DEC "Tea Cart"

[DDS]

Many years ago when my employer was upgrading some equipment I had the opportunity to bid on a surplus WECo CC2A (Control Console #2A). Essentially this was a vanilla PDP11/23 with dual RX02s and a power control box on the back packed into a table high cabinet with internal rails. WECo had added a riser box on top containing two 1200 Baud Datasets and topped it all off with a sliding top that had spots to hold a VT10x terminal in place of the stock walnut finish Formica top

I had a lot of fun with this system until marriage and kids kind of messed up both my spare time and my toy budget. At one point in the move from one house to another my wife said the system had to go. I was able to break down the system and save the guts but the cabinet had to go.

Now many years later, with the kids grown and on their own careers, both my spare time and toy budget are seeing signs of improvement and I wish I had that cabinet back. Searches on the internet haven't turned up much info on whatever it might have been called. I did see one reference on this site a while back to a "Tea Cart" that sounded similar. Two auctions on eBay advertised under RX01 and RX02 yielded pictures of the cabinet with DEC system model numbers 11L03-HA and SR-VXRRA-LA. There was one picture I was able to find of a similar unit here although the legs appear to be almond rather than black:

https://www.google.com/search?q=pdp...kgCqq2HFM:&usg=__QjSDGkZdn01nidIoNIYJZQJ0Yeg=

What I'd like to find out is:

1. What was this cabinet called?
2. Is there any documentation online that would give me some dimensions and hints on perhaps building something like it?
3. Have any of you already gone down this road?

 

[Lou - N2MIY]

In general, these "wife says it has to go" stories make me pretty sick. Stuff usually gets trashed instead of given to people who would appreciate it. Then later the person who trashed it wants one again. Fortunately I have stood up to my wife and not trashed anything. However, I have kept the size of my collection "reasonable".

I seem to know of two dec enclosures being called "teacarts". Both are related to RX drives. The one in the picture of David's collection is the teacart mount of RX01 with a VT78 on top. The other is the vertical wheeled mounting of the RX02-PA that is usually used with the Decmate II. I have a couple of those.

Lou

 

[DDS]

"In general, these "wife says it has to go" stories make me pretty sick. Stuff usually gets trashed instead of given to people who would appreciate it."

25+ years ago it was quite a bit more difficult to find a good home for this stuff. That in itself is part of why some if it is rare today. Three of these CC2A's were in the lot that was surplussed. One of my co-workers contacted the manager of the "cost recovery group" and asked how much we should bid on them. The man had no idea because no one had ever bid on one before. We just threw out $100.00 to get the ball rolling, meaning $100.00 each for the lot of 3. He misunderstood and cut the bill of sale as $100.00 for all 3. Even in the corporate world they had no value to speak of in the mid 1970's.

Some years later I saw an entire #1AESS cut loose from the bays with air chisels and kicked out onto the floor one mounting plate at a time. Then it was all collected into rolling bins and poured into the backs of trucks two stories below. It had been sold to a Korean salvage company for the scrap metal value. Hard to take when you've put years of your life into keeping it running like a Swiss watch. But some times the market says something has no value except as scrap. IBM made a ton of the original 5150 A version but people couldn't get rid of them fast enough when the B model showed up. Now the A is valuable only because there are so few of them left.

--

At any rate, the two eBay auctions I collected pictures of both had a PDP11/03 in the bottom with an RX0n above it in the front. Then in the back there's a couple of ribbon cable management units on the bottom, one hinged like a door, then above that another hinged door with two muffin fans, and above that and just under the Formica top there's the power control & distribution box. Anyway, if anyone knows where I might find some info on this cabinet I'd appreciate the help.

 

[DDS]

Paydirt!

The "LSI 11 Service Manual" dated August, 1981 found on Bitsavers has some relevant information. Apparently the SCCS Control Console #1A was built by DEC for WECo and based on a PDP-11V03. The one I rescued is a later version, the SCCS Control Console #2A built from a PDP-11V23. In the manual, the 11V03 is covered starting on page 23 and the cabinet is specified as an H984. But later in the book is a section titled "Telephone Company Systems", starting on page 101, which details the modifications made to create a CC1A, the diagnostics that need to be run, and the hand off procedure between a Digital tech and a WECo tech when the system is first turned up. That section also specifies an H984-DA cabinet. So now I just need to find the drawings for that cabinet. Tomorrow is another day!

 

[1944GPW]

I found it in a DEC catalog:
H984 Series
The H94-BA (115V ac) and the H985-BB (230V ac) are low profile cabinets, equipped with a walnut grained, plastic laminate top surface and four ball-type casters mounted on a supporting frame. The cabinets are a beige steel enclosure trimmed in flat black. Each H985 provides mounting space for standard 19" panels or racks at both front and rear of the unit. etc etc.
Options were a fan panel assy, black plastic fornt cover, other blank panels.
Dimensions were width 23.50" depth 28.06" Height 21.50"