Trying to FIX a Mechanical BEAUTY - Vintage CALCULATOR
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2024
- This has the nicest inside I have ever seen. It is a shame to cover it up. I purchased this mechanical calculator faulty from eBay. Can I get it working again with zero knowledge of the item being fixed?
Merch is here!!!!! www.puddlt.com...
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Remember that this is just for entertainment and I am not an expert in these repairs. The processes in the video may not be the best way, the correct way or the safest way to fix these things. I do love fault finding and trying to fix broken things, so I hope that comes across in this 'Trying to FIX' series. Many thanks, Vince.
Hi, Vince. I'm the great grandson of Elof Ericsson, who was the President of Facit 1922-1952, and grandson of Gunnar Ericsson, who ran the company 1957-1970. I'm also a longtime subscriber to your channel! As always, a great episode. These machines are amazing.
The English wikipedia entry is quite interesting for Facit. It says they even had a go at microcomputer manufacture in the 70s
Thanks Niclas, wow, cool family history. These machines are amazing and I learnt from the comments that Facit made typewriters too. They are built to last for sure. Hopefully I can find other faulty Facit items in the future 👍👍👍
Good testament to your family's company and the quality of product they made. After all these years, it took a little oil and effort to get it back to life. And all of us that enjoy these videos got a brief glimpse into the history and workings of this machine. Awesome. Your family should be proud of the product, and Vince should be proud of the work he put into this video. One of my top 5 of his.
That "Ooohh!" for the bell going off for the total made my day!
Vince,
Used one of these back in the Seventies.
You're right, the bell is for going negative, or for when a division is too much.
One point you missed is this:
When multiplying, you needn't have turned the handle ten times. If you move the carriage back one space, and turn the handle once, this will have the effect of multiplying by ten. Extend that logic for hundreds, thousands etc.
It's a brilliant machine, and that was a great video.
Oh yes, of course. Thanks for the tip David 👍👍👍👍
Been a subscriber forever and this was one of the most interesting items ever. I just love how it looks on the thumbnail and the digits changing are so so satisfying. Great find and great video Vince!
Thanks Felipe, it certainly is an interesting piece for sure, mechanical art really 👍👍👍👍
As a collector of vintage calculators this is a great showcase for the hobby, and I must say you did a good job restoring this one! I have a similar machine; the Facit NTK with the green body from 1956, along with one of their later Nixie tube display electronic machines!
Wanted one of these for ages after seeing one on the repair shop. I will enjoy watching this mate.
Oh i will get you a shout next time i find one in the charity shop.
Last one a saw was for about 35 euros but postage for the calculator and its suitcase will be massive.
I live in the small city of åtvidaberg where this was made and they are pretty common still.
I never seen one in this bad condition though.
Would love another video about this!
Cheers Mike, I will try and find it. Now that you mention it, it is the perfect item to feature on The Repair Shop 👍👍
I don't imagine I'm the only one to snigger at the "number 2" part 🤣 . Incredible how this thing works, that's some serious engineering right there! 👍
🤣 It is incredible, if anything deserves a clear cover then this is it!
True story - When I was young, mum took us Christmas shopping for Dad at The May Company (SoCal in the early 70's) and she was looking at a new pocket calculator for my father. He was a machinist and used one heavily. The helpful salesman showed her the latest "solar" calculator and mum was hooked. After a moment or two, she told the salesman that since my father worked inside, she doubted that it would work. The salesman assured her that during her own testing, she, indeed, was not in the sun either. That's what dad got for Christmas.
Yeah I''m probably around your age and seeing a solar calculator for 1st time and being absolutely amazed at how such a small calculator worked with no wires. Seemed like magic to me at the time being so young. Remember playing with it and how amazed I was that I remember this to this day. First wireless thing I ever saw. No clue that EVERYTHING would or could be wireless. Young kids no way can comprehend how wired we were back in the day.
