Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

82104A

Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

Postby btreguier » Sun Mar 28, 2021 7:26 pm

Hello all,

I've just bought an HP-41C and its HP82104A card reader, they really are in *pristine* condition, and from what I can see, the card reader itself has hardly been used, if ever!

I connected the reader, and a press on "Catalog 2" lists the functions, so it seems to be recognized. I haven't inserted any card at this point.

I've read about the "gooey roller syndrome" supposed to affect all readers after all those years, and I was wondering whether I should "preventively" open it and check this at first, in case the sole fact that reading or writing a card might worsen things at "repair time", or if I just could go on with a read or write test, to see if it works, in hope it has "miraculously" escaped the syndrome. ;-)

What do you think? Thanks for any advice!

Bruno
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Re: Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

Postby Garth » Sun Mar 28, 2021 11:03 pm

I don't know the answer to your question; but here are a couple of links I have to fixing the gooey-wheel problem:
https://web.archive.org/web/20171030133 ... d=HP82104A
http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap ... gi?read=57
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Re: Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

Postby mike-stgt » Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:36 am

btreguier wrote:[...] or if I just could go on with a read or write test, to see if it works, in hope it has "miraculously" escaped the syndrome.
What do you think?

I think, if you believe in marvels, and you believe very strong so you are quite sure a wonder could happen, I mean you believe very-very strong there is almost no doubt this miracle will come true -- then you may give it a try and insert a card before checking the roller. But in case you are not a gambler and you like to avoid calamity, my advice would be: pray. Yes, pray for the roller is ok. Compared to the fortuity to escape from the sticky roller syndrome there is a significant higher chance that with thunder and lightning you will hear Gods voice: 'give me a chance and check it first before inserting a card.'

Without joke -- I would ask the seller when he last used the card reader and if it was working ok. If that was several years ago or you doubt his (or her) statement, open it first. If you are not a "watchmaker" and not sure it will ever work again after you opened it, find a master you trust.
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Re: Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

Postby btreguier » Fri Apr 02, 2021 10:37 pm

Hi and thanks for your replies!

Haha, regarding the miracle, no, I'm a grown up, I stopped believing in fairies and the like long ago, so I'll follow your advice and not attempt to use the card reader without changing the roller first, then. :)

I asked the seller whether he had tried using it but the guy told me he was not the original owner and did not even know how to make it work. The calculator, the reader and all the stuff he was selling came from a late doctor's estate, so he was selling it as is, without any warranty. I just followed my instinct and bought all the package because it really looked like the owner really took care of it, and from what I can now see, as it has come its way to my side of the pond, I can tell it's the case. Now I've bought replacement rollers and will try to change the original one by following the advice given in the links.

Thanks again, sorry for my delayed answer, I've been quite busy lately.
I'll let you know how things went, when I have received the roller and managed to change it (or not ;) ).

Regards,

Bruno
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Re: Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

Postby btreguier » Sun Apr 18, 2021 6:35 pm

Hello there!

As promised, here are some news about my card reader: I received the replacement rollers ("O rings", in fact), so I went on with the repair attempt.

I opened it, and, well... What a mess, inside! :D

roller.jpg


I'm now going to try and clean all that gum, and replace the roller. Stay tuned. ;)

Regards,

Bruno
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Re: Seeking (apparently) pristine card reader advice

Postby btreguier » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:51 am

Hello!

Good news: everything went perfectly fine, even if it took me a lot patience to reassemble the case with the latches, the springs and all. :D
But from what I read, this is perfectly normal, you just have to keep breathing smoothly. :lol:

So, the roller didn't look like anything anymore, as you can see:
gooey.jpg


Fortunately, it was easy to clean:
cleaned.jpg


And the new "O rings" (square ones) were also easy to fit:
fitted.jpg


Once reassembled (no photo as it just looks like a "normal" card reader, so a photo would be pointless), everything worked like a charm, and I now have a functional card reader. Thanks for all your expertise and pointers to documentation.

Regards,

Bruno
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