9810 question and offer

[dramsey]

(02-16-2014 09:01 AM)Tony Duell Wrote:  There are several ways to repair the card reader (and BTW I have never seen a good original roller after all these years!). The method I use is anything but simple, but it does work, and it is likely to stay working.

Basically, I strip the reader and remove the old roller hubs if I can. That needs a special puller tool that I made, any other method is likely to do damage. Sometimes the old roller will not shift without the spindle getting bent, even with a puller.

Anyway, I then turn a new hub, 7/8" in diameter with 2 grooves in it for O-rings (3/4" ID, 1" OD, 1/8" thick). Fit that onto the spindle with a grub screw to hold it -- I mill a flat on the spindle for the screw to go against. Then put it all back together.

Of course if the spindle was bent I have to make a new one of those too.

Doing this takes an afternoon or so, but it's going to stay working, and next time the reader fails it's just a matter of changing the O-rings.

Oh, I also suggest replacing the O-ring that's used as a drive belt on the reader. They do tend to slip after all these years.

Sadly I have neither the equipment nor expertise for this level of mechanical work. Still, I repaired my existing 9810 card reader with Katie's simpler process a couple of years back, and it still works fine (I just checked). Now that I have dozens of 9800-series mag cards, I may even try some longer programs.