Image of inside of HP71B HP-IL module

[pamphonica]

A dull morning, so I thought I should get on with the repair. I'd been putting it off since bending 13 minute springs was going to be very fiddly.
But it worked! Read on if you are interested in the details.

1. Get 4mm phosphor bronze wire(s) from Ebay. about £3.
2. Make a sacrificial alignment jig from scrap plasticard. This fits over pcb components to give a solid surface for supporting the fingers as I solder them.
          
3. Using a fine soldering iron, press scrap bit of wire lightly into edge of jig, exactly in line with each hole, leaving a groove.
      
4. bend end of wire at right agle, to fit into pcb hole, and then a slight uplift angle to raise the fingers a bit.
5. Put bent end of wire into hole and using a soldering iron press other end into jig slot enough to secure it.
6. Solder lower end carefully.
      
7. Repeat above for all 13 wires.
      
8. Cut wires to correct length (careful examination of original) and discard jig and scrap wires.
9. Turn over end of each wire to form a bent contact area.
10. carefully bend all wires down to correct angle then check that all spacings are still correct.
11. Do a quick continuity check between contacts. Only the end two should be shorted.
    

That's pretty much it. The module slide in nicely (better than the original!) and power up was slightly slower, as it should be.
I connected a loop if HPIL cable, then did RESET IO (no result as expected), then RESTORE IO which gave no result unless the loop was disconnected.
So, as far as I can tell I now have a working module.

Thank you everyone for your incredible help with photos, advice and encouragement. I'm sure very few will have to follow this route, but it is quite do-able.

-Jeremy