VCF East, ASR33 help wanted

From: evan <evan947_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Jun 29 12:05:39 2004

Rather than a contest, you should rebuild the computer in the VCF exhibit hall.
 Sure, some attendees will get in the way, but I bet it'd be a great draw.

--- Bill Sudbrink <wh.sudbrink_at_verizon.net> wrote:
> I have an ASR33 that exhibits the following symptoms in local
> mode (I have not attempted to test online):
>
> 1) Paper will not advance (roller seems to move OK when turned
> by hand)
> 2) Bell will not ring
> 3) When at the start of a line (carriage to the left) it will
> over print several characters before it starts moving to
> the right
> 4) Carriage returns very slowly and sometimes does not make it
> all the way back
> 5) Filthy inside (although not as bad as when I got it... I've
> vacuumed and blown a lot of crud out of it)
> 6) Smells a little funky... not the clean warm oil smell that
> I remember from high school days
>
> As well as being dirty, I suspect that it was improperly
> lubricated by the previous owner as it seems to be particularly
> sticky inside.
>
> I also have a nearly new KSR33 from the same source that was
> improperly handled to the extent that its plastic shell was
> shattered (it was in a cardboard box with some newspaper, none
> of the shipping bolts in place, and apparently roughly moved
> around his ham shack). I have made no attempt to power up the
> KSR (in case stuff got bent) but I think that it could be used
> as a source of replacements if some of the parts of the ASR are
> badly worn.
>
> I would like to recruit 3 or 4 knowledgeable and highly motivated
> classiccmpers (motivated by the prospect of DINNER and BEER on me)
> at VCF East to completely tear down, clean, adjust, lubricate and
> reassemble the ASR. I will supply all of the tools and materials
> (unless you have special purpose tools that will help). I picture
> a marathon operation, with the experts doing the disassembly,
> assembly and adjustment work and me with a toothbrush and a pan of
> Simple Green (or alcohol or kerosene or whatever solvent the experts
> suggest) busily scrubbing parts as they are handed to me. With four
> guys and one scrubber, could this be accomplished in a couple of
> hours?
>
> Why don't I do this myself?
>
> 1) I don't really have the space. Having the entire interior of a
> hotel room to myself will be something of a luxury to me (I have
> two kids). Or maybe I can ask Sellam for some space at the
> festival and we can make it a spectator sport. It could even
> become sort of a challenge...
> "The crew at VCF East was able to rebuild an ASR33 in two hours,
> how fast can the West or Europe do it?"
> 2) I don't have the unbroken periods of time. I have the fear that I
> would get it all apart, have one of my all too frequent family
> "emergencies" and then have to pack it up, resulting in lost parts
> when I finally get back to it.
> 3) I'm a gutless wimp. If I get it apart, I'm not sure I could get
> it all back together, even with the docs. I have original prints
> of some of the docs and the rest in electronic form.
>
> Email me if interested,
> Thanks,
> Bill
>
>
Received on Tue Jun 29 2004 - 12:05:39 BST