Wednesday, July 17, 2013

8/L Exterior Cleanup

Just a few pictures today.  Spent some time making the 8/L look all purty on the outside.  Based on suggestions from the cctalk mailing list, I used some WD-40 (liberally applied) to loosen the ancient masking tape on the front panel and switches.  The end result is this:

The 8/L, ready for a night on the town.
That worked wonders, and afterwards it cleaned up quite nicely.  The front panel is in immaculate condition.  The switches still need to be (carefully) taken out and more thoroughly cleaned, but I'll save that for another day.

The 8/L's primary interface to the world: an ASR-33 Teletype.
The teletype is in pretty good shape -- it's missing a few screws and it's very dirty but it's mechanically sound.  After giving the insides a visual inspection and making sure that nothing was preventing the motor from spinning, I powered it up briefly and it appears to work correctly.  It'll need a good cleaning and lubrication before I put it into regular use.

The ASR-33's keyboard.  Some serious oxidation on the key plastic, but that should clean up.

That's all I have for today.  Until next time -- don't forget to wind your watch!


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