HP Forum Archive 05

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Pulled apart the 32E Message #1 Posted by Steve on 9 Feb 2001, 7:33 p.m. OK, I searched the site... I removed 2 screws from the 32E, and pulled... I put it down and re-read the instructions. Thenn I pulled a little harder... Then I looked again. And closed my eyes. And VERY firmly pulled. CRACK! Still not open. Take deep breath. Close eyes. Ignore thoughts of breaking the bottom off the calculator. Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuull! CRACK! Ping! open! (Then I saw how easy it was to put together and repeated the last effort one more time :-( OK, There seem to be brass and plastic clips, and it looks like this may be one of the variety that have chips just sitting there. What do I do from here? Not too much corrosion that I can see at the moment. I'm hoping that I can clean up the contacts inside and it will spring into life. Are the 3xE series seriously damaged if connected to charger without nicads (or with dead nicads). I don't have a charger, but that may be a cause for an otherwise good looking dead calculator I fear.

Re: Pulled apart the 32E Message #2 Posted by Reinhard Hawel (Austria) on 9 Feb 2001, 9:35 p.m., in response to message #1 by Steve I'd simply take two new NiCads and charge them externally (that's what I do). Do you have the old battery pack with the part, that holds the pack together ? I must admit, I didn't even try powering a 3x series machine this way. I don't often use them, though I have all of these series - there are much more other prettier machines I like the classics, which you can power without the batteries. I'm sure, most of the people in the 70s left their machines at their desk charging all the time (a small incarnation of a "desktop" calculator) and killed the batteries after a short period.

Re: Pulled apart the 32E Message #3 Posted by Steve on 9 Feb 2001, 10:57 p.m., in response to message #2 by Reinhard Hawel (Austria) No, I don't have the original batery packs. But what I really want to know is how to take the clipped on backbone off? Maybe someone has done it before, because there's only 2 small chips, (the space in the middle is empty) and one of them appears to be oriented opposite to the other (the writing on one is the opposite way around to the other).

Re: Pulled apart the 32E Message #4 Posted by Frank (Germany) on 10 Feb 2001, 9:37 a.m., in response to message #3 by Steve You may want to have a look at http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv003.cgi?read=4683 Is it an early or a late series model (http://www.hpmuseum.org/30comp.jpg)? I recently opened a model from the early series. Pretty easy. First bend the plastic clips a little so that you can get the backbone out of the case. After that you can use a screwdriver to bend the metal clips on one side. Voila! Frank.

Fixed the 32E Message #5 Posted by Steve on 18 Feb 2001, 3:28 a.m., in response to message #4 by Frank (Germany) Yay!!!! It works. The problem was broken connections in the flexible connector between the batteries and the inverter. Small easy patchups didn't work, I eventually soldered a wire between the clip and the inverter PCB.

Re: Pulled apart the 32E Message #6 Posted by Viktor Toth on 10 Feb 2001, 9:59 a.m., in response to message #1 by Steve > Puuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuull! CRACK! Ping! open! Hehe, you've passed the test. Looks like you have what it takes to become a qualified Spice mechanic :-) > Are the 3xE series seriously damaged if connected to charger without nicads Not as easily as Woodstocks but yes, they can be damaged. You also asked in another message about one of the small chips oriented opposite to the other. Is it just the writing or is the notch marking Pin 1 facing the other way as well? Those chips should be oriented identically, if they're not, that's trouble (and in my experience, it's usually these small chips that get fried due to overvoltage, even when oriented properly.) Viktor

Re: Pulled apart the 32E Message #7 Posted by Steve on 10 Feb 2001, 6:38 p.m., in response to message #6 by Viktor Toth After looking more closely, I realiser it's my aging eyes that must be inserted incorectly. :-( The circle containing hp is on the end pointing upward.

Re: Pulled apart the 32E Message #8 Posted by Stefan Vorkoetter on 14 Feb 2001, 12:50 p.m., in response to message #1 by Steve I purchased a DOA (known in advance) HP-34C on eBay. It was one of the early models, with the plastic backbone just like your 32E. I did a major repair job on it, and now it works perfectly. Here's what I did: - took it apart. - soldered all the chips to the flexible board. This requires a reasonably powerful (45W), very fine tipped soldering iron so you can heat up the pads on the board quickly enough to not melt the board itself. - filed away at the part of the backbone that normally pressed the pins against the board to allow for the added thickness of the solder. - put it all back together. - put new NiCds in (1100AAU). This machine now works perfectly, and will never suffer loose back bone problems again. It's a bit drastic of a repair, but it worked for me. Stefan

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