Reviving 65 Year Old Bearings

In the previous episode, we brought up AC on the machine for the first time in who knows how many decades, and it went amazing. We confirmed that we have a good clock track and a good timing track on the drum. But, we also confirmed that none of the cooling fans were happy and the drum itself was grumbly. So, today, let’s pull those fans out, revive the bearings in them, then pull the drum out and try to get the bearings in it happier as well.

Check out System Source here:

If you want to support the channel please hop over to Patreon:

Also, we now have some epic shirts for sale!

Come join us on Discord!

Intro Music adapted from:
Artist: The Runaway Five
Title: The Shinra Shuffle

Thanks for watching!

Chapters
0:00 I love this blue monolith of a computer!
2:54 Removing the door fans
5:15 Reviving the door fans
9:24 Removing the main blower fan
12:10 Reviving the main blower fan
14:29 Removing the drum
16:41 Fixing the drum with a hammer
18:23 Flipping the big switch one more time
20:20 All it took was a little patience!
22:31 Kitty!

[gerryjamesedwards]

A great tip someone gave me years ago, for identifying the source of sounds in a mechanical system: You take a big old screwdriver and use it like a solid stethoscope, except you pin the little fleshy flap, the tragus, over the opening of your ear with the end of the screwdriver. So it's not 'in' your ear but pushing the tragus into your ear-hole. This transmits vibrations into your ear canal and bones without any air-carried noise. What you hear is any vibrations coming from wherever the pointy end of the screwdriver is touching. More weight on the contact gives clearer sound, but risks damaging surfaces obviously. This is really useful for diagnosing car engines, as it filters out so much extraneous noise, but in your case it would immediately tell you whether the noise is coming from the drum or the motor.

[glenncaughey]

- Cool computer you got there bro, how fast is the memory?
- About 70mph

[koenlefever]

My Sunday afternoon routine: clicking "refresh" until the UE video drops.

[rosalinafarias]

I'm a Maintenance Engineer for a TV station in LA, California. On Sundays I'm the only one here in the maintenance room. I usually don't smile but to see you making progress on this computer brings me joy

[TomFynn]

"That is how exciting it is to flip this big switch" And that, precisely, is what separates engineers from non-engineers.

[jdmcs]

I was at System Source yesterday for their repair workshop, and got the chance to talk with Bob. Great guy and great museum! Glad you’re working with them to get the Bendix running!

[thadsmith]

Oklahoma University had two G-15s. A vent hood was fashioned just above each cabinet. When we powered up the computer we also turned on a hood fan motor to exhaust the hood to the outside. It reduced the cooling requirements considerably since most of the heat went straight outside.

[NuffMan_]

Oiling bearings will work for little while, but the oil will weep out sooner than later.

From my experience these metal shielded bearings are better off just replaced.. the only way to get some new grease in them is to literally boil them in grease bath :)

The rubber shielded ones can be quite easily be relubricated with grease.

But those small bearings are like 2dollars a piece so youre better off just replacing them, use the bit more expensive ones like those made in south korea, they have better grease in them from factory and will last atleast 10times longer than the cheaper ones

[sidewinder]

The high school I went to in 1970 had one of these (or a *very* similar model) in their Science Lab, which had been donated by an alumnus several years before when his company retired it. We got to play with it some, which I found fascinating. I still remember its most common error, necessitating one of us students to go get the Science teacher to come fix it. The terminal attached to it would just repeatedly type one line:
w000zzy
w000zzy
(repeat forever until shut off with master switch).
Glad to see this old beast, haven't seen one since then.

[TheHylianBatman]

You've inspired me; I saved a desktop from the trash with an aim to get it functioning again!
My computer isn't as fancy as yours, though, but I'm taking baby steps!
Another lovely episode! Thanks very much! I'm so happy to see it spinning up again!

[cdl]

Usagi Electric just got five more fans for his channel. :-)

[TastyBusiness]

When I caught wind of this episode's subject, I knew I was going to be a fan of it. Glad you aired on the side of caution and replaced that insulation. Nice work!

[kreature]

4:08 small washer falls into the machine...
I hope that doesn't cause an issue later?

[MDBenson]

There's an anime related "This episode was mostly just fan service" joke in there somewhere.

Great to hear the thing running up and ready for AC though, and good work brining those fans back around.

[mrtoastyman]

I am but a child next to this machine, thanks for taking us on your journey with it!

Your excitement is infectious and I look forward to seeing more.

[TheTerminalGuy]

I'm starting to watch you more and more! Just today I saved an Win 95 computer with all the essentials from going into to the trash! Greetings from Germany!

[MrMersh-tsjl]

Just a heads up, you can buy a stethoscope with a long aluminum prod at the end if you will. I use it all the time in the automotive business and you can locate noises extremely easy with it and they're very inexpensive

[ReneSchickbauer]

"Quiet" in 1950's computer terms is basically "you can enter the computer room while the computer is running *with* ear protectors". A friend (now long passed away) once told me that the corporation he worked at in the early 1960's had a computer room where the printer did an emergency stop if you opened the door due to the noise levels...

[JeordieEH]

I really wish I lived closer to a computer museum like system source, would love to visit there one day. That reminds me a lot of how I handle bearings. I have oiled and repaired them that way many times.

[cgeissler]

Your enthusiasm is contagious. Keep up the great work!!