I received a Casio solar credit card calculator for Christmas when I was a kid around 1985 . It was amazing tech , fit in your wallet , never needs batteries , Casio Japan quality . I still have it , still works .
It's amazing that the solar technology just NOW in 2022 reached TV remotes. The latest lines of Samsung remotes have this function, and it still amazes me that you never will need to charge/switch batteries in them again.
Such lovely engineering. What we had back in the day was something special, now you get apps that come with ads.
Lovely video! I remember learning how to use these at school. The noise of a classful of these machines all crunching away at the same time was really something. Can't remember how to use them now, but I do remember the immense satisfaction I felt when I finally mastered how to do a square root calculation!
I must ask you, was this introduced after you had mastered a standard slide-rule? For what type of calculations were these machines considered to be better than that?
The reason I ask is because I'm highly sceptical to how current mathematics is taught in middle and high schools in Sweden today. We try to teach students to learn the proper operations manually, dividing with the chair and so on, to then just introduce the small electronic calculators so that most people forget about these techniques and get lazy. And then, when studying mathematics in university you just have re-learn the manual operations again! And the poor students of other disciplines (economics, engineering) never really get a proper foundation to really understand what really goes on with various algebraic manipulation techniques.
My argument is that this is mainly due to lazy habits formed with electronic calculators, and a lack of pedagogical skills for the mathematics teachers in high school.
@@erik.dahlberg We were taught how to use both a slide rule and an adding machine.
The two have different uses. Slide rules were wonderfully quick when you only need an answer to two significant figures. As a side effect they teach you to estimate as well, because you have to keep track of the decimal place on your own. I still have my slide rule as a matter of fact, although I haven't actually used it for decades.
The adding machines were in widespread use when an accurate answer is needed, like in financial calculations, they are just slow and cumbersome.
Obviously both devices are wildly inferior to any basic electronic calculator, as is mental arithmetic also.
The ability to calculate manually is pretty useless these days, although I do find it helpful to see immediately when the young person at the checkout has made an error!
To be honest I think that normal people don't need much more mathematics than an understanding of basic arithmetic operations, as taught to infants by the Numberblocks series on the BBC. Why not rely on a calculator to do hard sums? Those who want to specialise in Mathematics can learn how to do manual calculations and why the methods work, no need for others to do so!
@@Crumbleofborg Thank you for you prompt and thorough reply! From your last point, I presume that you perhaps went on to study in some technical field for your higher education. The reason I ask is that I presume that you therefore were not exposed to some of the nerv wrecking stupidity that goes on regarding mathematics in the "social fields" as economics, finance, business management and so on. There are so many examples of basic "formulas" that are taught as MAGIC TRUTHS that you should learn by heart in economics and management courses, where the underlying logic is just a refactoring, or a little algebraic manipulation away from another known fact.
I wish I had at least had a semester or two with basic linear algebra BEFORE i pursued my Master in Economics. It would have saved me so much frustration, and would have guaranteed me the highest grade in class almost effortlessly as well as almost instantly catching the underlying intuition for a specific problem or linear optimisation, as it did for some of my fellow classmates who had this mathematical skillset beforehand.
Regarding "normal people", I agree 100%, they only need basic skills and perhaps being able to calculate percentages and so on. The problem in Sweden is that the expectation levels even of the highest grade in Mathematics in high school and then on to university is that it has become tailored to this category of people, not the 1-5 people in every classroom that actually have the inclination to properly master the subject at hand. We can see the result right now, when people spend 3-5 years in University to then go on to becoming a Barrista at Starbucks...
I own a Monroe Model K (1921) which is an awesome machine. It can do reverse multiplication which is really handy. It was working when I got it except unjamming it from all the people in the thrift store fiddling with it. A little sewing machine oil and it’s as good as new. They used natural oils that don’t gum up.
I also acquired a Monroe LA5 (mid 1930s). It was stuck in certain places but with effort I got the calculator mechanism free, oiled and working. It is electric drive which I haven’t figured out. It can be operated manually but a better crank would help. The calculator mechanism is fairly simple, the motor controls are very complicated.
