IBM Magcard II / 82 aquired.

[Ed Groenenberg]

Last weekend I got an IBM Mag Card II / 82 from an old lady who used it at the office where she used to work.
I looks complete and came with 3 unused, shrink wrapped IBM magnetic cards, as well as a few holders with used cards.
Also a set of correcting tapes, as well as a spare golfball were part of it.

The motor was not running, but after applying a bit of light machine oil on various places, the motor eventually started to run.
The pivot points of the keyboard fingers also got some oil, and besides 2, they move freely.

The unit it selves takes a card, but spits it out after a second or 2, so that part looks faulty.
I disconnected the power supply board from the typewriter, so the motor can run for a few hours to lubricate the gears and so on.

One major part that hels me a lot, it came with the wiring diagrams of the typewriter, the reader unit and power, nrside the original service log.

 

[NeXT]

Oh that's hot. I have not seen a photo of one of those surfacing in a few years.

 

[Ed Groenenberg]

Scanned schematics that came with the machine.
I'm also making an overview for the connectors/wires and their meaning.

 

[Chuck(G)]

It's funny--last week, I received an inquiry from someone with a MC/ST mag card that needed reading. I referred them to RICM, because I know they have a unit, but I don't know if it's working. Along with the MT/ST, I have little interest in the effort required to keep something like this working, so I send folks elsewhere.

 

[Ed Groenenberg]

Having to read one of those magnetic cards after such a long time could mean that the text could be either lost love letter,
or something else of high importance.!

I'm not sure I will be able to get my machine complete running (i.e. reading/writing the cards). If so, I consider to make the
Selectric a hard copy terminal or page printer for fancy letters.... After all, there are plenty font types available for these machines.
(it uses the Selectric I & II type ones).

 

[Chuck(G)]

In many of these cases, it's just something someone found--could be part of a collection. The card may not even have been written to.
IBM selectric gear of this era is often a mechanic's nightmare. I still have a Selectric III that I need to get running (broken motor belt). You'd think that something that fundamental would be easy to fix, but then, this is IBM...

 

[FinnJorgensen]

I happen to own one of these machines. I bought it more than 20 years ago, maybe 30, planning to use it as a terminal of some kind, but I rapidly dropped the idea and it has been stored in my basement since then. It has probably suffered from moisture etc, but I think it is complete. I suppose that I should not dump it in the recycle bin, but... I live in western France if anyone is interested.

 

[gkaplan]

I happen to own one of these machines. I bought it more than 20 years ago, maybe 30, planning to use it as a terminal of some kind, but I rapidly dropped the idea and it has been stored in my basement since then. It has probably suffered from moisture etc, but I think it is complete. I suppose that I should not dump it in the recycle bin, but... I live in western France if anyone is interested.

Do you still have the Mag Card II machine?

 

[FinnJorgensen]

Do you still have the Mag Card II machine?

Yes and no... I have contacted a local museum that is interested. They specialize in transmission technologies and a Magcard will be perfect in their exhibit. I will hand it over to them one of these days.

 

[nikola-wan]

Scanned schematics that came with the machine.
I'm also making an overview for the connectors/wires and their meaning.
View attachment 1275723View attachment 1275724View attachment 1275725View attachment 1275726

Ed, you said you also have the IBM typewriter schematics - I've got an IBM typewriter with connectors that I believe could be the same model as your photo. Did you post the typewriter schematics on this forum?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Anyone here have an operational MTST? I (very rarely) get inquiries about the thing. I'd like to be able to make a solid referral.

 

[Al Kossow]

Anyone here have an operational MTST? I (very rarely) get inquiries about the thing. I'd like to be able to make a solid referral.

A historical curiosity. Digi-Data made a MTST reader. I bought this for CHM. I'm sure it will never run again

https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102662523

The manuals for it showed up in an eBay auction years later. I need to scan them.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Back in the 1990s, there was an abandoned MTST/Selectric setup advertised for adoption on one of my mailing lists. I passed on it because I viewed that as being more of a typewriter issue (although there was a reader available as a S/370 peripheral, IIRC). That, the size (very heavy) and the reputation of IBM for creating mechanical nightmares put me off.
In all of 30-some years, we received exactly two inquiries regarding retrieving MTST data, so the decision to pass the thing up was a good one.
Still have a Selectric III that needs a new drive belt. I have the replacement belt, but I quail a bit every time I read the instructions for replacing it.

 

[Al Kossow]

There is some historical interest in MTST and mag card now after the history of word processing book came out

Track Changes​

A Literary History of Word Processing


Matthew G. Kirschenbaum

https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674417076

This Was the First Word Processor Ever Used By a Novelist. It Weighed 200 Pounds and Had to Be Brought in Though the Window

Would best-selling novelist Len Deighton care to take a walk? It was 1968, and the IBM technician who serviced Deighton’s typewriters had just heard...

slate.com

but beyond that I don't think anyone is doing media recovery for them

 

[Ed Groenenberg]

Yes, I do have the scans of the wiring.

 

[nikola-wan]

Yes, I do have the scans of the wiring.
View attachment 1298042View attachment 1298043View attachment 1298044View attachment 1298045

Thanks but you had posted these reader and power supply diagrams earlier in your thread.

You had said in your first post in this thread that you also had typewriter diagrams.

 

[Ed Groenenberg]

Thanks but you had posted these reader and power supply diagrams earlier in your thread.

You had said in your first post in this thread that you also had typewriter diagrams.

Well, the last of the 4 I posted pictures is the diagram of the typewriter.

 

[nikola-wan]

Well, the last of the 4 I posted pictures is the diagram of the typewriter.

Thank you! I didn't look close enough at the drawing numbers. Actually both page 2 and page 4 are for the typewriter as a printer - maybe as additional interface cards in the typewriter/printer?

I found this image on: https://web.archive.org/web/20040917155854/http://www.etypewriters.com/mag-card-II.JPG

 

[Ed Groenenberg]

There is a transmit block next to the selection magnets.
Page 2 describes all the signals, both for transmit and receive plus signals for the additional push buttons on the left and right of the typing keys.
Page 3 is the wiring setup for the motor inside the typewriter, so it works on 110V/60Hz or 230V/50Hz.