Restoring HP-65

[albertofenini]

As promised, we used some of the weekend time to restore one of the card readers.
It had the gummy wheel problem and the head wires were all disconnected.
Some of the traces of the PCB were also heavily oxydated.
We cleaned them with lemon, washed them with isopropylic alcool and then we paper sanded them
with 2000 grit just to be sure they were clean.
It would be a good idea to paint them with transparent paint, which we don't have, in order
to protect them from future oxidation.
Then we cleaned the little spheres and mounted the o-ring.
We then soldered the head wires, if someone is interested we can post a document describing
the correct color order.
Removed all the cables used for the test phase and put everything together.
It was reading the cards with no problems since the beginning, while it was not able to write cards.
By adjusting the white axle we were able to record cards as well in a good percentage (9/10).

Belowe are some photos and a link to a small youtube video

What's been done :
1 removing all the keys and sof washiing them
2. washing the upper half of the case and polishing with carnauba wax
3. restoring the silver trim line
3. cleaning with small strips of san paper the keyboard under the metallic plates
4. removing all the components from the old logic PCB and mounting them on a spare one
5. this keyboard already had working anode and cathode drivers
6. greased the card reader motor
7. re-soldered the card reader magnetic head wires
8. mounted new o-rings

What's left to do :
1. clean the lower half of the case
2. replace the instruction label on the back
3. clean and replace the original rubber feets
4. clean the leather pouchette
5. find a complete Standard Pac and Standard Pac Manual

Note : if the Calc is connected to the charger with the battery inserted, the card reade operates
weird, anyone has an idea why this is happening ?

What we learned
1. Never give up !
2. Don't be afraid to break anything
other than breaking something what could possibly happen ?


Thanks everyone for the support provided during this restoration, if we can be of help in any way during this activity.

We will restore the second one, but more over, our collection needs more than 20 repairs on
totally different models from Woodstock, to Spice to Topcat, to Coconut, so is going to be fun !

If we can help for anyone, drop us a line and thanks again for your contribution !

HP65 Final Test