HP97 questions

[rprosperi]

(02-04-2015 07:17 PM)Dave Shaffer Wrote:  I rescued an HP 97 from my parents' house a year ago. I’m getting ready to sell it, since I don’t have any need for it.

It seems to be in pretty good shape, but I have a couple of questions, which I hope the collected MoHPC wisdom can help me with.

I’m sure the card reader wheels have turned gummy. In fact, I bought an O-ring repair kit on Ebay many years ago so my Dad could fix that. However, he never got around to it. The O-rings are still there, along with instructions on using them to fix an HP67 (with no mention that I see about the '97).

So, first questions) Is this the right kit? Do both calcs have the same card reader internals? Are the repair instructions basically the same? Should I try to fix it? I’m fairly handy - but does that markedly improve the value of the calc?

If I try to use the printer, it seems to be trying to print but the paper does not advance. If I pull the paper out by hand, the printout looks fine.

Second questions) is this another "gummy wheel" problem? Is it easy to fix?

Question 3) is there any self-test for this calculator? I couldn’t find anything on the Museum pages. I’m guessing this is a feature of later generation calculators.

Thanks for your help.

The O-Rings are the same for the -67 and -97, but the procedure is understandably much different due to the totally different case/housing designs. Once totally disassembled, the core parts are quite similar, but getting it apart is more than half the battle.

Non-advancing paper can have multiple causes, from worn tires to damaged gears, so hard to answer about repair difficulty.

There are detailed articles on both repair procedures in past forum entries, suggest a search (both old and new forums, but mostly old) and of course, Google is your friend.

Both defects can detract significantly from the sale price; since only collectors typically buy them, most want these items working. Each repair costs about $70-$80 if done outside, and probably adds about that much to it's worth, maybe more if cosmetics, color-fade, etc. are all VG+.

Another strategy is to post it AS-IS, and although you will surely get less, it may get snapped up by one of the guys that does these repairs.

Also, manuals, cases, etc. add a lot to price.

There is a diagnostic available on a mag-card, but I guess it won't help much until eader is fixed.

Other true experts will likely add more info if you wait a few days.