restoring an HP71 (old post)

[Alberto Fenini]

ciao a tutti,

someone may remember that I was trying to restore an HP71,

it was basically in nice condition, but the display had some problems.

It came out that was a bad driver, and desoldering/resoldering an SMD component it is not in my DNA.

However, I had a chance to buy a working unit in very bad cosmetic conditions
although working and of the same revision (2CDCC).


Cleaning (which was my first idea) was almost impossible,

I don't know what may have been spilled on the unit, but I was not able
to remove it with whatsover solvent or soap.

As you can see from the END/LINE key, I have gone pretty far in trying to clean.

The idea was then to swap the keyboard faceplates.

I'm posting this, because I have developed a technique of soldering the keyboard that may be of interest.

Using a dremel, I have "consumed" all the plastic rivets trying not to go too deep and set
free the keyboard/pcb.



Then, using a plastic glue (I don't want to make any advertising, nor I'm related to this company but I use Five star adhesive medium gap filling from the UK)

and a soft cotton tip, I have let a drop of glue fall in any hole.



The keyboard and the keyboard pcb are kept together by some paper clips

You can see how it looks when it dries here :


and then this is the final result :


Of course, while the keyboard pcb is removed you can clean and polish everything.
Hope is going to be of help for someone,

take care Alberto

[Michael Meyer]

Beautiful! When I was in medical school, I lived on $4000 USD per year- food, clothing, shelter, etc. Buying a 71B was a huge stretch. But when I turned it on for the first time and saw the blinking cursor and realized the power I had, even in the command line, it was worth every penny. I can't quite describe that awesome feeling, and have never had that feeling again, even with all the new gadgets on the market.

Enjoy!!

[bill platt]

It is like that when you have to really really value something...