Need help: Restoring HP41C

Bruce, I used to repair HP -41s. I cut shims out of old punch cards and slid them between the elastometric foam and the flexible conductor then cut the ends off. The really impostant thing about the 41s is that the screws and the posts that they screw into must be in good shape. Also the plastic around the hole where the screw goes through the back case. If any of those are broken or stripped you won't be able to make the 41 work reliably. When assembled, you should not be able to readily pull the case halves apart. If you can then that's your problem. DON'T OVER TIGHTEN THE SCREWS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Clamp the case halves together by hand and tighten the screws until they just seat. If the contacts are unreliable then there are other probblems, fix them, don't overtighten the screws. If you do then sooner or later the back will break out or the posts will break or strip the threads. If you want to, send it to me and I'll see what I can do with it. Joe At 06:28 PM 10/24/03 -0700, you wrote: with classic calculators. time, the rubber pads under the flex circuit below the display, and the elastomer contacts joining the logic board to the keyboard, seem to have deteriorated enough that the thing is wildly intermittent. simply replacing the two elastomer strips? If so, where would I get them from?