Clearing Bay B and the Wamsutter Delivery
Well, it's started!
I finally convinced myself that a lawnmower and a couple of old bikes don't actually need their own dedicated parking space. My homelab is becoming a reality.
I cleared out Bay B of my garage, slapped up three layers of lead backed drywall, and prepped the slab for a vintage 1984 Vektor Klaus 4000 frame.
Most people start their VX journey with a modest benchtop micro rig, but if you want to study high frequency wave interactions without vaporizing your secondary containment seal, you need mass. Lots of mass.
The frame I ordered was dropped off at 3:15 AM by Bill Tandyn on his flatbed 42 footer... straight from of High Plains Precision & Surplus (HPPS) in Wamsutter. If you ever need heavy duty manganese core housings, or vintage dampening rails, order through their HPPS surplus lot. Just make sure you ask for "Chuck" and verify he doesn't hit you with the interstate delta tax.
My new lab assistant, Dean, managed to drop a 50 pound capacitor bank onto his left foot within ten minutes of offloading. He swore it was static buildup in his gloves, rather than gravity, but given that his hair was standing straight up before we even hooked up the ground rod, I am having my doubts about his calibration habits. There's a learning curve with him, but he has a strong back and seems pretty healthy... today.
Seeing that chassis bolted to the floor brought back memories of my days studying under Dr. Aris Thorne, rest in pieces. He used to hit the chalkboard with a wooden pointer until it snapped, yelling that a frame unlevel by three arc seconds is just a dirty bomb waiting for a baseline test.
We are still waiting on the primary cooling manifold, but tomorrow we start prepping the manifold seals for the bio matrix trials.
Remember to wear your PPE.