On Sun, 8 Apr 2001, Gunther Schadow wrote:
> Robert F Schaefer wrote:

> > Can you give me a little more detail about moving a VAX 6xxx?  I'm about
> > to go pick one up, but I don't think I'll be able to have any help along.
> > My plan was to lay it over into the back of a minivan, but I think I might
> > need to partially disassemble the beast.  Will she come apart with a
> > couple'a screwdrivers, or do I need something a little more persuasive?
> > She's also gonna go into the basement, but I'll be able to draft a little
> > brother or two for that part.
>
> Brian and I proofed: you don't need 6 people, but you do need two.
> Most of the work can be done with one person, i.e., whenever the
> floor is smooth. But we would hardly have been able to move the
> thing onto the lifter of the truck with just one person. So, have
> a friend help you, it's certainly twice the fun.

Yes, this is definitely a case of where it helps to have the right
equipment available.  For my day trip up to Indianapolis and back (roughly
150 miles) the truck rental ran me about $140.  That included all the
extra insurance and the price of refilling the truck with diesel fuel.

If you're in the US.  I highly recommend Ryder rental trucks.  They've got
an ideal truck for moving this size of computer equipment.  It's fairly
short and easy to drive 15ft truck with a hydraulic lift.  The lift is
about 3ft deep and maybe 5ft wide.  It just fits the 30"x30.5" footprint
of the VAX 6000 leaving enough room for comfort.

Once you get the VAX inside of the truck and settled neear the back,
you'll need a 9/16in or a 14mm crescent wrench to lower the feet on the
VAX in order to stablize it for the trip.  I hit some really bumpy roads
and a number of hills on the way back home, but the VAX didn't tip over.
These systems didn't have disk drives either, with an RA90 or the SA7x
style drive arrays, you'll have an even lower center of gravity on the
VAX.  A definite plus for stability.

Now, taking one of these systems down a staircase... good luck.  It's
going to take more than a few people, unless you setup a very clever
system of pulleys which gives you an appropriate mechanical advantage, or
maybe a winch to help lower the VAX slowly.

-brian.
--- Brian Chase | bdc@world.std.com | http://world.std.com/~bdc/ -----
              I am trying to decode this, but I think your
                 ROT13 encoder is malfunctioning.  -- K.