PDP-11/34 & RK05 Questions

From: David Gesswein <djg_at_drs-esg.com>
Date: Wed Aug 2 23:07:18 2000

  For the cleaning of dirty packs I use a lazy susan (rotating table) and
put the pack on it. This allows me to rotate it and view a various angles
to look for dust and other defects. If you put a light at the correct
angle dust will show up much better.

I use the alcohol to clean disks like others have said and also use the
canned "compressed air" dust off to blow the dust off. Make sure you squirt
the first bit away from the disk in case some of the liquid comes out. I
also use a photo/lens brush to remove the stubborn dust. Depending on
house dust level you may have trouble getting it all off. Running a
air cleaner or filtered fan in a closed room can cut the airborne dust down.

If the packs may of been dropped at some time you need to watch out for
them being bent. Most lazy susan will have a lot of play so may not
allow you to see. If you have the top of the drive off and watch the
shadows on the pack from the head positioner assembly they will move if
the pack is bent. Just blip the run switch for a short time to get a slow
rotation or rotate by hand.

You should also check that the battery pack is still good. It is a
rechargable nicad and will go bad after a while. Measure with a load
after charging if needed. This is used to retract the heads if power
is lost. It is located on the left side near the back.

I have various maintenance information for the RK05 available at
http://www.pdp8.net/query_docs/query.shtml

RK05 docs:
http://www.pdp8.net/pdp8cgi/query_docs/query.pl?Search=rk05&stype=Partial+Word&submit=Submit+Query&fields=id%2Ctitle%2Cdate&debug=0&table=pdp8docs&orderby=sort%2Ctitle

This search/convert to PDF is new so let me know if you have problems.

David Gesswein
http://www.pdp8.net/ -- Old computers with blinkenlights
Received on Wed Aug 02 2000 - 23:07:18 BST

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