Also be careful of the air plenum, may of them are very fragile now and if it gets cracked you are in a hard spot. And also if the foam is compressing too much it will not make a good deal with the bottom of the pack.
The other thing to be aware of is the emergency head retract batteries are toast and should be replaced with a 3.6v NiCd pack, that way if the power fails you don't trash a pack. They are really nice drives for saying they where DEC's first removable media hard drive, a bit heavy to move but not that bad. Matt Sent from my iPhone > On Jan 22, 2016, at 6:25 PM, Joshua Stetson <saburw...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I think I lucked out on the foam, as that was one of the first things I > checked. I had to go through and replace all the form in my 8/e chassis and > that was a pretty disgusting process. These drives were used in a > production environment up until a recently and seem really well maintained, > and from the looks of it, a very clean environment. They were even shipped > to me with the heads locked properly. I'm still going to be super cognizant > of the foam when I pull the filters to check them though. Thanks! > > On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 3:09 PM, Pete Lancashire <p...@petelancashire.com> > wrote: > >> Be very careful of the filter assembly, make sure the foam seals are not >> deteriorated to where they can add to what ends up on the platter. >> >> >> >> On Fri, Jan 22, 2016 at 2:00 PM, Joshua Stetson <saburw...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi there, long time viewer, first time poster. First an introduction: >>> >>> My name is Joshua Stetson and I'm a software engineer by trade. My >> earliest >>> memories have always involved computers starting with a DOS based Zenith >>> 8088 where I played some of my first games. >>> >>> My first foray into "classic" computing was on a Commodore 64 which my >>> Uncle gave me while I was still in Jr. High. I'd already been introduced >> to >>> programming at an early age, so this machine was an absolute treat to me >> at >>> the time as it was my first step into assembly language. As time >>> progressed, my interests turned older and I began a collection of S-100 >>> gear including an IMSAI 8080 and a SOL-20. >>> >>> Over the past couple of years, I've managed to work back even further, >>> piecing together a PDP-8/e system from various parts collected over the >>> past 4 years and now I have a fully working 8/e including 32kw of core >> and >>> an RK05E card set. I've been running the system using Kyle Owen's >>> os8diskserver and David Gesswein's sendtape utilities which both work >>> absolutely wonderfully. It was amazing to be able to run Adventure on a >>> native system! >>> >>> I'd like to send a shout out to Kyle for the os8diskserver, that is some >>> pretty awesome work there. David for his software and archive of DEC >>> documentation which was indispensable for helping me debug a few boards >> and >>> get everything running and tested. I also want to thank Vincent Slyngstad >>> for his help and support on some questions. >>> >>> Now to my ask: >>> >>> Recently I've found a pair of RK05J drives and a few disk packs. One of >> my >>> drives seems to be in fully working order, the other the blower is not >>> working, so I'm working on fixing that right now. >>> >>> I'm currently missing cabling for connect these drives to the RK05E board >>> set. If anyone happens to have an extra cable set they'd be willing to >> part >>> with so I can bring these beasts back to life, I'd appreciate it! >>> >>> Ideally I would like to find the following: >>> 7009026 Cable which is two ribbon cables with a M933B or C flip chip on >> the >>> other end >>> The interface cable between the two drives: BC11A >>> The terminator card M930 >>> >>> At minimum, I'm pretty sure I'd only need the first cable to run one of >> the >>> drives, but I'd appreciate any help from those who have more experience. >>> >>> Also, I don't have a rack for this equipment yet, so I'm running it all >>> tabletop, but I'm in the market for a rack + rails (I only have the rails >>> for the equipment, but not the ones that mount to the rack itself. Any >>> leads on more 16-sector packs would also be appreciated! Also, still >> hoping >>> to get the extended arithmetic boards, RTC, and possibly a TSC8 >> Timesharing >>> option as I have 4 SLUs and would love to try out some timesharing. >>> >>> On a side note, I'm looking to perhaps sell or trade my SOL-20 sometime >>> soon. It's 100% working as I restored it about 3 years ago. It works >> great, >>> but I'm looking to part with all of my S-100 equipment to focus more on >>> DEC. >>> >>> Thanks! >>