can (brace it or yourself against the rack). And if there is a closeup
setting (often a picture of a plant/flower) use it.
I find tie-on card lables to be very useful for labelling cables.
Even short videos with voice description is a good
idea.
Bring snack baggies with a sharpie pen to put notes as to where
to put the pieces back, for small parts.
I normally take a couple of those 'organiser boxes' with lots of small
compartments
and put the screws, etc, in that. And drop in a slip of paper if it's not obvious what
something is. I do the same on my workbench when dismantling a complex unit, so the
boxes are not 'wasted' they get used almost all the time. As a practical point,
get ones with
fixed partitions, not removeable. The latter look convenient, and are often recomended by
reviewers, but my bitter experience is that the partitions fall out when you least need
them to
and everything gets mixed up.
Never leave screws loose. If you just have to loosen screws (e.g. the top cover of the
11/34 CPU
then either put the cover back and tighten the screws or just tighten the screws in their
bushes.
Loose screws invariably get looser, fall out, and get lost (or worse find their way into a
PSU or
similar).
DEC used this clip-on nuts to take the screws in the uprights of their racks. Without
a#screw
in them they get knocked off or out of position very easily. If you do unscrew anything
from
them, then either unclip the nuts (but note where they go) or put the screws back in _and
tighten them_.
If it's a real DEC rack there will be header panels at the top. These are quite
delicate and
on any case will obstruct the screws holding 2 racks together. Take them off (2 screws
from
the top and pack them separately. As above, either remove the clip-on nuts or put the
screws
back in.
Of course, do the minimum necessary to removing
pieces. Worry
YMMV, but I diagree there. It depends on what it is, the vehicle you have
and how many friends you have helping, but I suspect a loose rack
unit (CPU, drive, etc) is a lot easier to handle carefully than a complete
rack.
Another use for cable ties (take plenty!) is bundling up cables and fixing them to the
rack. Some cables can be removed easily, but things like the mains cable often
can't. And you don't want it trailing around where you _will_ end up tripping
over it.
-tony
3307
days inactive
3308
days old
3 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
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