Set of zebra + lower post repair piece

Assembled Battery-back port module repair kit for the often damaged flexible PCB in the battery bay (and I/O ports) of the HP-41c range of calculators.

It is made of a flexible circuit, already collated to an 3D-printed battery-expansion ports module, ready for assembly within your HP41c. Standard colour of the base is black, but it can also be ordered in white (like the pictures)

Instructions for battery and ports module

Open the calculator

First remove the rubber feet. To do so, use a small, flat screwdriver and introduce it beneath the rubber, taking care of pulling also the adhesive sheet that glues the rubber to the calculator. Try to make here a good job because usually you will have to reuse the rubber feet when you're done. Put the rubber feet aside so that they don't hinder the work (they have an uncanny ability to adhere to shirts, tools, calculators and eventually get lost.

Unscrew carefully and slowly the four screws beneath the rubber feet. Turn gently the screws: they operate on plastic that, after 30 years, is very brittle and fragile. It is very easy to break a screw post or "overdo" the thread.

Remove the back side of the calculator and put it aside. For comfort, remove also the intermediate piece between backside and main body. Later we will take care of putting it the right way, since it has two ways.

Remove the old piece

Now it is the time to remove the damaged battery-ports module. To do that, first remove all 4 module covers or modules; then pull the module vertically and carefully, since there are four plastic tabs in the calculator used to secure it, and it you do horizontal movements you can bend or break them. Yes, they have also became brittle!

Sometimes grit and grease have "glued" the old piece to the backside. It will be very difficult to remove it. Be aware that it is NOT glued by design - this is an unwanted effect of grease, grit and time. To remove the piece in this case, try pushing up with a screwdriver on the back module connectors. Increase upward force until eventually it separates from the body. Clean the backside plastic with water and soap or a lenses cleaner. It may happen that one or both of the screw supports are broken. You will have to repair it beforehand with the broken back repair piece.

Once the backside is clean and free from the old battery module, insert the new one carefully, making sure that the 4 vertical tabs are not bent. This is done without the module covers in. Be sure that it goes down to the calculator body. 

After it has been installed, put the module covers or modules so that they push the piece in place.

Reassembling

You can now reassemble the calculator. Put the keyboard face down on the table. Then, put the intermediate piece with the open side upwards, taking care that the wider part is up, like "opening up"  (this piece has a slight angle when looked from the front of the open side). This is important for the calculator to close properly. See picture.

Then put the back side on top. You can start by any screw - I usually start by the upper ones. If everything is ok, you will be able to screw through the piece and into the calculator. Screw carefully not to break the threads. If that happens, repair will be substantially more complex and will need the upper post repair piece and some drilling.

And that's it!!

Please be sure to eliminate rusting from the main board with Caig DeOxit (best), WD-40 (not as good) or other suitable cleaner, applied with cotton buds.

Save your HP41c !!

Lower Post repair

Material needed

• Lower post repair piece
• Clothes' peg
• Keyboard support for clothes' pegs

Let's assume that both posts are broken or cracked. The effect of this cracking is that the screws do not do their job. Usually, using longer screws may help, but this typically is short lived since the cracks will continue downwards. Once the pressure between both halves is softened, the calculator doesn't work anymore. The solution is to repair the broken posts. 

Old methods to repair broken post is to glue them (but this doesn't hold together too long) and to tie them down with very small gauge copper cable, applying pressure so that it holds together. This may solve some cases, but not when the screw path has been destroyed - maybe due to strong tightening of the screws.

Other repair methods have been proposed, including drilling down the screw and placing in its place a cylinder with screw path, glued in place. We tried this method but there was a problem: the torque used to screw resulted in cracked glue and the cylinder separating from the substrate - every time.

Our method was devised with three goals in mind:

1. Try to avoid the torque from the screw forcing on the glue with the substrate
2. Try to ensure that the front part of the calculator is pulled up when screwing the back side on.
3. Try to be compatible with all known zebra connectors - including our own.

The piece that we have designed requires drilling the old posts to the keyboard ciruit level, taking care of leaving the hole clear. The design on the piece is such that the pin will be glued to the inner part of the rest of the screw post; and the surface of the piece can be glued to the keyboard circuit, so that the torque on the substrate is avoided (it also helps that torque is also resisted by the other post, when using the full piece)

When gluing the piece, there are several precautions that need to be taken:

• Be sure of covering the zebra circuit part with tape -we don't want the glue to cover it.

• Cover also all nearby pin holes of the keyboard. If glue comes into one such hole, the key will not register. In severe cases, the key will be down all the time, glued in place!
• When you position the piece, make sure of using some pins through the holes to make sure the piece is well centered and the screws can go through.

