Great restoration. Having cleaned and fixed up a bunch of calculators in my collection, ahhh it's super satisfying to do this kinda thing because of how relatively simple they are.
Trevor Thompson That or he shared it with his Patreon supporters first, a number of TH-camrs who use Patreon do that though I'm not sure whether or not 8 Bit Guy is one of them
When I was a kid I never would have thought I'd be so enthralled with a video about repairing and cleaning a calculator. "Oh man, that thing looks so clean! Look how great the paint on those keys looks! I wish I could feel the action on those keys."
@@CaletoFran you can fix old apple computers, its just harder with the all-in-one computers (apple lisa, macintosh se, macintosh plus, original macintosh)
@@DanTDMJace pretty sure he's referring to modern apple tech. But also some of those old mac's will not be repairable either due to leaky Capacitors or because the SCSI interface just dies (Dave's mentioned it in other videos)
I remember when my teacher told me using calculators was considered cheating because when I grew up I wouldn't be carrying a calculator in my pocket everywhere I go. Ha!
Your teacher made a sound judgement based on the information he had available at the time with the intention of turning you the most capable and independent. Sounds like someone who cared about you and your future. Unlike the people, and maybe yourself, who want some bizarre satisfaction from getting back at him. I suppose no good deed goes unpunished.
I was 13 back in '72 and was fascinated by all the new digital desk calculators showing up in stores. I always made it a point to stop by the display and mess around with whatever they had plugged in, and I remember that Commodore calculator was one of them. Fun times...fuuun times. :)
I found a similar PET with a keyboard problem, and after some AltaVista-ing (this was many years before Google) I discovered that the solution was to use the blue end of a pencil eraser on the metal contacts under the keys. That seemed to clean them up enough for the keyboard to start working again. The scary electrical arcing noise coming from the back of the CRT was another matter...:)
When ever you do these repair/restorations it inspires me to do the same. Surely, I am very young but something that we share in common is our love for old computers and old tech products that had a significant history. I love your content and as always keep up the great work.
on ebay if one searches Foam cotton swabs, you can find q-tips with cotton but also has a foam "overlay" on it, No mess! and some swabs fuzz less than other swabs
EXACTLY! When I saw him "jamming"screwdriver and cloth in the key hole I shouted out :use a QTip". In the past I too have used the screwdriver and papertowel trick. Sometime back in the eighties I discovered the QTips with long wooden sticks but realized a cheep ole' dollars store QTip works just as well and come in bulk
I'm a bit shocked how really simple that is for how much it cost back in the day... interesting to watch, but honestly about 15 times during the whole thing I was thinking "that is a ton of work to multiply 6x7 just to find out the meaning of life, the universe, and everything!"
Looks simple, but manufacturing chips wasn't as easy back in the days, especially considering the very low yield and high defect rates with the processes they had.
8:03 - I'd recommend buying a box of isopropyl alcohol wipes. I use them all the time for cleaning corroded connectors. I usually get the small "Prep pads", the same stuff that nurses use before giving injections. They're small, easy to open and quite cheap. You can also use lens cleaning wipes, though I think those have lower alcohol content. But those are better for cosmetic cleaning than the prep pads.
Now that's interesting. Specifically because Q-tip is the brand name, as opposed to the generic term (generic term would be cotton swab over here...another example is hot tub vs jacuzzi, or facial tissue vs kleenex) So that does surprise me that Q-tip is an unheard of name, as it's a Johnson & Johnson brand, which I assumed was a globally recognized brand.
If they're 1/4". that is correct. If not, a cheap 1/4" drive set at a place like Harbor Freight has got to be under $10. I was amazed he didn't have one.
I don't know anyone who doesn't own at least 1 standard modular driver. They throw them into driver kits for free. :P I've got like 7. I mentioned it because most people have never thought of using a modular as a tool without the bits. :P
@SgtPiggie It's just odd "spends thousands of dollars on electronics" "doesn't have the one tool you get free in pretty much every multiple tool set including sets fans have seen him using and recognized from their own toolbox" :P
Yeah. I typically use it as a disarming tactic so people know I'm not trying to be critical or antagonistic. I'm honestly a very light hearted person but people tend to take me the wrong way in text so it's become a habit to include that so they know I'm trying to be friendly.
