The Z400 adventure
Posted: Wed Mar 06, 2019 5:21 pm
The sequel to viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5627.
I now own a Zcorp Z400, given to me by Wonko (Many thanks). It currently resides at my local hackerspace, the Tkkrlab, where I hope to restore it to a working condition.
I will give a TL;DR here, but below I want to discuss how I plan to share the repair.
In the page linked above, Wonko offered his Z400 for anyone willing to pick it up. Naturally, I was really interested and arranged to pick it up.
With a trailer and 2 friends I drove the 150km from Enschede to Krefeld to pick it up. A few lessons I learned that day:
Now for the rest. There is still plenty to do. The entire machine needs to be cleaned. All power supplies need to be checked. The electronics boards need to be confirmed working. I need to power it up to see if the basics still move. I need to clean the tubes and maybe replace ribbon cables. I need to check and grease all moving parts.
I would like to keep a journal of me trying to get the machine to work, in the hope that it is interesting to some, and to provide reference for anyone trying this. I am however not sure I like to use this forum for that. Mainly the upload limit on images, replies between posts and the inability to save proper drafts means I cannot write it down easily. I now have 2 options:
Until the next update.
I now own a Zcorp Z400, given to me by Wonko (Many thanks). It currently resides at my local hackerspace, the Tkkrlab, where I hope to restore it to a working condition.
I will give a TL;DR here, but below I want to discuss how I plan to share the repair.
In the page linked above, Wonko offered his Z400 for anyone willing to pick it up. Naturally, I was really interested and arranged to pick it up.
With a trailer and 2 friends I drove the 150km from Enschede to Krefeld to pick it up. A few lessons I learned that day:
- Pick a car capable of pulling the trailer. My car was pulling a trailer with a hood against the wind. The 2 hour journey to Krefeld I did not get to my highest gear and was running 1/6. (The return trip with wind from behind was a breeze).
- Pick the date better. 3 March was carnival in Krefeld. To say it was busy was an understatement.
- Have a backup plan. My original plan was to lift it to my apartment at the 3rd floor. This idea was quickly shot down after lifting the printer in the trailer. Backup was the hackerspace.
Now for the rest. There is still plenty to do. The entire machine needs to be cleaned. All power supplies need to be checked. The electronics boards need to be confirmed working. I need to power it up to see if the basics still move. I need to clean the tubes and maybe replace ribbon cables. I need to check and grease all moving parts.
I would like to keep a journal of me trying to get the machine to work, in the hope that it is interesting to some, and to provide reference for anyone trying this. I am however not sure I like to use this forum for that. Mainly the upload limit on images, replies between posts and the inability to save proper drafts means I cannot write it down easily. I now have 2 options:
- Post progress on the forum despite the limitations;
- Make a series of pages on the main website.
Until the next update.