Bendix G-15 Restoration: Garage Archaeology

[stephenbuck]

A sub-thread of Bendix G-15 Restoration

I finally got a good look at the Bendix today. It's been in my friend's garage for many years and has a fair bit of dust on it, but it's in great condition overall. I live in the mountains at the end of a very bumpy dirt road, so we're going to transport the large, fragile components (CPU, 2 tape drives) to some spare office space I've located down on the flatlands to avoid any damage. I hate to think of 350 irreplaceable vacuum tubes rattling around in the back of a truck. I'll bring the console, which is relatively small up to my house and work on it here.

Some of the equipment has been used as a home by unwanted creatures. A contact at one of the large computer museums recommended that the contaminated equipment be disinfected by a professional pest control service. That's what we'll do!

 

[Al Kossow]

"disinfected by a professional pest control service."

without spraying anything onto in into the equipment

the thing you'd be most concerned about is Hantavirus from rodents

it does look to be in excellent condition for its age

 

[stephenbuck]

Yes, we need to avoid spraying anything onto or into the equipment, but it needs to be cleaned and disinfected - that's what makes it complicated. I'm thinking of removing any panels that can be easily removed and cleaning them separately. How do other museums disinfect and clean these sorts of items?

 

[Al Kossow]

Yes, we need to avoid spraying anything onto or into the equipment, but it needs to be cleaned and disinfected - that's what makes it complicated. I'm thinking of removing any panels that can be easily removed and cleaning them separately. How do other museums disinfect and clean these sorts of items?

The person with the most experience on CHM's staff is currently Aurora Tucker and takes care of incoming artifact cleaning.