HP-67 key label restoration

[Jerry Lake]

I was just given a working HP-67 but the key labels are rubed off in some spots. The wear seems out of proportion with the general condition of the calculator so I think it's worth pursuing a bit of restoration. Does anybody out there know of a way to recreate the labels? There is a restoration article on the Museum of HP calc's where a guy says he had custom rub-on labels made but his e-mail address is dead.

Thanks,
Jerry Lake

[David Ramsey]

How could the key labels rub off? I thought the keys were double-shot. Or are you talking about the labels on the face of the unit, rather than the labels on the keys themselves?

[Jerry Lake]

The key labels I'm talking about are those beneath the keys on the case.

[Vassilis Prevelakis]

Don't bother. Just buy a broken HP 67 from eBay and swap
the inards.

**vp

[John Garza (3665)]

IF...you mean the labels on the keyboard itself (gold or blue lettering), then you should use rub on transfer lettering found in many electronic shops. Do this with the unit disassembled and all the keys removed. After it's done, mask the display and spray clear matte acrylic on the keyboard to seal the letters and prevent them from rubbing off.

IF.. on the other hand, you mean the lettering on the slant face of the keys (black color), just use enamel model paint and a very fine brush or sharpened toothpick.

And I'm sure you don't mean the lettering on the tops of the keys, as they are double injection molded. Meaning... you could sand down the top half of the key and still see the lettering.

Hope this helps,

-John

[Jerry Lake]

John Garza-

Thanks for the tip. I haven't seen the press-on lettering anywhere for a while and assumed it had been rendered useless by the PC font programs.

Are you implying the product is commonly available in electronic shops? I'm heading out to visit a couple today.

I'm also looking on Ebay to see if I can buy a broken 67 and use the case. I took mine apart today and cleaned everything. I was able to find an o-ring that fixed the card reader also.

Jerry

[Wayne Brown]

I saw rub-on lettering in an Office Max about a year ago, but I don't recall if they had any small enough for a calculator faceplate.

[db (martinez, ca.)]

john - i may be wrong, but wasn't it mark hoskins that made those aluminum replacement labels? if it was look for his new address on ebay in his ad/auction of hp67 card reader sticky wheel kits. if not, use the mohp search to look back a year or so for a series of posts on this subject. it was a long bunch with a lot of titles and a lot of flames by people who were worried about the resale value of their calculators against the guy who made the labels. he ended up just printing "replacement label" somewhere on them. that seemed to satisfy most of the "glass case full of hp" (i'm one of those) types and all the people who still use the old stuff (i'm one of those too).

!long live appropriate technology! - d

[John Garza (3665)]

I think Jerry was originally talking about the KEY labels on the front of the machine. It's not a new idea to make replacement aluminum "plates" for the backside. I seem to remember someone doing it 20 years or so ago.

For me at least, usability and appearance reign over originality. Almost all fully functional 67s MUST be non-original as they need a drive roller replacment. That means 1) a new drive roller and 2) a wrinkled or replacement back plate.

Besides, I would think a properly modified and fully functional 67 would fetch a higher price than an original non functional one. And I would think, some of the PPC mods (phase 1 interrupt switch, write protect defeat switch, new backplate, etc), if done professionally (i.e. magnetic reed switches, no holes drilled in the case) would fetch an even higher price.

-John

[db (martinez, ca.)]

i agree 100%. who goes to a car show just to look at the stockers anyway?