65: Slight squeaks from the card reader

[rprosperi]

(01-08-2020 08:09 PM)Dave Britten Wrote:  The card reader in my 65 (thanks Don!) is working just fine, but it's developed a little bit of a squeak. I'm not shy about opening it up to clean/lubricate parts, but I don't really know where to begin with the mechanics of it all. I know there's some kind of clutch that could be slipping, plus a worm gear driving a gear wheel on the card transport roller. The actual card transport speed seems normal and steady, so it's not having any obvious difficulty advancing the cards. And it reads and writes perfectly fine.

Any tips on what I should try? My fear is that the squeak indicates something might be subjected to more wear than it should be from normal use.

Earplugs?

Really, I own 65s, 67s and 41 card readers and nearly all of them have squeaked or squealed a bit from time to time, but it has never gotten worse and sometimes it (the noise) stops completely. It's actually quite interesting what a wide variation in sounds these readers make, given the similarity of the designs.

Unless it starts to get noticeably louder or worse, or starts to mis-read, I would not open the machine to 'oil it' just because of the noise.

OTOH, I don't really use my card readers a lot, probably once a year or so as I cycle through my machines to check on them, charge batteries, etc. So frequent users may have better advice.