I'm in Arlington (once called West Cambridge) and have an HP 6270A
(table top reader w/ RS232 interface) sitting on the floor next to me.
The feed roller had disolved into a puddle of goo, which I cleaned
up/out and was able to send some cards thru, and see output on the
serial port. I've never reconditioned the (large) electrolytics, or
replaced the feed roller, but I have some boxes of cards I want to
read, so it's on my "to do" list, so this might be an opportunity to
solve both our problems (unless you find someone with an already
working reader!)
Phil