OT: Archiving data/video/movies/photos/oral history

From: William Donzelli <aw288_at_osfn.org>
Date: Sun Jun 4 16:52:11 2000

> Yes, the plastics made 60 years ago were poor. But they weren't used for
> everything from cabinets to gears to chassis to bearings to... Those
> parts were made of metal back then. And yes, there have been impurity
> problems with metals (the well-know 'pot metal' for example). But a brass
> gear, as used in clocks for the last 400 years, and as used in the tuning
> drives of WW2 radios will outlast the cheap plastic gears in a modern
> unit. Period.

Question mark, followed by exclamation mark.

Look up "season cracking". And find me a Hallicrafters S-meter in one
piece. If its brass that has any impurities in it, internal (and external)
stresses will crack it. Gears are fairly immune if they have been cut from
free machining brass, but stamped gears are time bombs. If the brass was
cold worked, it pretty much has a death sentence, with the day of
execution determined by the quality of the metal. The point is that
today's brass (and other metals) is far better than yesterday's, and will
outlast it greatly.

Season cracking is a restoration nightmare, as there really is nothing
that can stop or repair it.

Anyway, comparing poor quality brass to excellent stability plastic
gearing is an apples to oranges comparison.

> Point is, consumer-grade equipment is not
> built like that.

That's not the issue. If anything, I am in 100 percent agreement.

> It uses the cheapest possible materials, even when
> they're not really suitable. Or perhaps you could explain why my 1972
> Philips N1500 VCR (almost entirely metal inside) is still going strong
> with only 1 set of new belts and a repair to a loading pulley, whereas a 5
> year old machine has already got through 4 sets of idlers, pinch rollers,
> belts and a head drum.

Of course a 1972 VCR will be built well! Back then, they cost lots of
money, and Philips would lose favor in the market if they did build them
cheaply.

> The other issue is repairability. I don't expect to be able to pick up a
> WW2 unit, untouched since the day it was made, turn it on, and use it.
> But I know that I could _repair_ a unit made back then. Yes, capacitors
> will have broken down. Rubber-insulated wire will need replacing. But
> that's not a particularly difficult problem to solve.

Well, this is also not the issue, and I pretty much agree here as we...
 
> Now try the same thing with a CD ROM drive in 50 years time. I don't
> expect it to work after 50 years, sure. But just try fixing it. It's a
> lot harder (some would say impossible) than a WW2 radio.

The 50 year old CD-ROM will likely need far less in the repair
department, because most (all?) of the parts will be just as good
as the day they were born.

Remember, we are talking about dealing with unused (or little used)
equipment, not readers that have spent a few years in the computers of
teenagers.

William Donzelli
aw288_at_osfn.org
Received on Sun Jun 04 2000 - 16:52:11 BST