Continuing on with restoration tasks Sunday Aug 24

Some poly filter foam I had on hand was tried in a filter holder and found it was acceptable - not great but better than no filter. Will continue to look for a better material to use. The memory gate (D) had no filter in it at all, so I will need to find/build a new frame then insert filter material.

I removed the cover and face plate from the console printer (I/O Selectric 1053) in order to begin cleaning and resuscitating it. The local modifications were more visible from the backside - the typewriter motor on/off switch that had been added was replaced by a 360 era authentic switch. The light assembly is still jarring but I haven't come to a design decision on that yet.

Backside of console printer plate with local modifications visible

Switch and light cover used on the local modification - to be replaced

New more consistent switch but lamp still to be replaced

The buzzer on the right side was connected to a new microswitch that closed when the typewriter carrier reached the end of line. Since it was up to software on the 1130 to do a carrier return and line feed when end of line is sensed, it is possible that some programs failed to do this, leaving the typewriter merrily typing characters over the same rightmost spot. The buzzer would alert an operator. At least the buzzer is black and doesn't stand out, so it will stay for now.

Buzzer on right, not original equipment but will stay for now

Local modification wiring for the Program Start button added to printer and reader

I put the old breaker into the 1130 and closed up the sequencing panel, so that I can put the skins back on the system. I will remove it and replace with a working breaker once it arrives. My original purchase attempt on eBay was from a recycler who listed "Make an Offer" buttons but doesn't bother to look at them or respond. This ties me up for the entire duration of the offer period, which is preset by eBay, but once it expired I bought one in better condition and for less than I would have given to the idiot seller.

My sound deadening neoprene sheets arrived late yesterday and I installed it on the disk drive enclosure. Those are now installed inside the 1131. I was going to add a bit inside the Console Printer cover, but it has the hardest to remove gooey sound deadening foam of all. The backing plastic behind the foam is stuck onto the Selectric covers in a death grip, not possible to peel off long sections as with other foam instances. This takes scraping tools, pliers, and frankly more than an hour of work so far with sections still remaining.

New sound deadening neoprene inside disk enclosure

The typewriter cover, looking good from the outside but . . . 

Horrible foam encrusting the inside of the cover

The most difficult part of the foam, upper area inside cover

I continued to go through the boxes of punched card software, extracting and cataloging what I could identify. Some of the decks are well labeled to match the IBM catalog, some have a name on them  but I can't match it up to a specific catalog entry, some have names that I know are not in the catalog, and finally there are decks with no writing and the cards weren't interpreted. Lots and lots of 'printer art', decks to list that produce pictures through lines of characters. Seven boxes full of the printer art alone. Plenty of classics like Snoopy on his doghouse are here. I got fairly far along in sorting and storing decks, not that much left to figure out.

Some of the many printer art decks - Snoopy, MLK Jr, Santa and much more

Looking into the core memory situation, I spotted a red jumper on a memory backplane which was inserted only on one side, dangling on the other. These don't seem to be documented in the 1131 or SJ-4 memory ALDs thus I can't sort out what the other end of the dangling jumper should fit to. From the locations on the backplane, the ones that are in place seem to connect pins that are already connected without them according to the ALDs, but all the symmetric positions don't have the jumper, just the motherboard connection. Can't figure out what these do yet.

SLT card and core side, compartment covers in place

Other side of gate, wirewrap and connectors

Compartment opened - core in lower center, surrounded by SLT cards

Two red jumpers in place, lower middle

Dangling red jumper on right side 

I figured out a good way to do the cleaning and lubrication of the console printer, given that it is hard wired into the processor in a way that makes it difficult to unhook it to carry elsewhere. I put some boards across the top of the processor, sitting the typewriter up atop those. That gave me almost five inches to the bottom of the cutaway where the printer normally stands - room to put a rectangular aluminum foil pan underneath to catch all the drippings.

Congealed grease, dried out belt material - typical of a Selectric mechanism as you will find today

Mechanism contains a degree wheel - handy for adjusting switches and mechanisms

Mechanism suspended on boards, a pan will go underneath to catch dripping lubricants

The console printer had a dual-color ribbon mechanism, selectable by program control, but the plastic tape that runs over pulleys to move the ribbon mechanism was broken. I will have to get replacement tape and install it as part of the restoration.

Broken plastic tape for color shift dangling down from top left to bottom right

Pulley mechanism for color shift tapes

Actuator at bottom with pullet for tape

Pullet on the carrier itself where the tape passes around

I didn't power on the system at all today. There were plenty of tasks to accomplish while I investigate the dangling jumper. I still have to figure out what to put in place as a combination filter and power supply protector - every 1130 I have seen is open like this because the foam filter material has crumbled to dust so nothing to model my substitute on.

Top of power supplies where filter spanned top to bottom

Research into the lamp bulb for the display panel didn't come up with a clear source yet, but the diameter and shape of the bulb is or was pretty standard. As long as I can find incandescent bulbs in this shape that operate at 4.5V and 140mw when fully lit, they should work. A task to accomplish later.

It seemed like a good time to start in on the 1442 Card Reader/Punch, because it would be useful to boot up diagnostics as I work on the system. I had some vacuuming to do, removing more of the disintegrating foam that had lined the inside of the covers. This foam did not have a plastic sheet with adhesive attaching to the metal; it was directly glued to the painted metal covers and thus is a huge pain to scrape off bit by bit by bit by bit.

Foam remnants on the inside of the 1442 cover

I am preparing to work on power for the reader - first I completed the switch from 208V to 230V power to match my home supply - then I will be reforming the capacitors in the power supply. A Variac gradually raising the voltage should work fine for the task.

I see that this reader also has the local modification of a Program Start button, all of them wired to the 1131 main console so that an operator could push Start on the reader/punch after addressing card issues, just as they could push Start at the printer after addressing print problems.

Program Start added to top right of panel as part of the local modification

Inside the top part of the reader/punch I found huge chunks of think foam - fallen off the covers where it had been glued but remaining mostly intact. It is safely out of the machine, but I will have to do some cleaning before replacing with a better sound deadening material. Interesting that they used two different methods for the sound deadening material on the side cover (horsehair felt) and for the rear top panel where the foam is covered by a fabric like cover. If only that had been done for the rest of the foam!

I finished off the day with a half hour more work, scraping out the last of the goo from the console printer cover so that I can add in some sound deadening. I normally wouldn't bother adding any back, but the condition inside with the remaining glue and goop would be ugly unless I put something up where the foam came off.

Typewriter cover with the foam gunk removed and some glue residue visible