[rescue] Rescued VAX 4500 question

[Mike Katchabaw]

Hi!

I recently rescued a VAX 4500 in good condition from one of our local
computing centres.  It's a complete box and had been out of service
for a while, which is why they were giving it up.

Here's the question ... does anyone have a spare power cord for one
of these guys?  On the surface, it looks like it would take a regular
cord with an end like:

     ___
    / _ |
   /    |
   | -  |
   \  _ |
    \___|

On closer inspection, and an attempt to plug a cord into it, I noticed
an extra metallic tab in the outlet.  This tab would require the power
cable to have a notch in it to fit correctly, and would have an end
like:

     ___
    / _ |
   /   _|
   | - L
   \  _ |
    \___|

The computing center still has a VAX 4500 in operation, and it
requires exactly such a cord.  There is no contact point for the tab
on the cord, and the whole outer casing is the usual rubber stuff.

I was given three options by the fellow I talked to there:

1) Track down a cable, if someone has a spare.  :)

2) Take an exacto-knife and cut the required notch into a cable.  The
   tricky part in this is to avoid cutting myself at the same time.

3) Attempt to break the tab off of the outlet on the VAX.  I'd hate
   to this in case the tab serves some useful purpose.  Right now, the
   only purpose I can think of is to force someone to go to DEC to buy
   another cable off of them for some ridiculous price if they ever
   needed one.

Does anyone have such a spare cable?  If not, does anyone see why option
number 2 wouldn't work?  Is there a reason why option 3 would be bad
to try either?

Sorry for the lengthy message, but your help is appreciated before I start
lopping off fingers!

Thanks a lot!

Mike.