Restoring the 'ole click to a "classic"



#2

Well, I've not seen this reported before, and it's a pretty aggressive approach, but...

I'm repairing a *very* used HP-67. (Yes, I know... not really a classic, more of a Woodstock.) The key contacts were extremely worn. After a light sanding of the contacts as described elsewhere, the keys remained mushy with little "click". One had even broken from fatigue: I patched it with a little tinned piece from an old badly corroded HP-25 keyboard. Repaired it perfectly.

The scary part: I used a small nylon cable tie and threaded it through each contact. The cable tie acted as a wedge, allowing me to carefully stretch each metal arch away from the board. I put a little more force into it than I was comfortable with, but none broke.

Guess what? It worked pretty well! The keys have a much more positive click to them, and there are no bounces. It's really not too bad now.

I suggest this as a radical approach to help only nearly expired keyboards. I couldn't bear to see a good machine die.

Michael


#3

I appreciate your work on this calculator. I don't feel quite so stupid for paying way too much on eBay. What a contrast: all the unselfish work you're putting into this compared to the seller who lied and walked away with the money. It will be great to have a working unit (even with some remaining problems) since the 67s were such great instruments.

Tom Scott
Lander, WY


#4

My pleasure.

You know: I was playing with it today, and it's really not bad at all! Again, a testimony to it's quality... even the keyboard can be fixed!! What a beauty.

I think you'll be surprised.

RTN2RPN
Michael


#5

Great news. Considering the poor condition of the HP-67 when I received it from the eBay seller, you must have worked some miracles! There's just something about the solid feel of these units and the key click action that is hard to describe. They (and the other HP oldies) were in a class by themselves. Of course, maybe I'm just getting old.

Tom Scott


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