SGI Origin side skins

[Jules Richardson]

On 04/01/2015 01:55 AM, Pontus Pihlgren wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 07:37:54PM -0400, Sean Caron wrote:
>> Just my opinion but if no functional issue I'd probably just leave them as
>> they are...
>
> I agree!

Well, I got it... I ended up removing the I/O card cage, which allowed me 
to reach through the holes in the framework below (the fan tray was already 
out, obviously) so that I could access the plastic clips on the reverse 
side of the rear plastic molding. There are six clips, four along the top 
and two farther down, but I only needed to unhook the top four (one at a 
time, while applying a little backward pressure to the rear molding so they 
didn't snap back into place) and then the panel came off.

Once that real panel's off, the side panels just lift up and off very easily.

Access is really tight doing it that way though, and I confess to breaking* 
a locating lug in the center of the rear molding while I was removing it, 
so I can't help but think that the official procedure is different!

* not critical to reassembly, thankfully. I might glue it back on so I can 
break it again the next time :-) Or I might just leave the rear molding off 
altogether - once the machine's sitting up near a wall, it's not 
particularly critical to looks, other than the lower couple of inches where 
it just wraps around to the sides.

> Try to clean the plastic in place, be careful with the solvent
> you choose. Test whatever you clean it with on a spot that is not
> visible.

Soap, very hot water and a toothbrush did the trick! I considered some form 
of more aggressive cleaning solution, but decided that I didn't want to 
risk it.

> The O2 and Indigo2 are ok, but you have to be careful.

Getting the case back on my Indigo2 was a major pain in the butt
>
> The Origin 200 and Origin 2000 are absolutely horrible!! Strangely the
> Onyx2 seems to hold up better, it has been suggested that the blue color
> in the O200 and O2k might be involved and the Onyx2 is purple.

Maybe, although this (blue) Origin 2200 seems fine - perhaps there's a 
heat/sunlight element involved too, though.

> That being said, I have an Origin2000 with the skins removed and I could
> look at them to see if I can figure how the sides comes.

Well, see above - "solved" but I have a feeling that SGI's official 
procedure is different to what I did. Or maybe it just wasn't something 
that was ever really done in the field, and they had a special tool back at 
service centers to pop the tabs via the front of the fan bay (furthermore, 
if they were replacing side skins at a customer site I can believe that 
they might just replace the rear molding too, and so it wouldn't matter if 
they broke the old one).

> The reason I haven't put the skins back on is that lots of little pieces
> broke off when it was removed and as long as the machine is in storage
> it is probably best to leave them off. I expect to spend some time
> repairing when time comes to assemble it.

Makes sense!

cheers

Jules