You're exactly right about the fuse. One of the things I learned in basic electronics class from a teacher who hand-drew circuit boards in the 60s and 70s was that even if you have contacts which don't visibly look corroded, an oxide layer can form which prevents the flow of electricity (or has high impedance, which would also be bad). The trick I learned from him was to scrape these contacts with a knife any time you're working around them, since it can take years for an oxide layer to build up, and if you're already in there working, it doesn't waste any time to do that tiny bit of preventative maintenance. This applies not only for fuses and battery contacts but for switches and such too. Normally, you soak these things in vinegar in 8-Bit Keys, which does the same thing, but in this case, the contacts are soldered. If you're feeling up to it, you should give the fuse contacts a nice scrape with a pocket knife. I use one that I wouldn't be afraid to use as a screwdriver.
I've got a PET 4032 and I can tell you that cleaning the keys is really easy. Took me less than an hour, including disassembly. Be careful, the shift lock key has a different type of switch, and needs to be desoldered from the board before you take it appart. Have fun!
one of the beauties of youtube is allowing anyone to get into thing they would normally find it hard to get into. i would never meet you and never have anyting to do with old tehnology. TRUST ME. Yet bcuz of youtube i can watch you all the time and ur videos are cool and relaxing for some reason. I never thought I'd enjoy watching a channel like this so much lol.
Meanwhile, I only cared about it because of the TI brain I already knew was in there. My house was on the OTHER side of the home computer war. Protip for long-retired TI management: Don't put your 16-bit machine with 16K of RAM into a price war with a friggin' VIC-20, especially if you're not going to cut costs with the build quality.
I wonder if that foam was why the calculator wouldn't power on at first, with how disintegrated it was some bits could have gotten stuck to the circuitry.
I was friends with Steve Wozniak. In the mid ‘70s when he worked at HP, I remember him asking me about curves. They were designing switches with domed pieces of metal that would snap to make contact with the circuit board below. Here you go.
I can't describe how much I enjoy these videos. I'm only 19, so I've never even touched a Commodore. Still, these videos are insanely interesting and I've certainly learned a lot from them.
Right? Old boards are so interesting to mess with. I was trying to repair an old 1960's era Geiger surveyor and the board inside was this very simple single layer thing with what were clearly hand-laid copper traces. It was so cool. Old boards almost have an organic look to them.
Something I've learned from watching a bunch of these videos is generally the main thing to fix old electronics is to simply clean them. I got a bunch of old calculators and that fixed really everything.
I introduced my Dad to your channel around the 4th of July by showing him the episode you did on the TRS CoCo (Mistakenly recalling from stories that was his first computer. When in fact his was a TRS-80 Model 2 I believe.) It was a genuinely great feeling watching him react, get sentimental and tell me stories about his 8-bit days (Like as a late teen early twenty something financing through his credit union his tape drive) thinking back to his days of tape drives and early floppy drives. I want you to know the connection that is reaching from at least in this case of two nerd borns in 1961 and 1988 respectively. Also and I have no right to request, but I could only imagine the joy it would bring both to recall the days of his youth and the joy it would bring me just watching his reactions. I you could do any videos involving the TRS-80?
I recall he mentioned having a video on the entire tandy coco line on the backburner so he might just well bring it up. In any case, there's a series i like (although not nearly as slick and well edited as David's videos) called Tezza's Computer Collection. He did a bunch of videos on the TRS computers you might enjoy, at least as a holdover until david gets to it himself..
As I was informed by my Dad, the CoCo line was "VERY" different from the 80 series as the CoCo Thanks for the info though, I'll take a look at it. I do hope David does some on them though. I have found his videos to be the best production by far.
