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New TI card wallets?
07-03-2022, 09:30 AM
Post: #1
New TI card wallets?
Has anyone else noticed that TI cards degrade in their original wallets? TI-59 mag cards are the least affected, TI-58/59 plastic label cards become gummy on the printed surface until it sloughs away. SR-52 cards get blurry lettering and a pink background (instead of white). I have had some luck with adhesive remover and a mild warm soap bath. I have all my cards in paper coin envelopes now, but it's not a very usable situation. Anyone know of a replacement card wallet that will not deteriorate? It's a shame to spend all that effort to clean the gummy wheel issues, only to have more goo come into the reader from the cards themselves! -J
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07-05-2022, 08:49 AM
Post: #2
RE: New TI card wallets?
I'm considering this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VWV...6ISX4&th=1

And putting 2 plastic rods down it to form 3 vertical channels for mag cards. This is similar to the old HP-65 mag card box. And the plastic looks similar, which never degraded the mag cards it contained.
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07-05-2022, 12:26 PM (This post was last modified: 07-05-2022 02:01 PM by albertofenini.)
Post: #3
RE: New TI card wallets?
Hi there

i do have the very same problems with my SR-52 cards,
most are almost impossible to extract from the wallet for how much glued they have become

How do you guys clean them without compromising the magnetic surface and the printed side ?

I have tried with diluted grease remover but only to discover that the printed side has lost all the lettering ...

thanks for help
Alberto

Edoardo & Alberto
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07-06-2022, 05:58 AM
Post: #4
RE: New TI card wallets?
Alberto,

For removing the cards from the wallet - try pinching with your fingernail and gently rocking the card left and right while applying a steady pulling force.

There seems to be 2 sources of the goo - one is the chemical reaction between the card wallet and the cards themselves, the second is the little black 'write enable' stickers on user-written cards. Best to just remove all of those stickers - and instead disable the opto circuit that reads them - so that ALL cards are now writeable. Just be careful.

For the goo, I've tried Duck adhesive remover for the front, alcohol wipes for the back, all followed by a warm soapy water bath, then rinse. It removes the goo and does not affect the lettering. However, you have to keep the adhesive remover away from the back of the card (magnetic side), as it is oil based. Any kind of oil will seep under the surface and affect the magnetic particles (grains). The magnetic properties will change and the card may become unreadable. In the worst case, the magnetic material will lose adhesion and begin to drop off in tiny specks. Clean the front with a q-tip while the card is on a clean dry folded paper towel to catch any oil. A little oil seepage along the edge is OK. It's only a problem when it gets near the center line of the card - where the mag heads read/write the data.

SR-52 cards are hard to come by. I've even resorted to buying complete SR-52 packages on ebay just to get the cards that look clean in the pictures - not needing the calculator itself. But you only need to do this once or twice to get enough cards for casual use and demo purposes.

Best of luck with your 52 !

-John
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07-06-2022, 11:03 AM (This post was last modified: 07-06-2022 11:07 AM by albertofenini.)
Post: #5
RE: New TI card wallets?
Thank you very much !
I will give it a try
I have restored of few of them,
if you are interested you may find some material here :

1. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJq4WnLJHXpUG
2. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OG1CvrSG8EdrD
3. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OG9Gd2NGqCOZm
4. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGlxzuqG4V3Ek
5. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5p3ichuELb1
6. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGsCn7GzZ2V6
7. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJ5HumnGbdXDQ
8. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGLLXGLGkhpni
9. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5BydzFDiSlz
10. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJu8EH6JRGWF8
11. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGIcgc2G2cF6j

Edoardo & Alberto
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07-07-2022, 03:11 AM
Post: #6
RE: New TI card wallets?
You do some great work Alberto! Thanks for the links. I'm only now starting to work with the SR-52. Although I have done restoration work on HP classic machines.

I did find something unusual the other day; I wonder if you have seen it. On the TI-58/59 machines, each ROM library module has a card wallet with plastic (not magnetic) label cards for the programs in the module. These are usually gold lettering on a black background. I saw some cards that were the opposite. They had black lettering on a gold background, similar to the blank label cards that come with each module. This happened in a Statistics Module and most of the cards were normal, until halfway through the batch, the colors were reversed. This leads me to believe it was a printing mistake. Like a coin with two heads.
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07-07-2022, 09:11 AM
Post: #7
RE: New TI card wallets?
Hi John,

I'll check mines to see how they are, if you are interested here are some of the
restorations I have done on HP Classics, mostly HP65 and HP67

1. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5ZhN2vyv5RF
2. (that's a PC100) https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJHciePJqiCnU
3. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJqstnBJHv90Y
4. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGWBC59GTnFAv
5. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGPCdxkGcroOL
6. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJ8GySPJ05xUQ
7. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OG4VTwGGlxMok
8. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OG0ehgLG5cRP1
9. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5CmvASUWKKb
10. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5NI45Mnpm5x
11. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O52plgjckwIC
12. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5M7GFP3ZdMC
13. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGDdyTvGUfvjv
14. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5aVbMKYnqLP
15. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5ejO17RwF3C
16. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGQOeMmGB9bT6
17. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGRMtznGFzH5P
18. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGFssfGGK3YpG
19. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O55Z2WM85kSl
20. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5VaUrzXS2Nz
21. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGgZLKuGCasMI
22. [url] https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O53qWtHMQIuR[/url]
23. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGfnH8tGG8uPh
24. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGqkRUiG9umco
25. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5yeZFhZyIGV
26. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJ0DiRHJI9y3G
27. [url] https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OG...2KAs4[/url]
28. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5nhQSTibL4B
29. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5n8hH47bK5F
30. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGY8gBYGSs7A0
31. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5Uzl7VCRXs0
32. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OJtdOXmJRitdc
33. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0O5qXGF1EaE2R
34. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0OGWZuqDGTm9ev

I hope these can be of help, take care !!

Edoardo & Alberto
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07-08-2022, 08:15 AM
Post: #8
RE: New TI card wallets?
Again, that's some amazing work. You repaired some machines with incredible amounts of corrosion! I guess I've been lucky to never some across units like that.

I like that you use coax insulator tubing on the HP card reader worm gear coupling. I've been using RTV sealant for that inside the metal sleeve. Your method seems a quicker and more elegant solution. Kudos!

And I like that you're getting your son involved. So many kids today don't appreciate the work that goes into keeping our technology running. I taught my daughter to solder at an early age and she learned to program on my HP-65 hunting wumpus!

All the best,

-John
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