Wirehead Update

From: Wirehead Prime <wirehead_at_retrocomputing.com>
Date: Thu Apr 9 19:34:37 1998

> I don't have the manuals, but I've dismantled and rebuilt a Friden
> Flexowriter and almost got it aligned. One day I'll finish the job.
>
[Much useful and interesting Frieden info deleted for brevity]
 
> Did you clamp the heads and/or remove the pack from the RK05f before
> moving it? If so, nothing to worry about. If not, then there's a slight
> possibility that the heads have shot across the platter and done damage.
> It'll probably be OK, though. I _may_ have some spare RK05f heads
> somewhere (they are different to normal RK05 ones), but I can't be sure.

Well I went to pick up the 3 8i systems and then went over to the
University to pick up the 11/34, which I thought was just the CPU box
without drives. We only had an hour to get it into the truck and we pull
up and the thing is the 6 foot rack with an 11/34, RK05f and RK05j. And
they were all mounted in the top half with the bottom half empty. We
about died, literally perhaps, trying to roll the thing into the truck.

(At one point while rolling it out the door on the dolly...it took two of
us just to tip the thing backward...it rolled over the lip and slid and
started falling on us. Neither I nor my assistant is a weakling and we
could barely hold it up. We were saved by a helpful student...literally.

We weren't thinking much about the heads at that point. We had backed
the truck into the loading dock next to the dumpster which was right
against the ledge...we spent several minutes in the cold debating whether
the truck or the dumpster was the better receptacle for the machine.

The truck won. Of course, then the machine broke loose and the truck
lost for a few minutes...but in a different way. =-)

If the heads are toasty, I'll keep your email handy. Thanks.

Anthony Clifton - Wirehead
Received on Thu Apr 09 1998 - 19:34:37 BST