SGI Origin side skins

[Sean Caron]

Just my opinion but if no functional issue I'd probably just leave them as
they are... Older SGI plastics as used on i.e. the Indigo, Indigo2, Indy
seem to be pretty robust even after 20-30 years down the line (though I'm
still loath to pull the cover on an Indigo2 nowadays unless I really have
to because getting them lined up to put back on can be tricky and you risk
breaking the tabs at the back of the top case...

But the later SGI equipment... well, I am thinking of the O2s in
particular, they must have changed the formulation on the plastics used for
the case skins because they did not age well and became quite brittle
fairly rapidly. They aged almost as poorly as the plastics in my Power Mac
8500 which are completely held together by epoxy at this point, LOL. What
was Apple thinking! (cost cutting, obviously)

I'm not sure if this was such an issue on the higher end systems i.e.
Octane, Origin/Onyx, Tezro, etc. but if I were in your shoes, my concern
would be that the side skins could fracture or shear in the process of
being removed or reinstalled. SGI's case designs were so striking; I want
to try and do everything I can to keep the skins in nice shape. Is the
paint really very bad? I'd just consider it a little bit of character :O

Best,

Sean



On Tue, Mar 31, 2015 at 5:37 PM, Jules Richardson <
jules.richardson99 at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Does anyone know how to remove the side skins on an SGI Origin
> (specifically a 2200 deskside cabinet). The manual mentions removal of the
> top and front, but says that the sides are more tricky and to contact SGI
> for the procedure.
>
> I'd like to remove them as there's some minor paint splatter on them,
> which would be much easier to deal with off the machine.
>
> I see there's a screw at the bottom of the machine on the rear edge (much
> like the one for the front which releases the front skin), but removing it
> doesn't seem to let the rear plastic molding drop in the same way, and I
> assume this needs to come off first.
>
> cheers
>
> Jules
>