26 Dec
2012
26 Dec
'12
12:22 p.m.
Does anyone know of a source of fans for a PDP-9?
You can see one of the fans at the right of this image:
https://sites.google.com/a/ricomputermuseum.org/home/Home/equipment/dec-pdp…
--
Michael Thompson
27 Dec
27 Dec
6:20 a.m.
On 12/26/2012 03:22 PM, Michael Thompson wrote:
Does anyone know of a source of fans for a PDP-9?
You can see one of the fans at the right of this image:
https://sites.google.com/a/ricomputermuseum.org/home/Home/equipment/dec-pdp…
Just take them apart and lube the bearings with light machine oil. Using
WD40 only dries them out further.
If tha tis too hard then Rotron should have something that bolt pattern.
Allison
11:45 a.m.
Do you have any dimensions? I may have one in my pile somewhere, but
will have to look. The problem is that shape came in 4" as well as 5"
form and the bolt pattern that is similar to the Rotron pattern may or
may not be the one you need.
I've seen both in my pile at one time or another. the problem will be
finding them.
Jim
On 12/27/2012 11:13 AM, Eric Smith wrote:
Michael Thompson wrote:
Does anyone know of a source of fans for a PDP-9?
If the fan is malfunctioning rather than completely missing, it's
possible to rebuild them. Otherwise it seems unlikely that you'll be
able to find an exact match if you care about authenticity.
1:48 p.m.
I've seen that fan used in numerour other pieces of DEC equipment. The
LA30 perhaps?
Paul
On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Michael Thompson
<michael.99.thompson at gmail.com> wrote:
Does anyone know of a source of fans for a PDP-9?
You can see one of the fans at the right of this image:
https://sites.google.com/a/ricomputermuseum.org/home/Home/equipment/dec-pdp…
--
Michael Thompson
2:16 p.m.
We have those in the rack with a TC08, and we recently rebuilt them.
Wailing solved! :-) Yes, avoid using WD40 as anything but a cleaning
agent - make sure to use a medium-viscosity lubricant when you put them
back together. It looks to me that as long as these are maintained
reasonably they should last for a long time, unlike the sealed
"lifetime-lubricated" units we buy today. ("Lifetime-lubricated"
means
that when it dies, that's its lifetime, no appeal.) -- Ian
On 12/27/12 1:48 PM, "Paul Anderson" <useddec at gmail.com> wrote:
I've seen that fan used in numerour other pieces of
DEC equipment. The
LA30 perhaps?
Paul
On Wed, Dec 26, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Michael Thompson
<michael.99.thompson at gmail.com> wrote:
Does anyone know of a source of fans for a
PDP-9?
You can see one of the fans at the right of this image:
https://sites.google.com/a/ricomputermuseum.org/home/Home/equipment/dec-p
dp-9/DEC_PDP-9_709_Power_Supply.jpg?attredirects=0
--
Michael Thompson
4:30 p.m.
Ian King wrote:
Yes, avoid using WD40 as anything but a cleaning
agent
WD-40 is not a cleaning agent either. It's a water displacer, and can
remove some other kinds of residue, but it then leaves behind its own
residue. You need to use some other solvent AFTER you use WD-40 for it's
intended purpose, and THEN use a real lubricant.
I've seldom (perhaps never) seen any situation in computer repair or
restoration where WD-40 was an appropriate thing to use.
10:55 p.m.
WD40 will bring back a dried out ribbon at least for a while.
Regards
?
Rod Smallwood
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Eric Smith
Sent: 28 December 2012 00:31
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Fans for a PDP-9?
Ian King wrote:
Yes, avoid using WD40 as anything but a cleaning
agent
WD-40 is not a cleaning agent either. It's a water displacer, and can
remove some other kinds of residue, but it then leaves behind its own
residue. You need to use some other solvent AFTER you use WD-40 for it's
intended purpose, and THEN use a real lubricant.
I've seldom (perhaps never) seen any situation in computer repair or
restoration where WD-40 was an appropriate thing to use.
28 Dec
28 Dec
9:06 a.m.
New subject: Yet another WD-40 Thread (was Re: Fans for a PDP-9?)
On 12/27/12 10:55 PM, Rod Smallwood wrote:
WD40 will bring back a dried out ribbon at least for a
while.
WD-40's formula is a trade secret. The product is not patented, to avoid completely
disclosing its ingredients.[3][6] WD-40's main ingredients, according to U.S. Material
Safety Data Sheet
information, are:
51% Stoddard solvent (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit)
25% liquefied petroleum gas (presumably as a propellant; carbon dioxide is now used
instead to reduce WD-40's considerable flammability)
15+% mineral oil (light lubricating oil)
10-% inert ingredients
The German version of the mandatory EU safety sheet lists the following safety-relevant
ingredients:
60?80% heavy naphtha (petroleum product), hydrogen treated
1?5% carbon dioxide
The naptha is what makes it work like goo-gone.
Then you have to deal with cleaning off the mineral oil.
2:12 p.m.
