[GreenKeys] PDP-8 table

[Paul Heller]

Doug,

Did you by any chance check with March, the MidAtlantic Retro Computer Hobbyists group? 

Paul


> On Mar 23, 2015, at 1:33 PM, Jones, Douglas W <douglas-w-jones at uiowa.edu> wrote:
> 
> This is a bit off topic, but there are some on this list with PDP-8
> connections:
> 
> In working on the restoration of PDP-8 serial number 85, the
> biggest cosmetic problem we face is that the gullwing-design
> console table originally sold with the machine has gone
> missing.  I would like to construct an accurate reproduction.
> Here's a photo of our machine in early 1966, with the table:
> -- http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~jones/pdp8/UI-8/1966/IBMreport.JPG
> 
> I'm making this broadcast plea for information because I can
> find no surviving examples of PDP-8 tables, neither for the
> table-top model nor for the rack-mount model.
> 
> I have photos of the underside of the gull-wing table that
> is attached to the PDP-7 in the Living Computer Museum in
> Seattle (thanks to them for those photos!!)  Those photos
> have allowed me to determine the general construction methods
> DEC used for their 1965-era tables:  Formica over plywood with
> a steel frame using the same 1x1" and 1x2" steel stock that was
> used to build the relay racks.
> 
> What I need is detail for the gull-wing PDP-8 tables.  I've
> taken measurements from photos of the tables for the rack-mount
> and table-top versions, and the front halves of the two appear
> identical, including the locations of the legs.  What I need
> to know is how the legs were attached and how the steel framing
> was arranged under the table.  Quick and dirty cellphone photos
> would suffice to answer my questions, if anyone knows where to
> find an original table.  Even old memory of how the tables were
> built would help:  Did the legs fold or dismount for shipment?
> Was there a straight-line member connecting the two legs or were
> the only frame members parallel to the sides of the table?
> 
> Sadly, it appears that the Computer History Museum had such
> a table under their exhibit of PDP-8 systems up until around
> 2010, but they seem to have lost it.  (It came to them with
> a table-top PDP-8 but was never inventoried as a separate
> artifact, and when someone redesigned the exhibit, it may well
> have been treated as generic surplus furnature.)  I've just
> about given up on working through channels there to try to get
> information about the table they appear to have lost.
> 
> Here's a 2010 photo showing the table the CHM used to have:
> -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougletterman/4311206087/
> (the table is displayed backward, with the PDP-8 that came
> with it is still roughly positioned where it belongs, although
> turned 165 degrees to face the audience.  More recent photos
> show the machine displayed on a little square table:
> -- https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5515/11040622066_7c9592ce7e_z.jpg
> 
> That table at the CHM may have been the last surviving table of
> its kind.
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I will, of course make up
> detailed drawings for the reconstruction, should anyone want to
> build a replica table for their rack-mounted system.
> 
> 		Doug Jones
> 		jones at cs.uiowa.edu
> ______________________________________________________________
> GreenKeys mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/greenkeys
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:GreenKeys at mailman.qth.net
> 
> 2002-to-present greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/pipermail/greenkeys/
> 1998-to-2001 greenkeys archive: http://mailman.qth.net/archive/greenkeys/greenkeys.html
> Randy Guttery's 2001-to-2009 GreenKeys Search Tool: http://comcents.com/tty/greenkeyssearch.html
> 
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html