• When applying pressure, use clothes' pegs to hold the piece in place, preferably on the outer side.

• To avoid pushing the keyboard down, and only push down the front of the calculator, use the keyboard cover we have designed to support the pegs. Pushing the keyboard instead will result on separation between both halves of the calculator, since the attachment of the substrate to the pin will be at a lower level (the keyboard is linked to the keyboard circuit, not to the substrate)
• Use epoxy glue, type Araldit. 
• Let it cure overnight.
• Remove the tape over the zebra circuit path
• Place the zebra connectors​
• Assemble the calculator and test.

We recommend to repair both posts at the same time. However, if you are confident on the resistence of the other post, you can cut the piece in two. As it is symmetrical, it can be used for both posts, just twisting it 180º. Using the full piece, the other post side does not need to be glued - the torque resistence is done by the post itself over a much longer distance.

Upper Post repair

Material needed

• Upper post repair piece
• Clothes' peg

Let's assume that both posts are broken or cracked. The effect of this cracking is that the screws do not do their job. Usually, using longer screws may help, but this typically is short lived since the cracks will continue downwards. Once the pressure between both halves is softened, the calculator doesn't work anymore. The solution is to repair the broken posts. 

Old methods to repair broken post is to glue them (but this doesn't hold together too long) and to tie them down with very small gauge copper cable, applying pressure so that it holds together. This may solve some cases, but not when the screw path has been destroyed - maybe due to strong tightening of the screws.

Other repair methods have been proposed, including drilling down the screw and placing in its place a cylinder with screw path, glued in place. We tried this method but there was a problem: the torque used to screw resulted in cracked glue and the cylinder separating from the substrate - every time.

Our method was devised with three goals in mind:

1. Try to avoid the torque from the screw forcing on the glue with the substrate
2. Try to ensure that the front part of the calculator is pulled up when screwing the back side on.
3. Try to be compatible with both fullnut and halfnut version

The piece that we have designed requires drilling the old posts to 3,5mm below the keyboard ciruit level. The design on the piece is such that the cylindrical body will be glued to the rest of the screw post; and the surface of the piece can be glued to the keyboard circuit, so that the torque on the substrate is avoided (it also helps that torque is also resisted by the other post, when using the full piece)

When gluing the piece, there are several precautions that need to be taken:

• Be sure of covering the zebra circuit part with tape -we don't want the glue to cover it.

• Cover also all nearby pin holes of the keyboard. If glue comes into one such hole, the key will not register. In severe cases, the key will be down all the time, glued in place!
• When applying pressure, use clothes' pegs to hold the piece in place, preferably on the outer side.
• Try to place the other side of the pegs away from the keys of the keyboard - it may damage them permanently.
• Use E6000 jewelry glue. We prefer black over clear just for clarity of repair.
• Let it cure overnight.
• Remove the tape.
• Assemble the calculator and test.

We recommend to repair both posts at the same time. 

Alternatively, you can cut the other side of the 2 post piece with a tweezer and glue in place the rest of the piece.

Assembled Battery-back port module repair kit for the often damaged flexible PCB in the battery bay (and I/O ports) of the HP-41c range of calculators.

This is the FLAT version, when the screw head domes are broken and grinded down - see pictures.

It is made of a flexible circuit, already collated to an 3D-printed battery-expansion ports module, ready for assembly within your HP41c. Standard colour of the base is black, but it can also be ordered in white (like the pictures)

Instructions for battery and ports module

Open the calculator

First remove the rubber feet. To do so, use a small, flat screwdriver and introduce it beneath the rubber, taking care of pulling also the adhesive sheet that glues the rubber to the calculator. Try to make here a good job because usually you will have to reuse the rubber feet when you're done. Put the rubber feet aside so that they don't hinder the work (they have an uncanny ability to adhere to shirts, tools, calculators and eventually get lost.

Unscrew carefully and slowly the four screws beneath the rubber feet. Turn gently the screws: they operate on plastic that, after 30 years, is very brittle and fragile. It is very easy to break a screw post or "overdo" the thread.

Remove the back side of the calculator and put it aside. For comfort, remove also the intermediate piece between backside and main body. Later we will take care of putting it the right way, since it has two ways.

Remove the old piece

Now it is the time to remove the damaged battery-ports module. To do that, first remove all 4 module covers or modules; then pull the module vertically and carefully, since there are four plastic tabs in the calculator used to secure it, and it you do horizontal movements you can bend or break them. Yes, they have also became brittle!