On 12/28/2012 1:58 PM, Eric Smith wrote:
Rod Smallwood wrote:
Or, run a single ribbon on a TTY for 3 1/2 years (no budget) till you
could see it was almost white. I think the last few weeks it was mostly
printing oil on the paper.
maybe 3-in-1 in there too. when the ASR33 was rebuilt 1/2 pint of oil
was recovered from the felt in the bottom (just to see how much was
still there).
Jim
WD40 will bring back a dried out ribbon at least
for a while.
Yes, and gum up the printhead.
11:07 p.m.
On 12/28/2012 02:12 PM, jim s wrote:
Or, run a single ribbon on a TTY for 3 1/2 years (no
budget) till you
could see it was almost white. I think the last few weeks it was mostly
printing oil on the paper.
It's been a long time, but I've had good luck with "odorless lamp oil",
which is essentially triple-filtered kerosene/paraffin. I think that
there's a branded version called "Klean Heat" that's almost the same
stuff. I use it as a lightweight lubricant (it has the viscosity of
water and will evaoprate with time). I always have a gallon or so
around here because wintertime power outages can last more than a day or
two and an oil lamp actually delivers quite a bit of light.
You might investigate getting some rubber stamp pad ink and apply it to
your dry ribbon. The old "Mac Inker" was a rig with a felt pad with a
reservoir that spread ink onto your slowly-moving ribbon. Motive power
was a small geared down (perhaps 4 RPM) synchronous motor.
--Chuck
29 Dec
29 Dec
12:12 a.m.
New subject: Fans for a PDP-9? (TTY Reink discussion)
On 12/28/2012 11:07 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
On 12/28/2012 02:12 PM, jim s wrote:
Good suggestion. However you are dealing with college students and what
oil was available. I was amazed at how much of the oil the pad
retained. This would have been much better, but not sure if the oil
would have pooled or evaporated in the bottom of the TTY. Note there
was no budget for a replacement ribbon, or a place on campus from which
to steal one.
Being one of the obtainers of supplies from other departments, they all
had better hard copy terminals, or printers than the rattle trap.
Once some of the students had graduated, supplies freed up elsewhere,
and made their way back to the lab.
Jim
Or, run a single ribbon on a TTY for 3 1/2 years
(no budget) till you
could see it was almost white. I think the last few weeks it was mostly
printing oil on the paper.
It's been a long time, but I've had good luck with "odorless lamp
oil", which is essentially triple-filtered kerosene/paraffin. I think
that there's a branded version called "Klean Heat" that's almost the
same stuff. I use it as a lightweight lubricant (it has the viscosity
of water and will evaoprate with time). I always have a gallon or so
around here because wintertime power outages can last more than a day
or two and an oil lamp actually delivers quite a bit of light.
You might investigate getting some rubber stamp pad ink and apply it
to your dry ribbon. The old "Mac Inker" was a rig with a felt pad
with a reservoir that spread ink onto your slowly-moving ribbon.
Motive power was a small geared down (perhaps 4 RPM) synchronous motor.
--Chuck 
31 Dec
31 Dec
12:08 a.m.
You might investigate getting some rubber stamp pad
ink and apply it to
your dry ribbon. The old "Mac Inker" was a rig with a felt pad with a
reservoir that spread ink onto your slowly-moving ribbon. Motive power
was a small geared down (perhaps 4 RPM) synchronous motor.
And there were clones of this machine everywhere, even in Brazil! ;o)
28 Dec
28 Dec
11:17 p.m.
Well, when I worked at DEC in the terminals group in fact they used WD40's
penetrating qualities to un-clog print heads before a quick wash in a
solvent.
The temporary ribbon recovery was a side effect noted by a field engineer.
Most head problems on LA series ribbon printers were due to fiber migration
into the synthetic agate vertical alignment guide. That and third party
ribbons with high clay content wearing the pins.
Regards
?
Rod Smallwood
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Eric Smith
Sent: 28 December 2012 21:58
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Fans for a PDP-9?
Rod Smallwood wrote:
WD40 will bring back a dried out ribbon at least for a
while.
Yes, and gum up the printhead.
30 Dec
30 Dec
2:51 p.m.
Rod Smallwood wrote:
Well, when I worked at DEC in the terminals group in
fact they used WD40's
penetrating qualities to un-clog print heads before a quick wash in a
solvent.
The "quick wash in a solvent" is the key thing. WD-40 by itself will
leave a residue that gums up the printhead. A solvent is needed to
remove that residue.
11:29 p.m.
True but the solvent on its own wouldn't do it.
Regards
?
Rod Smallwood
?
?
-----Original Message-----
From: cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org [mailto:cctech-bounces at classiccmp.org]
On Behalf Of Eric Smith
Sent: 30 December 2012 22:51
To: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts
Subject: Re: Fans for a PDP-9?
Rod Smallwood wrote:
Well, when I worked at DEC in the terminals group in
fact they used WD40's
penetrating qualities to un-clog print heads before a quick wash in a
solvent.
The "quick wash in a solvent" is the key thing. WD-40 by itself will
leave a residue that gums up the printhead. A solvent is needed to
remove that residue.
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