The bell inside of this mechanical calculator is heard when the main result register either overflows, or when the value in it goes below 0, as the calculator can't display negative numbers.
Came here to say this. :)
If you add and subtract a column of numbers (such as a list of debits and credits) into underflow territory, clear the keyboard, copy the result including the leading 9s down onto the keyboard, subtract twice and the result dial will show the answer to which you add a negative sign. I learned that from a 1931 Monroe business machine course book.
I almost turned the video off when you opened that up. You turned a nightmare into a dream result as usual. Great job Vince!!
Cannot imagine how the designer/engineer came up with the concept and then the final product that someone could learn to use.
props to whomever design it.
I love these things which are built like tanks, and are made up of such serious mechanical engineering.
Get yourself a good sewing machine oil instead of the WD-40. WD-40 is a good penetrating oil to free things up, however in about six months it will dry out and get gummy again.
Exactly, WD-40 is not a lubricant. I would personally recommend the 3-IN-ONE High Performance Lubricant with PTFE for this type of renovation.
@@lesrogers7310 In this case, he isn't using it as lube. He was using it to get it clean and freed up. He mentioned that he might get the correct grease for it and properly lubricate it another time.
I 2nd sewing machine oil. Find a fabric store, they usually have it.
What a incredible machine, that belongs in a museum for sure! Great job vince and very interesting choice of item this week!
If you could make a really accurate drawing of one of the buttons, I am sure we could 3D print you one for the missing one (ABS would be tough enough) Great fix as usual.
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While I appreciate your perseverance in cleaning the mechanics of this machine I'd like to offer some advice if I may. If you have access to lacquer thinner a bit of it in a squirt bottle would speed the cleaning ten fold. It will dissolve old grease like that almost instantly. I use it when I'm freeing up the mechanisms on old BSR turntables and it works a treat. Other substitutes that work equally as well would be aerosol cans of brake cleaner or carburetor cleaner as they can blast away the grime deep down inside the machine that's hard to reach and any of those 3 solvents evaporate very quickly. When it's clean and ready for new lubrication a drop or two of Singer sewing machine oil is more than enough in the places that need it. Careful not to over oil the parts as that will simply attract more dust & dirt and leave you where you started again eventually. :)
A beautiful piece of equipment! you were struggling with that last little spring at the end! Bravo for bringing it back to life.
Beautiful machine. Makes me want to get one for myself to play around with. I'm surprised you didn't replace the missing 6 key with something from an old computer or typewriter.
And Vince strikes again with yet another rare and unusual item. That thumbnail is intriguing.
Thanks Nandi, my favourite thumbnail to date 👍👍👍
Probably the coolest thing you've gotten your hands on in this channel.
This was one of my favourite videos of all time, Vince. What an amazing machine! Nice one on the fix.
I still remember my math teachers telling me that I wouldn't always have a calculator on me and now I have 3 on me at all times, lmaooooo. But I guess that makes sense when calculators were this big.
This is AMAZING!!! Such an awesome instrument! Never saw a mechanical calculator before but this is stunning in its ingenuity!! 😮 Mechanical repairs of older stuff are always such a favourite of mine, I LOVED this video!!
In the 70's we used to get "addiator's" which with a little plastic stylus you could do some quite big numbers adding or subtracting and multiplying you broke the numbers down then worked it out adding the number x many times. Shops often had the special pounds shillings and pence addiators in the time time before decimalisation which I remember too lol Quite funny in our penny was bigger than even the 2p or 2 shilling pieces and I was so sad when the half penny the sixpence etc all went to the wall.
Bloomin' hell! Thought it was an engine looking at the thumbnail 😊 Great video pal.
