9815A - New in Open Box - What to do to NOT damage it.

[jeejohn]

The 9815A was kept in the original box with the foam filled plastic covers top and bottom, essentially sealing it in between them. It’s been dry, relatively cool (mostly never above 85 degree F). So there shouldn’t been any issues with dust collection, although the fan filter foam rubber (at the back left side) is just disintegrating. When I try to grab it, it just comes apart with no adhesion to any other part of it.

I imagine that whatever lubricants in there may have started to separate out some of the chemical additives. Also, there’s likely to be out-gassing of some of the various materials and parts like the capacitors. I have obtained a copy of the service manual which indicates that there is a +15V, +12V, +5V, -5V, and -12V power outputs. The power supply was designed to handle 100V, 120V, 220V, 240V at 48-66 Hz inputs.

I found at an another website, about the 9845 which uses the same type of tape machine, that the tape drive and tape cartridges are prone to problems. The synthetic rubber coating used on the capstan apparently “literally melted after years” or are “gooey”. The tape cartridges may have lost parts of their magnetic coating, along with drive belts bonded with the tape, etc. An interesting find is that the tapes have loose ends, using holes in the tape and lights to detect the ends and thus the ends of the tape.

I don’t have the skills to look into any of this, so I guess I’ll post it over on the classifieds to see if there is any interest in it.