2ND CRK Purchase, Umnum New VS Old?

[kidcongo]

The new pivot makes perfect sense, the old pivot looked sexy. Sexy and sensible are often mutually exclusive, so you might have to make a choice based on personal values......myself, I chose Sexy!

 

[makariotes]

Nice pictures Kidcongo! What is that on the first picture? Some kind of relays? It looks cool with the knife on top[emoji106]

 

[kidcongo]

Hey thanks!

That is a very, very old OTIS elevator controller. So yes, it's a pile of multi-finger control relays that stage the elevator operation in a 20 story building. The photo only shows about 1/50th of the relays needed to operate the elevator system. From the days before logic controllers, computers, etc.....which is why it still survives and works......no data to corrupt, no firmware to upgrade, no Y2K, no failed memory.....just a million miles of wire and loads of contacts.

 

[makariotes]

Thanks for answering my question man; you're right, that's the reason it still works!! Ah the good old days; I still play vinyl records for the same reasons. Thanks again.

 

[kidcongo]

(I'll derail a bit here)

I hear ya...I work as an electrician/technician and I find I either work on stuff that is 30-50 years old and still works perfectly fine, or I am ripping out technology that is 5-10 years old that has failed and replacing it with new stuff with even more features, that will fail even sooner. Anything put in in the last 30 years has likely already been replaced once, so I see almost nothing from the mid-late 80's. In the case of this OTIS elevator controller, which is from the early 60s (note hand stencilled labels), I don't need a 50 year old laptop to communicate with it....in fact I don't need to communicate with it at all. The new equipment has lots of convenience and features, but even if it is built to last 50 years, you won't be able to program it, or even use it's features, as the protocols and methods of communication advance so quickly. Anyone have a laptop with a serial port?. Anyones drive a 90's cadillac where the digital dash still works? You get my point.

Coming back to your comment, a vinyl records will always be playable, even if it's with a cactus needle and a paper cup...

So why do I like pocket knives so much???? No processors, no programming, no touch screen, no planned obsolescence, no apps. They help me feel connected to reality! Anyways....back to those umnumzaan pivots!

 

[makariotes]

You make some great points man, it's exactly how I think, thanks for the derailment and the cool pics!!

 

[JNewell]

I will maintain that the old central office switching equipment was infinitely more impressive than today's (or tomorrow's) automated equipment. The same would be true for the elevator controller you posted. I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say that any smart 10th grader should be able to program a computer-based control system. Designing the complex electro-mechanical switching systems required equal measures experience, inspiration and genius.

 

[uofaengr]

The same would be true for the elevator controller you posted. I don't think I'm exaggerating if I say that any smart 10th grader should be able to program a computer-based control system.

Writing the logic for an elevator or dishwasher is on every Elec/Mech engineering student's final exam in an introductory PLC course, but I won't hold my breath finding a high schooler that can configure and tune a 950 MW boiler/steam turbine generating unit.

 

[makariotes]

Writing the logic for an elevator or dishwasher is on every Elec/Mech engineering student's final exam in an introductory PLC course, but I won't hold my breath finding a high schooler that can configure and tune a 950 MW boiler/steam turbine generating unit.

Or a FinnAqua clean steam generator?

 

[Stand Straight]

When I ordered this Star-Tac I thought I was buying the small pivot, as that was what was pictured. When I received the large pivot, initially I was disappointed and wanted to send it back, but after seeking advice on this forum I decided to keep it and now would have been kicking myself had I exchanged it for the new pivot style.
I'm guessing that I must have one of the latest of the old style (left hand anyway) coming from Idaho and then to Wilson Combat.



greg

 

[coinbuysell]

I finally found one with the older pivot but no LBS, which worried me a little, but then I thought (i) the clip will suffice as a LBS and (ii) I am not going to let anyone else use it and I know not to overextend the lock bar. I really like the look of the older pivot and was "lucky" (that was part of the reason it took me so long to find one) that mine included the tool.

I did really want the WC version, though...I ordered my Rask with the starburst scale pattern

 

[makariotes]

When I ordered this Star-Tac I thought I was buying the small pivot, as that was what was pictured. When I received the large pivot, initially I was disappointed and wanted to send it back, but after seeking advice on this forum I decided to keep it and now would have been kicking myself had I exchanged it for the new pivot style.
I'm guessing that I must have one of the latest of the old style (left hand anyway) coming from Idaho and then to Wilson Combat.



greg

I Would have also kicked you had you sent it back! Just kidding. The old pivot Startac is my favorite Umnumzaan; you scored on that one man, I have the new pivot style and love it. It would be sick if they made one with a carbon fiber scale, I think; the same carbon they use in the inlays of the 21, not the carbon on the carbon scale one, if that makes any sense. This kind of CF (I don't know what it's called):

 

[uofaengr]

Or a FinnAqua clean steam generator?

On a much smaller scale, but yes

 

[kidcongo]

I Would have also kicked you had you sent it back! Just kidding. The old pivot Startac is my favorite Umnumzaan; you scored on that one man, I have the new pivot style and love it. It would be sick if they made one with a carbon fiber scale, I think; the same carbon they use in the inlays of the 21, not the carbon on the carbon scale one, if that makes any sense. This kind of CF (I don't know what it's called):

Don't know if you've seen this: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1242788-Finally-made-some-scales-for-my-Umnumzaan