Cheers Joey👍
A tip for you Vince, I renovate guitars, and for the chrome metal parts I use Cilit Bang, it’s a fantastic degreaser and brings chromed parts up like new….great vids btw👏🏻👏🏻
Back in the early 60's, my dad had a Bohn Contex calculator. Made in West Germany, and manually operated. It would add, subtract, multiply and divide. Instead of a crank, it had a palm operated plunger, all operations were tied to the number of strokes on the palm plunger. It too was a mechanical marvel inside. Very interesting video, thanks for posting!
My God, you mentioned Turney Turbines! Thats a blast from the past. I remember their place in Harrow, close to where I grew up.
🤣🤣 I spent a happy week there when I was 15 on work experience👍👍👍
The skills of a ninja and the patience of a saint. Outstanding video. Looks like a difference engine.
"Remember the old typewriters that lock up"...........And at this point most of the audience are like "no!"...........LOL!....but YES I remember them very clearly!
mechanical calculators have always been fascinating to me, its always been impressive to me what someone could device, purely mechanically.
In my opinion one of the best fix ever , so beautyful mechanic
I have a same machine in good working order. I‘ve also repaired another machine from a friend. But that machine was really stuck. So I had to take oit one of the rolling mechanisms and set it back „on time“. And then it worked again. These are nice machines. Thanks for the video!
A very cool save. I did an very old lab balance scale, and most of it's issues were that it was gummed up from old grease. Only thing left is for you to get into 3d printing... then you could have replaced that missing button. !!
Awesome video! Very cool to see the inner workings of the calculator, never even seen one of these things before.
IMHO, these seemed to work much like a compact / simplified version of Babbage's difference engine. although he himself never had the chance to finish it fully, it and this are truly a fascinating bit of mechanical engineering 😀
3d printing a clear case to showcase the insides would look stunning!
In a way this is so much more impressive than electronics. I’m sure that the complexity of a CPU is orders of magnitude greater, but being smart enough to invent and build something like this is amazing to me.
Used one in several steel division boilershop drafting offices in the ‘60s. Detaling drawing and calculating lengths of structural steel members and steel plates for the boilermakers to cut steel down on the factory floor. Needed 100% accuracy, NO mistakes tolerated!
When devices where still built to last. What a beautiful machine!
Established train of thought... "You must stay in your comfort zone!", My Mate Vince.." What the heck is a comfort zone!?"
I was born into the business of typewriters, calculators, adding machines, and cash register. It was a family business. We used a large part washer filled with Varsol and light machine oil mixture. The Varsol would break up all the old oil/dirt and flush it out. Then the light machine oil would leave an oily film on all the mechanical part. Usually would fix most issues other than something actually breaking like a spring.
Just got done watching the new switch video. Never seen this before such an amazing video mate!
Vince I'm only halfway through the video but I think you've stumbled on an absolute treasure here. It's similar to the Curta mechanical calculators which have become highly collectible by anyone interested in historical computing. The machine seems complete except for that missing keycap which could easily be 3D printed. If I can offer some advice, WD40 is not a lubricant and isn't really appropriate for restoring the machine. I'll shut up and watch the rest of the video now.
What a beast of a typewriter😂 but very well manufactured. It was very interesting to see the inside from something like this.
This'd be really cool to have in a clear case too. Or I could see that case painted a nice bright Swingline Stapler red colour
Clear case would be a real winner on this item Garth. It looks so bland on the outside but the insides are stunning 👍👍
Hey Vince,
Brilliant repair video!
It is great watching you fix this mechanical calculator [no electricity required]; I am sure you'll figure how to do all the mathematical functions.
That's so cool. The engineering that's gone into that. Great vid :-)
That thumbnail! 😍👌🏽 Loved it!
Thanks Dr R, looks great in the thumbnail, my favourite one to date. Thoroughly enjoyed your musket video by the way. That wood looked so fragile I thought it was going to be scrap, I can tell the hours of work that went into it. You'll have to do another one now, and use the Boiled Linseed Oil to keep the comments section happy 🤣👍👍👍
@@Mymatevince yes no one sees the hours of trial and error off camera! I’ll impress those experts in the comments next time 😂
Brilliant video. I remember similar ones from school. I think the red marker is for setting the decimal point.
what a wondeful example of engineering, fantastic vid.
