Rick AltherrI now understand why this shipment got stuck in customs for a while. Labels are entirely accurate but are certain to be misinterpreted by most folks.
Actual contents are newly manufactured air filters for CDC Phoenix hard drives from the 1980s. HEPA had destroyed the molds years ago but they could make the main filter section. I'm making new end caps. #retrocomputing
✧✦Catherine✦✧@mxshift you... asked HEPA to manufacture custom filters for you? that's so cool
@whitequark turns out they're perfectly happy to do small runs. This batch was $105ea at qty 10.
@mxshift very nice!
Phil M0OFX@mxshift @whitequark That is surprisingly reasonable for a small run. I remember the old classiccmp posts about these drives - "don't run them up, the filter will be trash and you'll write off the drive - keep it as a show piece". It's cool to see replacements available.
I feel like one day I'm going to wake up to a Usagi video on re-winding or rebuilding a CDC disk drive head.
@philpem @whitequark *glances over at the dead Hawk head next to the microscope*
Sheddi@whitequark @mxshift
Impressive that they're still in business.
Far too often I've looked at manufacturing drawings for kit from the 80s and 90s and have found that the only manufacturer of some important McGuffin closed during one of the various recessions, with no equivalent part available.
Heck, even a major aerospace parts manufacturer divested the division that made my part and now has no records of what it was or how to make it ...