Looking for RL02 prints and maint docs

From: John Lawson <jpl15_at_panix.com>
Date: Tue Nov 12 03:26:00 2002

On Mon, 11 Nov 2002, David HM Spector wrote:

> I just took delivery of a PDP-11/23 with (amongst other things) 4 RL02
> drivers on it .

  A small point: you will possibly cause confusion, semantically - what
you have are RL02 *drives*. The "drivers" are software modules installed
in your Operating System to allow it to properly interface with the
Drives.


>
> I would like to make sure the drivers are cleaned and lubed before I
> attempt to power them up... does anyone have any points to a print-set
> and maintenance data for these drives?

  If not available on-line or from nearer sources, I have one spare
printset for the RL02 subsystem - the physical drive and the single-card
Unibus adapter for it, and the cable. They are 11x14 size and hard to get
copied easily. Let me know if you have trouble finding doc closer to you.
These are quite common, BTW, should be fairly easy. (ha!!) ;}

 In the case of the /23, the adapter card is different, but the drive is
the same.


  Any experiences people have had
> bringing RL02s back to life would be greatly appreciated!

  Depending on the operating environment, you will most likely need to
find clean (or new) HEPA filters and install them. A thorough vacuuming
with a soft-brushed wand is in order as well.

  It is doubtful that the shipping lockscrews have been installed on the
bottom of the drives, but slide them out and check. They are marked as to
which two are the locks. The heads are retracted and locked automagically
- IIRC there is a shipping lock for the head motor, but that is all I can
recall specifically.

  Look on the right-hand side of the drive near the middle and close to
the chassis slide. There should be a small metal cover with a couple of
screws. take this off, and there is a lever hidden in there, pulling it
just the right way will release the lid-latch and allow you to remove the
disk pack w/out powering up the drive. If it is the older style with no
access cover, you can remove the screws in the rear top cover and finesse
the lids off - or, you can power up the system with the load switches
'OUT' and then remove the packs. Pushing 'IN' the load switches with power
and clock reaching the drives will spin them up - not a good idea at this
point. Then you can clean the drive compartment and most likely swab the
heads with a soft q-tip and a 50/50 mixture of hydroflouric and fuming
nitric acids.

  No, wait, I meant isopropyl alcohol - sorry. 70% or 90% to avoid getting
a lot of residual water left on the heads. Of course the usual cautions
apply when cleaning large, old, delicate disk drive heads - be sure to
leave no lint, residue, debris, etc.

> Also, any
> pointers/experiences re: potential cleaning issues of old RL02 packs
> themselves would be helpful too...
>

  Others may have more experience than I on actually cleaning the packs,
but unless they have been stored in a swamp or out of thier covers for
long periods of time, and have not been physically abused (if DEC packs,
they'll have 'shock-watch' indicators on them [at least all mine do] to
tell you if they've been dropped, they are probably OK. IIRC there are
machines that clean and verify the packs, but I've never seen one except
in pictures.

  Hope this helps a bit - I'm quite jealous now as I'm actively looking
for another two RL02 drives for my 11/44... you lucky dog!


  Cheers

John
Received on Tue Nov 12 2002 - 03:26:00 GMT