26 Oct
2001
26 Oct
'01
6:11 p.m.
Hi,
has anyone of you ever disassembled an HSC cabinet? I am looking
pretty stupid right now. It's not the first piece of DEC iron
equipment that I have moved in pieces, I did two VAX6000 and one
TU81+. But this one is different. While being half-height like the
TU81, it's quite a bit deeper. The side-walls appear to be just
locked at the bottom and then hooked such that one can lift it
up and off, like the TU81's side walls. However, they do not move
no matter how hard I try. I don't find any screws holding them,
though. And with the sidewalls on, I cannot remove the top-cover
either.
So, I was hoping I could at least take it into two pieces by
moving the whole core out in one piece. Apparently that central
unit is just screwed on the front, like a rack-mount device.
Indeed I can move it out quite far. But then it stops at a
protruding piece of the backplane circuit board! There seems
to be no way to move that core all the way out other than by
removing the backplane circuite board. And I'm not going to do
that.
Other DEC equipment was quite straight forward to disassemble,
but this one beats the auto-assembies in difficulty level.
I appreciate every advice. My suspicion is that the sidewalls
are indeed removable, but mine are just stuck. Someone seen
it?
regards
-Gunther
--
Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org
Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care
Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine
tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org
26 Oct
26 Oct
7:06 p.m.
On Fri, 26 Oct 2001, Gunther Schadow wrote:
<snip>
TU81, it's quite a bit deeper. The side-walls
appear to be just
locked at the bottom and then hooked such that one can lift it
up and off, like the TU81's side walls. However, they do not move
no matter how hard I try. I don't find any screws holding them,
though. And with the sidewalls on, I cannot remove the top-cover
either.
So, I was hoping I could at least take it into two pieces by
moving the whole core out in one piece. Apparently that central
unit is just screwed on the front, like a rack-mount device.
Indeed I can move it out quite far. But then it stops at a
protruding piece of the backplane circuit board! There seems
to be no way to move that core all the way out other than by
removing the backplane circuite board. And I'm not going to do
that.
I tried to disassemble a HSC70 and ran into much the same problem. I did
take the backplane out thinking that would assist in removing the sides
and regretted it. It was definitely assembled in a manner that made all
the cabinet components basically inaccessible.
I still have that backplane somewhere.
--
27 Oct
27 Oct
4:53 p.m.
Paul Thompson wrote:
I tried to disassemble a HSC70 and ran into much the
same problem. I did
take the backplane out thinking that would assist in removing the sides
and regretted it. It was definitely assembled in a manner that made all
the cabinet components basically inaccessible.
I still have that backplane somewhere.
Ugh, that sounds frightening indeed! Thank you for giving me that
warning. I will put everything back together and will have to
find some neighbors to help me lift the whole thing downstairs in
one piece. Ugh. The thing I always wonder about in these cases is:
what the heck was the rationale of building something that is
impossible to disassemble without final destruction? I'm just glad
that most of DEC's heavy metal is *not* that bad.
regards
-Gunther
PS: is the top level of the HSC rack big enough to take some sort
of PDP-11 or PDP-8? I didn't really want a PDP-11 until I figured
I might actually have some room for it in that rack.
--
Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org
Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care
Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine
tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org
5:43 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gunther Schadow" <gunther(a)aurora.regenstrief.org>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>rg>; "Paul Thompson"
<thompson(a)mail.athenet.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2001 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: How to disassemble an HSC90?
ISTR having to get the side covers off a HSC50 some years back, which I
think is the same cabinet as the 90 (certainly the same as the 70) and it
wasn't real easy. I don't recall offhand how I did it now,
I've never had any problems moving them so the necessity has not arisen.
I'll have a look at one of the 50's I've got here and see if I can remember.
Geoff Roberts
Computer Systems Manager
Saint Mark's College
Port Pirie,
South Australia
geoffrob(a)stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au
Paul Thompson wrote:
> I tried to disassemble a HSC70 and ran into much the same problem. I
did
take the
backplane out thinking that would assist in removing the sides
and regretted it. It was definitely assembled in a manner that made all
the cabinet components basically inaccessible.
I still have that backplane somewhere.
Ugh, that sounds frightening indeed! Thank you for giving me that
warning. I will put everything back together and will have to
find some neighbors to help me lift the whole thing downstairs in
one piece. Ugh. The thing I always wonder about in these cases is:
what the heck was the rationale of building something that is
impossible to disassemble without final destruction? I'm just glad
that most of DEC's heavy metal is *not* that bad. regards
-Gunther
PS: is the top level of the HSC rack big enough to take some sort
of PDP-11 or PDP-8? I didn't really want a PDP-11 until I figured
I might actually have some room for it in that rack.
--
Gunther Schadow, M.D., Ph.D. gschadow(a)regenstrief.org
Medical Information Scientist Regenstrief Institute for Health Care
Adjunct Assistant Professor Indiana University School of Medicine
tel:1(317)630-7960 http://aurora.regenstrief.org
28 Oct
28 Oct
5:57 p.m.
Gunther Schadow wrote:
Hi,
has anyone of you ever disassembled an HSC cabinet? I am looking
pretty stupid right now. It's not the first piece of DEC iron
equipment that I have moved in pieces, I did two VAX6000 and one
TU81+. But this one is different. While being half-height like the
TU81, it's quite a bit deeper. The side-walls appear to be just
locked at the bottom and then hooked such that one can lift it
up and off, like the TU81's side walls. However, they do not move
no matter how hard I try. I don't find any screws holding them,
though. And with the sidewalls on, I cannot remove the top-cover
either.
Despite the fact that they appear glued in place, I believe they remove
in the same manner as the TU81 and other cabinets. I have had some that
were very difficult to get off. I find that a flat pry bar (nail
puller) placed under the side and prying against the horizontal lip on
the under frame near the wheels will break the side panel loose from the
brackets it hangs on.
I have had to use quite a bit of force on some of the cabinets to get
the sides off. After removing them for the first time, they seem to go
on and off easily.
---
Doug Carman
pdp11(a)bellsouth.net
8277
days inactive
8279
days old
4 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au -
gunther＠aurora.regenstrief.org -
pdp11＠bellsouth.net -
thompson＠mail.athenet.net