Vince, get an impact driver! You hammer them down, which causes them to rotate. They have one on Amazon for $22.
Better yet get a battery powered impact driver and drill set...
Wooo that is an absolute unit calculator! LOL I was not expecting to see such a big device
I used one of these in a surveyors office, calculating coordinates, when there were a couple on the go it got a bit noisy. Ours were older and not as quiet as yours.
I can remember seeing loads of these in junk shops just after Britain went decimal in 1971, those were different to the one in the video because they allowed you to enter pounds schillings and pence, we used to have a really strange monetary system in the UK before 71 .
Cash tills used to work the same way but had a mechanical printer as well.
Amazing piece of machinery, thank you for saving it
What a beautiful machine! Vince could you pls tell me which videocamera are you using now? Thanks!
absolutely fascinating. And great work restoring this amazing machine
Hey Vince, I’ve heard a lot of people say not to use WD-40 for things like lubricating door hinges as it does temporarily help with lubrication but attracts dust which will make the problem worse. They suggest instead to use a 2 in one or 3 in one oil. I hope the calculator doesn’t get dust in the gears and seize up again!
Great video! Was really thrilling. Happy Weekend!
Wow! That’s a small one when I was young I used to play on an old NCR adding machine. Heavy and lots of brass. My dad used to work for NCR and we had a bunch around the house.
I used to work on these and mechanical cash registers as well back in the late 1970's. Most common fault was gummed up works because the grease had gone to paste. We used a high pressure hot water pressure washer. Then after drying, we sprayed them down internally with machine oil. Only got really complicated when we got to the electromechanical ones which sadly used cloth covered wiring and gigantic AC motors. They still used the crank even then for those places where they didn't have electricity and/or needed something that would work with and without power.
What would you use for cleaning if you don´t have a hot water pressure washer? Would it be OK to soak it in hot water, clean it under the hot water tap or something? I have to older Original Odhners that still work fine, but will need regreasing soon.
wow what a nice machine and also without any batteries or chips ;) great to see these kind of repairs. thx a lot for the nice video's Vince.
PLEASE get some screw extractor pliers! Fujiya makes a great little pair for like $15, and they work great. Seeing you pounding on the very thing you're trying to fix is killing my inner fix-it soul lol. Never-the-less, another great fix :)
Very Nice 👍👍👍👍👍👍 Would be fun to take it apart and trying to reassemble it
Thanks AR, yes it would but I am not sure if everything needs to be aligned with each other. Imagine the rabbit hole of hell if it was all aligned!!!! or the springs of the pins fell out 🤣👍👍👍
I deal almost exclusively in Friden machines from the 30s-60s but most of the knowledge should transfer, firstly you dont want to use wd-40 as a permanent oil, it is good at removing stuck things but after that is should be replaced with some sewing machine oil variant. The best i have found is Nye 140B oil, its pricy but it works miracles, it removes old oil and replaces it in one foul swoop. Most of the time machines like this don’t need to be fully disassembled, infact it can be very risky to do so. My friden machine alone has around 1000 pages of adjustments to get it running correctly, if it was disassembled fully then you would have a heck of a time getting it working again. Rather work on small bits at a time, its often the case that one small stuck thing is cascading causing larger problems down the line. Most of all these machines take time to repair especially if you are just learning, take your time and make sure everything goes back where it should.
Thanks for the tips ArcadeCarpet 👍👍
21:48:
For cleaning I always use a container with very hot water, an absorbent cloth, gloves (to hold the hot water) and sometimes that magic sponge (white) that works miracles. But be careful because the sponge is very abrasive and on painted or shiny surfaces it will be necessary to polish it after it or even repaint.
Omg this is my citys pride and i do work in there old buildings.
The calculator you holds was mad in to 71-72.
We have a real good museum in Åtvidaberg sweden, if any of you whant to private guide.
