I think it is rather unlikely that relatively recent DEC machines had any asbestos in them.  Possibly some very old machines from the 1950's and 1960's might.  I know some old PDP-8's had mercury power contactors in them.  I can't imagine where one would use asbestos in a computer.  You mention tape drive braking mechanisms.  I don't recall ANY DEC tape drive that had a "braking mechanism", all control of the reels was done electronically. Jon

On Wed, 29 Jul 2026, William Donzelli via cctalk wrote: If they're looking for an ambulance to chase, howzbout automobiles? Even the ambulance itself, like all cars up until the 1990s, has asbestos exhaust gaskets, clutch pressure disks, and brake pads and shoes! Although many have tried, nobody has been able to show causation nor even statistical correlation between asbestos exposure and cancer among auto mechanics. (and always be careful about the catastrophic consequences of conflating causation with correlation!) Heavy industries, such as shipbuilding are more likely, due to use of amphibole asbestos versus chrysotile asbestos used in automobiles [and computer disk and tape brakes?] There was one confirmed cancer death among Fukushima workers. His family was compassionately awarded compensation [or enlisted the original poster's firm?], although he was a smoker. He was very much in favor of nuclear power, and he personally insisted that his cancer was not caused by Fukushima. I think that he was the one who stuck around after the incident to pump sea water into the reactor to cool it (directly against orders from TEPCO, who were concerned that the sea water would make it more expensive to repair the plant and return it to use) Personal injury lawyers love mesothelioma cases, and advertise heavily on TV to find them, because they have better chances to get a jury to find in their favor. Has the original poster and her company also considered trolling automotive groups? Am I risking a $1.776 billion lawsuit for maligning them? -- Grumpy Ol' Fred

On Wed, 29 Jul 2026, Jon Elson wrote: Isolation/mounting pads on power resistors. DEC TU10 Christian

I have arranged to have a very small number of PiDP kits available for sale at the VCF Midwest show in September. I am taking pre-orders so that anyone who definitely wants one or more will be able to get them. There will be a $100/kit deposit on any pre-orders. By pre-ordering and picking up at the show you will save on shipping charges and possibly the $20 processing fee. Any item for sale at Obsolescence Guaranteed <https://obsolescence.dev/> will be available for pre-order. Please note that all pre-orders must be in and the deposit paid before August 15th so that I can have them here in time for the show. The kits or pre-assemled that are available are: PiDP-1 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp1.html>                       Console version Kit $225, Console version assembled $350, Rack version kit $385, Rack version assembled $560. PiDP-8 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp8.html>                       Kit $180, Assembled $305 PiDP-10 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp10.html>                     Kit $370, Assembled $545. PiDP-11 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp11.html>                     Kit $270, Assembled $395. Enigma Touch <https://obsolescence.dev/enigma-touch.html>          Single kit $185, Two machine kit $295, Single assembled $235, Two machine assembled $395. There will be a shipping charge (I don't know how much but less than the $45 - $65 if ordered directly). Sales tax in Schaumburg is 10%.  There will be a 3% surcharge if paying by credit card. Please forward this to anyone whom you feel might be interested. Please contact me directly to pre-order: Michael Katz mkatz(a)12bitzbest.com +1 (773) 414-1044

There is a typo in this message, the correct email address is bitwiz(a)12bitsbest.com. I'm sorry for any confusion. I have arranged to have a very small number of PiDP kits available for sale at the VCF Midwest show in September. I am taking pre-orders so that anyone who definitely wants one or more will be able to get them. Retail VCF Show Cost Model Kit Assembled Kit Assembled PiDP-1 Console <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp1.html> $225.00 $350.00 $232.50 $345.00 PiDP-1 Rack <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp1.html> $385.00 $560.00 $411.50 $569.00 PiDP-8 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp8.html> $180.00 $305.00 $192.00 $304.50 PiDP-10 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp10.html> $370.00 $545.00 $363.00 $520.50 PiDP-11 <https://obsolescence.dev/pdp11.html> $270.00 $395.00 $273.00 $385.50 Enigma Touch Single <https://obsolescence.dev/enigma-touch.html> $185.00 $235.00 $246.50 $291.50 Enigma Touch Double <https://obsolescence.dev/enigma-touch.html> $295.00 $395.00 $405.50 $495.50 Shipping is included in the VCF Show Cost. There will be a $100/kit deposit on any pre-orders. By pre-ordering and picking up at the show you will save on shipping charges. Any item for sale at Obsolescence Guaranteed <https://obsolescence.dev/> will be available for pre-order. Please note that all pre-orders must be in and the deposit paid before August 15th so that I can have them here in time for the show. Sales tax in Schaumburg is 10%.  There will be a 3% surcharge if paying by credit card. Please forward this to anyone whom you feel might be interested. If the few extra that I have at the show sell out, I will take pre-orders at the show. Please contact me directly to pre-order: Michael Katz mkatz(a)12bitzbest.com +1 (773) 414-1044

