For power distribution, I had intended to use a pair of 4-position barrier strips, to keep the AC section away from the DC section. But I decided to go with a single 8-position strip.
The DC side is simple:
5. Black Ground
6. Blue -16v
7. Violet +16v
8. Red +8
AC is like this:
1. AC neutral
2. AC line
3. fused line
4. switched line
So the AC power line comes into 1 & 2. The (3A) fuse is connected between 2 & 3. And the power switch is connected between 3 & 4. So the AC line run to the power supplies comes from the #4 lug. AC neutral is connected to #1 and switched AC line is #4.
The DC section is just straight through - The output from each supply is connected to its respective lug on one side of the barrier strip, and then the other side is connected to wires going to the backpanel. For the 9-slotter, it goes to the PS connector. For the 18-slot backpanel, it goes through some inline fuses and then onto hard-wired soldered connections on the board.
For both the 9-slot and the 18-slot boards, I used a 10 amp fuse on the 8v line, and 1 amp fuses on the +/-16 volt lines. The 9-slot board is done with (socketed) picofuses and the 18-slotter is done with inline fuses.
I have not fully wired-up either system, and I haven't mounted anything on their rear panels either. I did put the fan on the 18-slotter, just to test fit and see how it looked. But it was just finger tight and came out right after clicking the photos. I'm leaving them bare because I intend to send both rear panels to a machine shop in Tulsa to have DB-37 holes punched in them. That's how I'll connect the disk drives.
I could have just passed the ribbon cable through a DB-25 hole or out just under the cover. But that didn't appeal to me. I originally intended to modify the cabinet with a nibbler tool, but the cabinet is too nice to hack up that way. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to cut a nice clean hole. So I decided to have the hole cut at a machine shop.
I considered buying a punch - looked on eBay for one - but they're too pricey. Even the more common DB-25 connector is pretty rare these days, and a DB-37, much more so. Punches are five hundred to a grand. Not worth it for a one-off. The machine shop will cut the hole precisely for under a hundred bucks.
Last thing I did yesterday was to install all the boards and connect a couple of drives, configured as DS0 and DS1. They both worked, so that was a nice win. It's still weird that the DS0 drive was able to read and write DS/DD diskettes. The DS1 drive won't. And after I understood Mike's comments about their biasing, I can see why. So I took the time to test both with the appropriate HD diskettes, and they were both happy. Super groovy cool!
I've only tested one pair though. I've been doing most everything on the 9-slot system this far. I haven't checked the pair of drives on the 18-slotter yet. Still have that to do. And I need to check them through the DB-37 connectors too, because using them adds some length and some physical interconnects. I'll confirm it all works before sending my panels to the machine shop. If not, I'll make adjustments.
Once I have the panels back, and am closer to buttoning it all up, I'll post photos of the fully assembled Altairs and their disk drives.
Getting closer... It's getting good now!