And if you whant a service manual i can copy one if you want to go deeper in to the rabbit hole ;)
I think we did the same mistake as you in the uk.
In the 1970 we did protest instead of working and we did not think a Japanese toys could compete with our quality.
You had the car industry and we had calculators.
Thanks Anders, this is the most interesting mechanism I have ever seen, makes watches look simple 🤣 Big thumbs up to Sweden for creating this beauty.
Vince love the video, excallent nostalga. I recall these from high school in the second half of the 70'. Only an observation, would giving the whole mechanism a bath in turps be a good idea?
Your two screwdriver method worked pretty good, but there is a manual impact driver that you can hit with a hammer. It applies rotational force as it drives the bit firmly into the screw head lessening the chance of stripping the head out. Very handy tool for situations like that.
Nice to see how technology was nice bit of history right there nice little fix thanks for the entertainment mmv
What a fantastic item and another great repair by you. Why not make a mold of the outside cover and cast a new cover in clear resin, you'll be able to see all the mechanical workings inside then.
Go to a auto parts store and get some brake clean. That will clean it up really well. Follow that up with some machine oil. I have restored 3 of these that way.
Considering break cleaner is about half acetone it would likely eat all of the buttons and display tumblers.
brake parts cleaner is the perfect thing for a clean up like this
Yes. I have brought the same device. The shaft was stuck. A little brake cleaner and sewing machine oil fixed. And even after a year, it works great.
That beautiful sound of the rotating numbers
Really interesting item and video! Well done for getting it going!
Wouldn’t be able to carry that calculator in your bag to school with you.😂😂 .great video vince👍
You have a lot of patience, I probably would have soaked the whole thing in 'degreaser' and probably would have ruined it. :)
Hey this was an amazing history lesson, thanks Vince.
Probably a little late now.. but Plus Gas is REALLY good for penetrating rusty screws and bolts. It's good for car tinkering too! :)
Cheers Kip. Loving the new 8 bit artwork on your channel 👍
Classic Vince comment "look at the weight of that" 😂🤣 Nother great video.
2+2=5 bit made me giggle 😅 epic 👌🏼
That’s a noice vintage mechanical calcy tho. Very noice indeed...
I recall seeing similar gizmos when I was little at my aunts work place and she was a manager to one of the well accredited/established CPA accounting firms here in my neck of the woods.
Only difference is that they had a bunch of em but they were essentially the same thing, a couple may have been bigger and more complex. Needless to say, they were for hardcore calculating tools during that era no doubt.
You got that for dirt cheap considering the materials/weight of it imo. Something like that would be sold by it’s raw metal value here rather than it’s usability.
Also looks like good degreaser and some controlled heating would be beneficial in the servicing of this unit.
Loved this one Vince, super interesting bit of engineering that.
That is really cool!.. I've never seen a mechanical calculator before.. WOW.. :)..
27:34 Reminds me of how the grease in old Macintosh floppy drives (800KB/1.44MB) dries up causing them to seize - have to scrape it out in some instances (as well as giving it a through cleaning)
Drops the calculator on the floor after taking it out of the box.. "Okay, Its fixed, a Paperweight." :P
18:07 Reminds me of that thing you can do in calculators where you type in a number and an operator and keep pressing equals.. wonder if that was kept because of this generation of calculator...
that was so cool to watch :) I saw one of these repaired on the repair shop :) that was also cool to watch :)
i used both my hand and paper to work out maths lol. teachers hated it when kids wrote on themselves but i did it anyway LOL.
its a bit like an enigma machine with various pins turning other pins lol
I have same. Main shaft was total stack. Little brakecleaner and sewing maghine oil bring it back life.
Vince, we need to see a full strip down and rebuild👍
The song during cleaning was great.
Vince, that tracksuit combi makes you look like the police have taken your clothes for evidence mate.
In the U.S this machine is selling for $200 dollars . You got a great deal
THIS is quality content. Thank you Vince 👍