Dangers of shifting classic computers

From: Kevin McQuiggin <mcquiggi_at_sfu.ca>
Date: Thu Oct 7 12:03:36 1999

My only horror story so far was when Tim Shoppa and I were trying to move a
TU80 tape drive into my basement. It slipped off of the dolly and fell
about 18 inches, bending the frame on the rack.

This was easily fixed later that night however, by pressure applied from a
couple of pipe clamps and a long piece of sturdy 2"x"8", with a sledge
hammer to assist.

The TU80 still worked fine, needless to say.

Kevin

At 04:54 PM 07/10/99 +0100, you wrote:
>Hi,
>
> >....This machine will alwas have a special place in my collection
> >though, since it is so heavy I sprained a muscle in my back while
> >lifting it so bad that I needed several weeks of therapy to cure.
> >One of the hazards of the old computer collector...
>
>Quite, I've managed to injure myself a number of times shifting medium/large
>sized machines over the years.
>
>I trapped a nerve in my back both times I shifted my old PDP-11/23+ (in an
>H960 cab with a pair of RL-01s). And please, believe me, shifting a PDP-11/34
>by yourself is NOT a good idea....my back muscles still wince at the thought.
>
>Also managed to strain a couple of back muscles when I moved my SGI 4D/70GT
>into the house. There were two of us moving that beastie and we'd taken all
>the boards out of it first (they're about the weight of my 11/53 on their
>own).
>
>
>Not to mention that I've been in agony for a week now with a trapped nerve in
>my shoulder. But then again there really was no way to disassemble that
"Space
>Invaders II" machine which I was moving out of the house....
>
>Anyone else hurt themselves, lost limbs etc??? ;-)
>
>
> TTFN - Pete.
>
>--
>Hardware & Software Engineer. Sound Engineer.
>Collector of Arcade Machines, Games Consoles & Obsolete Computers (esp DEC)
>
>peter.pachla_at_virgin.net |
>peter.pachla_at_vectrex.freeserve.co.uk |
>peter.pachla_at_wintermute.free-online.co.uk | www.wintermute.free-online.co.uk
>--
>
>
>
>
>

==========================================================
Sgt. Kevin McQuiggin, Vancouver Police Department
E-Comm Project (604) 215-5095; Cell: (604) 868-0544
Email: mcquiggi_at_sfu.ca
Received on Thu Oct 07 1999 - 12:03:36 BST