Sometimes grit and grease have "glued" the old piece to the backside. It will be very difficult to remove it. Be aware that it is NOT glued by design - this is an unwanted effect of grease, grit and time. To remove the piece in this case, try pushing up with a screwdriver on the back module connectors. Increase upward force until eventually it separates from the body. Clean the backside plastic with water and soap or a lenses cleaner. It may happen that one or both of the screw supports are broken. You will have to repair it beforehand with the broken back repair piece.

We assume that the screw supports are broken. Grind down to flat the screw supports with a dremel-like machine with some grinder head.

Once the backside is clean and free, glue the lower side of tthe module with E6000 glue, including putting some in the holes where the tabs are going to be. Then insert the module carefully, making sure that the 4 vertical tabs are not bent. This is done without the module covers in. Be sure that it goes down to the calculator body, and put pressure on the sides with cloth pegs to ensure good contact. Put also the module in to ensure good vertical position. Leave it overnight.

Reassembling

You can now reassemble the calculator. Put the keyboard face down on the table. Then, put the intermediate piece with the open side upwards, taking care that the wider part is up, like "opening up"  (this piece has a slight angle when looked from the front of the open side). This is important for the calculator to close properly. See picture.

Then put the back side on top. You can start by any screw - I usually start by the upper ones. If everything is ok, you will be able to screw through the piece and into the calculator. Screw carefully not to break the threads. If that happens, repair will be substantially more complex and will need the upper post repair piece and some drilling.

And that's it!!

Please be sure to eliminate rusting from the main board with Caig DeOxit (best), WD-40 (not as good) or other suitable cleaner, applied with cotton buds.

Save your HP41c !!

Battery holder case for the HP41 family of calculators, made with 3D printing and springs in stainless steel 304 alloy

Stainless steel 304 springs for HP41C battery holder. 

There are many cases where springs have been damaged by corrosion coming from batteries, or broken due to aging. This spring measures exactly equal to standard samples, and is a drop-in replacement.

Sponge for the standard HP41c vinyl case. The original cases were designed to carry the calculator and card reader together. However, as these were sold separately, the case was too big for the calculator alone. HP supplied the case with a sponge within the lower part of the case to act as padding. These sponges may have been lost or deteriorated over time, so we have made a replacement with the right dimensions.

1 Piece for repairing HP41c back cases.

As many units suffer from broken upper screw supports on the back side of the calculator, we have created pieces for the repair of the back side of the HP41C - which offer bigger surface for adherence and also serve to hold the battery assembly in case the little wings in the back side are broken.

Instructions for use of back side repair piece.

1. Be aware, before everything else, that the piece has a right side and a left side. This is due to the space for the tabs in the calculator that keep the battery-port assembly in place. You need to be aware of this at all times - more so if you want to cut it as explained below.

2. Decide whether you will replace both sides or just one. The decision is easy when both are broken, but if one is not, you'll have to check whether the old standing support will withstand the pressure for long. Our recommendation is to replace both sides. If later one of the sides breaks down, the repair will be much more difficult and probably less solid. And you have already paid for both sides!!

3. If you are going to replace just one side, cut with a hobbyist scissors just the side you don't need, according to picture enclosed, again, be careful of cutting the side you dont need, since the piece has a single correct orientation!. The rest of the piece will serve to increment the glued area, better align the piece in place and also to better support the battery-port assembly.

2. With a Dremel machine, file and level the area that had the support. You don't need to remove the tabs in between the two screw post, but you need to remove them if they are twisted or half-broken.

5. Put the piece in place. There is only one "right" way. The cross part is tight because it is needed to properly locate both holes at the extremes. Do not force it. Please make sure it is not bent downwards. Make sure it makes good contact. Remove the piece.

6. Put some glue in the bottom of the piece. Do not put too much or it will go out when pressed. We have used E6000 black glue with good results. Do not use cyanoacrylate glues. Put the piece back in place. Press and remove with a stick or a blade the excess glue, if any. If the screw holes are partially obstructed by glue, pass a screw in the opposite direction (to avoid separating the piece from the back side).

7. Secure the piece in place with a pair of clamps - lighter pressure like clothes' pegs will not be enough. Be careful that there is no excess glue from the other side of the case and the clamps are adhered to the piece! Leave for 24h for the glue to cure. And you're done! You have a repaired back that will withstand a lot of abuse again.

8. The piece is designed to accept both the original and the new battery-ports assembly - so you need to press it down to have it in place. The screw holes should fit a little bit tighter than in the original calculator, but should be perfectly aligned with the assemblies and the screw posts below.

Also, if you're buying from the US, it is maybe better to buy it directly from Shapeways there (just click on the link)

HP41c back port cover - 3D printed by the new HP method - which renders a much better surface quality than typical nylon. Still not identical to the original (this one is blacker) but dimensionally and functionally equivalent.