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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: HaaTa on Fri, 24 September 2010, 19:11:39

Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: HaaTa on Fri, 24 September 2010, 19:11:39
Another find.

(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0xJz7XrPI/AAAAAAAACNc/6vzhIN7IFks/s800/2010-09-24%2018.24.51.jpg)
A Victor 12PD Calculator.

(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0xwdlV1YI/AAAAAAAACOY/3M0GQT5j6U0/s800/2010-09-24%2018.30.52.jpg)
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0xgmTyVRI/AAAAAAAACNc/2_VK_ECWlw4/s800/2010-09-24%2018.26.25.jpg)
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0yGvYydYI/AAAAAAAACNc/PFvgzwmvBZk/s800/2010-09-24%2018.32.54.jpg)

Nice keys...
(http://lh3.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0xL3L28LI/AAAAAAAACNc/zAsAhESypD4/s800/2010-09-24%2018.25.01.jpg)

Oh wait, they're doubleshots :D
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0yyRmm24I/AAAAAAAACNc/ZWF4bpBOy28/s800/2010-09-24%2018.50.20.jpg)

Cherry like plungers,
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0yhQstJRI/AAAAAAAACNc/Tx8wLP-Q8TY/s800/2010-09-24%2018.46.33.jpg)

And, huh, plate mounted switches?
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ070SjTEMI/AAAAAAAACOU/et9ZzFM1mgc/s800/2010-09-24%2019.58.40.jpg)
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ071ydFYYI/AAAAAAAACOU/iLei3lfmV8k/s800/2010-09-24%2019.58.52.jpg)

Unfortunately, the keys have a very weird feel. Similar to a rubber dome or Cherry MY, but not really either. I'd open it up further, but I'll need to unsolder all of the switches to see...and I really don't want to do that.

As a bonus, it works :D
(http://lh4.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0xsAreCtI/AAAAAAAACNc/m0PkKWS7OV8/s800/2010-09-24%2018.29.13.jpg)


More pics on picasa (http://picasaweb.google.ca/TrIpLeHaaTa/Victor12PDCalculator?feat=directlink).
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: WhiteRice on Fri, 24 September 2010, 19:24:55
Would it be too much to ask for a sound clip :3

I always enjoyed the sound of the printing
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: HaaTa on Fri, 24 September 2010, 19:38:15
Quote from: WhiteRice;226479
Would it be too much to ask for a sound clip :3

I always enjoyed the sound of the printing


Hmm, don't really have a good microphone. Perhaps tomorrow though.
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: a_fluffy_kitten on Fri, 24 September 2010, 19:43:29
Quote from: HaaTa;226475
Another find.
Show Image
(http://lh6.ggpht.com/_6WOoTO_7VuQ/TJ0yGvYydYI/AAAAAAAACNc/PFvgzwmvBZk/s800/2010-09-24%2018.32.54.jpg)

As a bonus, it works :D


But can it run Crysis?
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: keyb_gr on Sat, 25 September 2010, 17:29:16
The µPD1224G seems to be a typical chip used in business calculators like these around 1981 (matching the date code on the ICs), it also found use in this TI (http://datamath.org/Desktop/ti-5142.htm).

Parts quality looks to be standard Japanese consumer electronics grade for the time. The board looks quite repairable in case the unit should ever decide to act up (dead electrolytics being the most likely failure mode, the regulator pass transistor is a 5 amp type and unlikely to be toasted), though I'd be very careful with that film cable... the technology wasn't that mature yet at the time, and they can be rather fragile.
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: HaaTa on Sat, 25 September 2010, 18:36:48
Thanks for the info.

Quote from: keyb_gr;226787
...though I'd be very careful with that film cable... the technology wasn't that mature yet at the time, and they can be rather fragile.


Good to know. Thankfully, I have no desire in dismantling the calculator anymore than it already is.
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: ricercar on Sun, 26 September 2010, 16:44:24
Quote from: keyb_gr;226787
I'd be very careful with that film cable... the technology wasn't that mature yet at the time.


A similar ribbon in my 1995 Kinesis Contour just cracked/broke on me. I wsh I had been more careful.
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: didjamatic on Sun, 26 September 2010, 16:59:18
Nice score!  I keep hoping I find a nixie display calculator but haven't yet.  I've seen a few of this vintage but not this clean.
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: Phaedrus2129 on Sun, 26 September 2010, 18:18:25
Betcha half the weight of that calc comes from the step-down transformer for the linear power supply. Low-tech and bulky, but much simpler than an SMPS, where you'd have roughly five times as much circuitry. Instead just a transformer, rectifier, and capacitor. Nice, KISS.
Title: Victor 12PD - Calculator
Post by: keyb_gr on Mon, 27 September 2010, 15:19:32
That, and you won't get any starting problems with a linear power supply. No worrying about highly variable loads either (which is why audio amps are only built with SMPS if weight/size is a concern, typically in pro applications - the few SMPS equipped home amps around in the early '80s were quickly found to be less reliable and definitely much more difficult to service).