heavy stuff -- was: Anyone want an RK11-C manual? - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

16 Dec 2016

Henk,

Have you tried using a block and tackle to pull the drived up the stairs
using the planks?

Ed
--
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On Fri, December 16, 2016 21:23, Henk Gooijen wrote:
...

 Van: Tony Duell<mailto:ard.p850ug1 at gmail.com>
 Verzonden: vrijdag 16 december 2016 17:54
 Aan: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic
 Posts<mailto:cctalk at classiccmp.org>
 Onderwerp: Re: Anyone want an RK11-C manual?

 On Fri, Dec 16, 2016 at 4:31 PM, Henk Gooijen <henk.gooijen at hotmail.com>
 wrote:

 But I am not giving up hope ??? I recently acquired something I did not
 think
 to be possible to happen ??? I ???picked up??? an H960 rack with RP11
 controller
 and *three* RP03 disk drives aand 6 packs.  The rack is already moved,
 the
 drives are a separate story. Each drive weighs 415 lbs. ???So what???
 you might
 ask. Well, they are in a cellar and three flights of stairs (10 steps, 6
 steps,
 and 4 steps) is too much for 3 strong guys to push one drive up the
 stairs.
 We are now looking into another option to get the drives (and a DEC
 _line_printer, also very very heavy!) up to the first floor ??? 
 Can these units be dismantled without totally losing alignment,etc. At
 least
 remove PSUs, spindle motors, etc. I once moved an RA60 (much lighter,
 but still too heavy for one person to carry easily) downstairs by taking
 it
 almost completely apart. Incidentally, it is surprising how much the PCBs
 in a full cardcage weight, it is often worth pulling them all out.

 I suspect an RP03 dismantled like that would still be too heavy for one
 person
 to move, but with 3 people it might be possible.

 I hope your upstairs floor is strong enough for them... You do not want
 them
 coming back downstairs at 9.81m/s^2

 -tony

 Grin ??? I don???t plan to check whether Mother Earth???s acceleration is
 still working fine.
 Indeed, the RA60 is heavy. Just like RA81???s, the RA60 is not good for
 your back, but
 the RA60 is worse than the RA81. The RA60 is also ???longer??? compared to
 the RA81,
 and that does not help either when you hav to move an RA60 around.

 I really do not want to mess with the mechanical construction of the
 entire RP03
 drive. They are too rare. I want to move them ???as is???. The only thing
 that can be
 done easily is removing the side panels.
 However, the ceiling in the cellar has an opening although that is
 currently welded
 by a closing lid. The system was installed in the 80ties, and it is not
 remembered
 how the system got into the cellar back then. The system has operated in
 that cellar
 for almost 20 years (PDP-11/40, RP11, Kennedy 9100 ??? 3 H960 rack
 system).

 I used wooden planks (shelves) laid on the stairs, and then pushed the
 racks up.
 It was heavy, even for 3 strong guys --- OK, 2.5 ????   I removed the
 Kennedy tape
 drive to make the rack less heavy. The rack with the RP11 controller was
 also
 heavy, but I really did not want to pull or dismantle anything of it. We
 got it out
 of the cellar. The 11/40 (the 21??? version in BA11-F, IIRC) rack had, to
 my surprise
 an extra BA11-F with its H742 PSU ??? One H742 PSU is already heavy, so
 two of
 these beast made the rack way too heavy. I ended up with disconnecting
 the
 power harness and move the 11/40 separately. That made it possible to
 move
 the rack upstairs (with sweat and some swearing ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H calling
 in the help of some gods ????

 We did try moving one RP03 by pushing it upstairs using the ???planks???
 trick.
 Three guys asking ???are we pushing????  Yes, but the drive did not move
 at all.
 The RP03 is by far the most heavy item I encountered in 20 years!
 We are now looking into the option to hoist the drives via the hatch in
 the
 Ceiling. Needless to say we take all possible precautions ??? for people
 and for
 RP03???s.

 To be continued,

   *   Henk, PA8PDP