At Last - A Control Data 160-A!

[Billy Pettit]

Eric Smith wrote:



 >> Put it in the garage, powered it up and it ran!

 >What???  You didn't test the DC power supplies first?  Naughty, >naughty!

Well, it pwered up and ran when I bought it.  Tested it then of course - 
wouldn't spend that kind of money on a dead one now.

So my main concern was damage caused by the move, especially the memory. 
  And 160-A would sometimes need module reinsertion after a move.

The power supply was one of the old Ault Magnetics types with 
ferro-resonant transformers and built like a boat anchor.  I've never 
heard or seen of one going bad.  If it ever did, you'd need a very 
muscular friend to help you move it.

So I felt pretty confortable turning on AC without a pre-test.

The typewriter chassis is a different story.  The power supply was cut 
out with a pair of dykes!  I'm going to be putting in some hours of wire 
splicing, tracing, testing before I put the PC boards back in.



 >Los Altos Typewriter.  They restored the IBM Model B electric 
 >typewriters used as console devices on CHM's IBM 1620 and DEC PDP-1. 
 >Don't expect them to do anything with the computer interface part, but 
 >they do great work on the typewriter mechanism.

 >Eric

Thanks for the name - I will visit them and get an estimate.  The 
typewriter mechanism and encoder, I feel comfortable with.  Fixed enough 
of them over the years.  It's the cosmetics that suck.  And some of the 
rubber grommets are powder.

My biggest worry - the rubber belts and power roller look to be in great 
shape.  Even the platen doesn't seem to be hard or cracked.

It's the chassis panels that I will need help with.  I can get the rust 
off and primer it.  But to keep the original texture, I'm going to have 
to match the color and paint type.  These were originally given multiple 
coats and baked.

How far do you go on restorations?  Match original paint or just the 
color?  Use current spray paint or the old enamels?  What have others on 
the list done for paint restoation?

What do the museums do?

Billy


PS:  Anybody one the list have a couple rolls of 1" paper tape they'd 
like to sell?  I'm down to 2 half rolls, barely enough for adjusting the 
two punches.