New subject: Dangers of shifting classic computers (was: AT&T PC 6300 Plus Unix box)

7 Oct 1999

-----Original Message-----
From: Peter Pachla &lt;peter.pachla(a)vectrex.freeserve.co.uk&gt;
To: Discussion re-collecting of classic computers
&lt;classiccmp(a)u.washington.edu&gt;
Date: Thursday, October 07, 1999 12:17 PM
Subject: Dangers of shifting classic computers (was: AT&T PC 6300 Plus Unix
box)

...
 Hi,

 ....This machine will alwas have a special place
in my collection
though, since it is so heavy I sprained a muscle in my back while
lifting it so bad that I needed several weeks of therapy to cure.
One of the hazards of the old computer collector... 
Quite, I've managed to injure myself a number of times shifting medium/large
...
 sized machines over the years.

I trapped a nerve in my back both times I shifted my old PDP-11/23+ (in an
H960 cab with a pair of RL-01s). And please, believe me, shifting a PDP-11/34
...
 by yourself is NOT a good idea....my back muscles still
wince at the thought.
...

Also managed to strain a couple of back muscles when I moved my SGI 4D/70GT
into the house. There were two of us moving that beastie and we'd taken all
the boards out of it first (they're about the weight of my 11/53 on their
own).

Not to mention that I've been in agony for a week now with a trapped nerve in
...
 my shoulder. But then again there really was no way to
disassemble that "Space
...
 Invaders II" machine which I was moving out of the
house....

Anyone else hurt themselves, lost limbs etc??? ;-)

Quite a few times. When I was younger I would move RK05 drives all over the
place by myself - killed my lower back. To this day I have bad back
problems.

My worst injuries are:

RK05 / PDP 11/34 (no help) - bad lower back.

Honeywell 316 - cyanide poisoning, was in the hospital, wished I was dead
for a good 4-5 days as my insides were eaten out.

Honeywell 316 - The scrap dealer (Wayne Borer) that got the unit for me
brought it to the house when I was rather young. They got the entire case
(included H316, fixed head DH, interface bays, air conditioner) to end of
the truck when it started to fall. It fell on his NUTS! 3 guys (including my
dad) held the case away from killing him. He rolled on the ground for at
least 30 minutes in extreme pain. He never did have any kids after that.

Honeywell 316 - Rack mounted on a flimbsy case, fell over one night and
badly damaged the headboard on my bed. (kept it in my bedroom)

H-11 with 2 RK05s and a bunch of other heavy mainframes - Broke the shocks
in my dads caddy on the way home from athe Rochester Hamfest, scratches and
back pain from making it fit.

There have been more painful memories but I can't remember them all. The
cyanide poisoning was the worst.

...
   TTFN - Pete.

--
Hardware & Software Engineer. Sound Engineer.
Collector of Arcade Machines, Games Consoles & Obsolete Computers (esp DEC)

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