I'm subscribed for over two years now and I have no interest in technology whatsoever. But seeing you struggle with these challenges and finally come out on top somehow feels like I, too, did win. Just putting my faith in a nice guy and his expertise that is far beyond mine is rewarding.
I'm amazed that you have gone years without ever needing a 1/4" nut driver. That used to be one of the most common fasteners in old electronics. I have one in the drawer with all my common screwdrivers and use it constantly. Fuse: three likely possibilities: 1 - corroded contacts to the fuse holder; 2 - cold solder between the fuse holder and the board; 3 - crystalized solder in the fuse itself. Since it came back to life it was probably bad contact to the fuse holder, but all three are possible with those symptoms. The foam under the keycaps was both to reduce click noise and to keep dirt falling into the keyboard out of the unit. The foam in the springs was to dampen them to eliminate the possibility of key bounce, something you really don't want on a high-speed calculator keyboard.
My guess on the mysterious DOA repair is that the contacts in the power switch itself were probably oxidized and by simply mechanically flipping the switch a few times you cleaned it off and it began working correctly.
I love old calculators. I personally restored some Commodore N-60 Navigator, and S-61 Statistician handhelds, and a Sony Sobax ICC-600W nixie tube calc. The two Commodores are MASSIVE handheld specialty function calculators (the number in the title actually mirrors the number of keys). Both suffered severe battery corrosion, and required trace rebuilding. The Sony was a nixie tube calculator from 1969 or 1970, and used hybrid modules instead of integrated circuits. The hybrid modules were epoxy dipped ceramic plates with carbon film resistors printed on the plates, with physical capacitors, inductors and transistor dies bonded and electrically connected to the printed circuit pattern on the ceramic. The epoxy dip protected the finished module. In the late 1960s, the US government still bought a LOT of the available chips, thanks to the space program, and ICs were not that competitive for consumer devices. Sony hedged their bets on hybrid modules being a viable consumer option integrated package... and pretty much ran into a dead end technology when the IC market's pricing dropped out the bottom in the early 1970s... Interestingly, brought on very much by the demand for early consumer calculators. By 1974, there were easily over 100 companies all vying to market their own brand of a calculator, and within a couple years, that was culled down to around half a dozen. The rise of Commodore as a computer maker was very heavily influenced by their role in the calculator market. As you mention in the video, Commodore bought MOS, to remain competitive against TI in the calculator market. When the calculator market dropped out, and they went from being serviceable professional devices to mass produced economy commodity items, they weathered the transition with high end specialty calculators, like the N-60 and S-61 that I restored, till they could fully transition into the then new personal computer space. Of course, the rest is history. The irony, is they likely survived the calculator to computer transition because they had done it once before... But from typewriters to calculators. Commodore used to produce typewriters, but cheap Japanese typewriters flooded the market, killing profitability in the low end consumer typewriter space. They had transitioned into calculators at just the right moment, and further hedged their bets against Japan by rebranding Japanese calculators int he west, thus being the channel for some of the inevitable cheaper Japanese models to flow through... Shame they didn't keep such forward thinking with later business decisions...
Easily my favorite channel. Love the restoration videos, i'm learning tons, and a huge plus that you seem like a really nice guy (and a Commodore fan). Thanks for posting great content!
Great restore :) very satisfying to restore something that was not working. A couple of recommendations. You can buy different sized Q-Tips for when you need to clean tight areas, you can soak the q-tip in whatever cleaner you wish to use. Also when using compressed can of air. Do not press and hold and wave the can around that will release the fluid that's inside and damage your electronics. The best method is to use short bursts of air, the action of the air coming out of the can will remove the debris and your compressed air can will last longer between uses.
It is always so satisfying to see an old device restored in such a nice way, even if it is just a calclator. Im looking forward to see the PET episode.
This calculator seems to look like the Texas Instruments desktop ones that I used to repair at Ryman’s office supplies. In the Texas ones, the number 5 key went wrong usually. Our repair was to heat up the solder joint of the wire rod connecting the PCB to the key. We’d then push the rod upwards, towards the key. That usually worked well. Thanks for an interesting nostalgic upload. You're gr8!
