Possible teardown? EMI SE9000 Reel Data Recorder

[dexters_lab]

spotted these, looks like the seller has four of them all priced around £100 or so, i'm somewhat interested in doing a teardown 

they are a bit big though, i'd probably have to hire a van!

or should this beautiful bit of engineering be kept intact and not in my pile of metal recycling?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Penny-Giles-SE9000-Tape-To-Tape-longitudinal-Recorders-/291906068624

[mikeselectricstuff]

It will only end up as scrap metal if someone doesn't rescue it

[coppice]

Is that a rebadged Ampex IRIG-B machine? It looks suspiciously similar to an Ampex, and but not quite 100% like I remember one.

[dexters_lab]

spotted this too, looks like it came from the same place:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351872535957?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

It will only end up as scrap metal if someone doesn't rescue it

yea, at least one of them needs to be saved, they have four of them listed

i could run up there and take a look at them, take some additional pics?

Is that a rebadged Ampex IRIG-B machine? It looks suspiciously similar to an Ampex, and but not quite 100% like I remember one.

just done some reading, originally developed by SE labs in the UK, then they were bought by EMI, the ones in the auction seem to be branded Penny & Giles though so... 

[SeanB]

You know you want 4 racks to put tools in Mark......

[dexters_lab]

You know you want 4 racks to put tools in Mark......

LOL! i did think about making a drinks cabinet!... small fridge in the base for beer etc ?

i am probably going to pass on it, unless someone wants to buy it off me right after i have made a video of it? I certainly wouldn't like to buy all of them like i did with the polygraphs!

[dexters_lab]

They all were unsold, now relisted for £50 each.

I will be going over there tomorrow so i will take a look at them, i just wish they were smaller!

[mikeselectricstuff]

They all were unsold, now relisted for £50 each.

I will be going over there tomorrow so i will take a look at them, i just wish they were smaller!

on-site teardown..?
You'd be doing them a favour by splitting it into more easily recylable parts

[coppice]

If these machines are like the Ampex, Honeywell and Enertec ones I have used they are:

• Extremely heavy
• Just slightly too tall to push through most British doorways on their wheels

Trying to get one on its side to move it through a doorway might require quite a few people. On the plus side they should have good wheels, so they should be easy to get between doorways.

When I used tape transports which regularly had to be moved between 2 adjacent rooms we had the normal doors replaced with customised tall ones.

[dexters_lab]

yea i am guessing they must be circa 100kg each

i won't hold my breath about the on-site teardown, but i'll ask!

[dexters_lab]

ok, went over this morning to check these out

they are pretty big but not unmanageable, they are all in various states of disrepair. I noted some are missing parts of the tape transport, record or playback heads etc.

Many of the plugin cards are loose or maybe just randomly inserted, missing etc. The top section is just the tape transport, behind the reels are a fair bit of power control things. I couldn't really tell as i could not open the doors fully.

The base is the controls, control logic and the record/playback I/O cards. Power supplies are probably in the lowest section.

I recon someone has been using these as spares to keep one of them running.

There are some more to be listed, i counted six in total including the ones already on ebay.

i didn't buy any while i was there, but i did come back with a souvenir reel from one of those due to be listed. 

I forgot to ask about on-site teardown, but they are usually pretty short on space and with all the activity with people, fork lifts etc they have there i don't think i would have had a favourable response anyway.

[coppice]

That card frame really looks like the Ampex ones. I'm sure there must be some commonality. It looks like a 28 track machine. You will probably find parts from various sources integrated into the transport, such as heads from Spectra Physics. All the cards at the bottom should be the 28 record and replay channels, a couple of cards per channel. The control equipment for the transport is probably behind the drive itself. That drive doesn't use vacuum columns, so the control kit shouldn't be as bulky as the transports with vacuum pumps and other kit around the back.

If you expect to try one of these things at all, try to get a spool of tape. It could cost you a bomb to source one, if they have none. Those ground glass empty Ampex spool cost quite a lot when they were new.

[dexters_lab]

depends how cheap i could pick one up for... i would need to hire a van to shift it, we'll see in a few days

i'm pleased i managed to bag one of the glass spools though even if i don't get one of the main drives... might see if i can find a clock movement i could fit inside it

[dexters_lab]

given there wasn't much interest here i decided not to buy

they began stripping them this morning

[coppice]

given there wasn't much interest here i decided not to buy

they began stripping them this morning

I'm not clear what your interest was. There isn't a lot to see in these machines. The way the tape runs around a puck is an interesting twist for people used to domestic tape recorders. The machines with vacuum columns have a few features novel to many people. Beyond that its just a big tape drive, with 28 channels of digital formatting onto the tape, using a simple bit stuffing scheme to eliminate DC.

[dexters_lab]

given there wasn't much interest here i decided not to buy

they began stripping them this morning

I'm not clear what your interest was. There isn't a lot to see in these machines. The way the tape runs around a puck is an interesting twist for people used to domestic tap recorders. The machines with vacuum columns have a few features novel to many people. Beyond that its just a big tape drive, with 28 channels of digital formatting onto the tape, using a simple bit stuffing scheme to eliminate DC.

yea well my feelings too really, if a bunch of folks had been really interested i might have bowed to pressure

as it is Mike tipped me off about something else  which might be more interesting anyway

[SNGLinks]

Reminded me of the Ampex FR600s I used to work on in the 60s. They were used to record satellite telemetry at a NASA ground station.