On Thu, Jul 30, 2026 at 01:03:22PM +0200, Christian Corti wrote: Metal on metal magnetic brake. At least by the time I took it apart when restoring my TU10. Some of the reel motor brushes were worn down to the metal. Had a lot of hours. https://www.pdp8online.com/tu10/tu10-repair.shtml TU55 also has brake. Haven't taken one apart.

Ur client was more likely exposed out in the field installing stuff in clients buildings rather then their equipment themselves. As dust is something we don't really want in computers and asbestos based breaks make allot of dust. So highly unlikely. On Wed, Jul 29, 2026, 11:09 a.m. Carey Schug via cctalk < cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote:

I would never cite AI for *anything* Until the most recent models I could easily get them into situations where they would advise me to drink brake fluid for tummy troubles. In terms of the original question I have never encountered asbestos in any DEC products going back to the pdp12 or pdp8/L systems of the 1960's. Chris

Fred Cisin via cctalk &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: Why does Covid, or any other deadly disease for that matter, need any treatment at all? Why are people so unwilling to accept death as a natural and necessary part of the cycle of life? A hint for the next pandemic, whatever and whenever it will be: if you find yourself living on an overpopulated planet and there is a deadly pandemic coming your way, saving lives is the WRONG thing to do! Instead the right course of action is to let it rip, be intentionally UNSAFE as much as possible, and let natural selection play out: survival of the fittest! Any evolutionary biologist or population ecologist will tell you that the overall health of a population improves when its weakest members are culled - hence my ritual chant from 2020 into 2021, dancing around a fire UNMASKED and intentionally coughing in every direction: Spread the Covid far and wide, Let the weak and feeble die! And yes, I did catch Covid intentionally in 2020-Dec, after whole 9 months of unsuccessfully trying. I took no treatment whatsoever, neither mainstream nor alternative, I refused to be tested or hospitalized or put on any official counts, and I let Goddess decide whether I should live or die. Since I am still alive despite having done everything in my power to speed up my death, I now assume that She still needs me down here - probably to take care of various retro technologies, such as the one in my email domain, plus more traditional ClassicCmp fare like VAXen. Blessed Be, Priestess Mychaela P.S. While I am certainly anti-vaxx, I am also pro-VAX - DEC VAX computer architecture, that is! My favourite architecture by far.

I don't believe that. I have never seen and can't imagine a vacuum tube with asbestos. What you will find in many small vacuum tubes is mica -- typical receiver tubes (which is what you'd see in a computer) have the elements mounted between two small sheets of mica. But asbestor is porous and fibrous, there isn't any use for that in tubes I can think of. Just another AI hallucination. paul

it's much more likely asbestosnis in the walls and building structure than a dec computer b On Wed, Jul 29, 2026 at 5:58 PM Martin Bishop via cctalk < cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote:

On Thu, Jul 30, 2026 at 12:05 PM Christian Corti via cctalk &lt;cctalk(a)classiccmp.org&gt; wrote: Perhaps you should learn the very old-fashioned way of valves/vacuum tubes :-) There were some very early triodes that deliberately contains residual gas. See here https://www.museumoftechnology.org.uk/objects/_expand.php?key=954 There was a little side/top tube containing asbestos that you heated to release some of said gas that was adsorbed onto the asbestos. So yes, some valves _do_ contain asbestos. But it would only be a hazard if the glass was broken. And if such a valve was ever used in any DEC computer or peripheral I almost say I'll eat a PDP11! -tony