console manual chassis questions

["Mark Longo" <longo@zk3.dec.com>]

        I'm making this posting for Dan Kerl (dlkerl@ingr.com) who is reading 
list mail but is having some problems posting to the list.  Reply to the list 
in 
the usual way and Dan will see your response.

        Mark

==========================================


Fellow Wheel-Heads,

I have an A-100 that I got in 1972. At that time I went through it,
since it was in pretty rough shape.  While I got it working pretty
well, I've always have some degree of trouble with the keyswitch
contacts that the busbar shifters were not capable of fixing.
(this is hardly suprising; I removed all keys in 1972 to replace
the combs and to allow me to use a putty knife to remove the
dried-sugar-syrup/cigarette-ash-amalgam-complete-with-maraschino-
cherry-stems from the keybeds. When I removed the 'sealed' switch
box covers, I discovered them to be full of cigarette ash. I got
out all I could, lacking an air compressor at the time). Since
joining this list, I've been overwhelmed with the generosity of
list members sharing their technical expertise. Armed with this
knowledge, I've been contemplating attempting a busbar lube as part
of a planned second general overhaul of this instrument.

Recently, someone (sorry about not saving the message) posted a
for-sale message for number of assemblies from a parted-out
console. It occurred to me that it might be possible to pick up a
manual chassis, sans keys, transformers, etc., for a decent price.
This would allow me to sidestep the cleanup attempt of the massive
keyswitch box contamination that I currently will have to deal
with, as well as elimination of the current keybeds that, despite
cleaning, are rusted from the gook described earlier.

My questions about this are:

1. What are the compatibility issues between the manual chassis
   wiring of the various mechanically-similar console manual
   chassis? Is it possible to use a B-2 or B-V manual chassis in a
   later organ? According to the service documentation, the
   frequency selections become identical at some serial number,
   but are there other mechanical considerations that would give
   me grief?

2. What constitutes a 'decent price' for a stripped manual chassis
   (stripped of everything except the keyswitches, of course)?  Are
   these easy to find?

3. If I end up keeping the chassis I have, what's the best way of
   cleaning the debris out of the switch boxes?  I feel a busbar
   lube in itself is probably not going to solve my problems, since
   the stuff that fouls the contacts currently will still be in
   there. I suspect that Al or Bob has probably had to deal with
   a few instruments that had been mistreated as this one has.

Thanks for the info. If this overhaul would straighten out my chops, I'd
be all set :-).
                                Dan Kerl
                                dlkerl@ingr.com