HP 71B cases and the Black Cloud of Death

[rprosperi]

Using the washing machine works well, but if you have a compressor handy, you can more easily just blow the dust out; hold the case upside-down and using the nozzle, thoroughly 'spray' in all directions. For some reason, blowing the black crud out seems to work much better than using a vacuum cleaner.

Oddly, you may have more of it again (as the padding further breaks down I guess), but only after many (10+) more years of sitting unused. Once you get it all out via wash or blow-out, it's usually fine to store your 71B inside without collecting black crud; no need for a baggie/liner. But if it's just sitting in a collection, check it every few years.

Valentin made an important point - be sure to clean out (blow it out using canned air) the interior of the 4 front ports and the CR slot as well, the crud gets into all the corners.

The early 71B cases with the internal pocket seem to generate more crud than later models.

A very timely topic, as many 71B cases were given away from the HHC prize table, so several folks are about to become familiar with the black crud.