Rob,
As I mentioned in my previous note, the mini-toggle switches they use on
the Centaur really don't stand up very well. One key I found is to make
sure you don't put any sideways pressure on the switch as you use it.
Straight up, or straight down does just fine, but sideways pressure will
cause it to break much sooner.
On the fan, I had one of my company's acoustic engineers look at it (he
does a lot of fan work), and said most of the noise is caused by the
restricted input and the manner of the slots in front of the fan blades'
leading edges. If you remove the cabinet you'll find that the noise
level is considerably lower. You could replace the AC fan with a slower
DC fan (and maybe pay for finals a little more often), or perhaps put a
light dimmer circuit on the AC fan to slow it down. Or, if you want to
keep the fan speed up, you could cut a hole the same diameter of the fan
intake in the side of the cabinet and put one of the fan filter holders
over the hole to keep fingers, mice, paperclips, or your straight key
from getting sucked into the fan. I wanted to try this fix, but
eventually traded my Centaur on the Centurion instead.
73, Duane
Duane A. Calvin, AC5AA
ac5aa@Juno.com -or- ac5aa@iolusa.com
Day: dacalvin@us.ibm.com
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