I have had a fascination with repairing electronics around the house since I was a young boy starting with my nes. I love watching your videos. I can tell you are very passionate and knowledgeable about this topic and many more. Keep up the great videos!
excellent video as always. attention to detail. well researched. always in focus, no sloppy camera work, this is professionally made video by a good home content provider. saving the history of digital age we live in. IMO quality educational experience.support this channel if u can.
You are my hero. I purchased one of these at a thrift store ~20 years ago for a buck or two. It also has issues with some of the keys. I need to dig it out and attempt to clean the keys as you did in this video. Thanks for reminding me I have one of these classics in a cupboard somewhere.
It's very common. Foam rubber breaks down over time, as it's biological plant-based material (most don't realize this as it seems so artificial, but it's really not). There are synthetic foams that last longer but they're more expensive. "Standard" foam is only good for about 10 - 15 years before it falls apart.
MrJest2 plant based? What's the name of the material? Today they use polyurethane foam, and it doesn't last worth shit, and it is fully synthetic, so there's that, the minor surface oxidation and halogen-based fire retardant eat it up. I actually think cellulose acetate foam lasts a lot longer.
I took out the heater matrix of my 1972 Hillman Avenger a while back, which was covered in just the same foam where it is mounted up to the air ducts inside the dash. Disintegrated foam everywhere. I replaced it with draught excluder foam. The car also uses some of this newfangled silicon technology in the rectifier diodes of the alternator. The white heat of technology was really starting to happen in 1972.
Ewww. I've never had the displeasure of opening something old enough that had foam in it so I had no idea it could do that. Doesn't surprise me, but its still super gross. Thank you for the information!! That makes a lot more sense now!
+Siana Gearz - Older foam is latex based, so it's made of sap from the rubber tree (plus catalysts and foaming agents). Around the time this came out, polyurethane foams were also starting to become available, but they were more expensive (and also break down when cheaply made, due to the organic component molecules oxidizing). This sample could be either, but my bet would be on the older cheaper version.
Mine arrived on 10 JULY 2023; completely functional. Even if it were not in working order, it's nice to have as addition to my collection. On your unit, I suspected the foam was at least in part the culprit. I was born 1970, so I can identify with this machine, and others from late 1960's - early 1970's.
I''m so impressed by your broad and deep knowledge of... well, seemingly everything. Your whole process of getting the keys fixed up on this was absolutely inspired and taught me a lot. Great upload!
It was probably the two axial electrolytic capacitors. Caps need to recondition themselves if they have been off for a very long time. You may want to replace them as they are probably dried out.
This is the second time I'm watching this footage. There's something about this calculator that is so satisfying. I think they were using these back in the day in stores to calculate the total price of the bought stuff. They would just sit on the counter connected to the power supply and do their job.
Sean's Retroverse - His reply to other poster said he didn't want to use a q-tip cause it would break with the force he was using to clean the base of the buttons. :)
Sean's Retroverse - it saves lives. Then again, if everyone had some, I wouldn't get awesome deals on old Technics receivers and turntables at thrift shops.
A great repair/restoration job. We used the original Commodore PET for Computer Science at Strathclyde University Glasgow back in 1978. Looking forward to your video on these computers.
I was in the last generation of sci/math students who learned to use a slide rule out of necessity. To do the simplest accurate calculation in, say, astronomy, required using tabulated values of sine, cosine etc. and doing linear interpolation by hand. Needless to say this was unbelievably tedious and prone to error. Well for Christmas in 1975 I received a fantastic gift - a SLIDE RULE CALCULATOR, the Commodore SR-1400, which CHANGED MY LIFE :) I absolutely wore than thing out!
6:46 is it ever a concern when you get liquid coming out of the compressed air spray? I bought some dollar-store ones and they all do it, so I'm worried about using them on electronics. The expensive can I had never did it.
compressed air usually gets cold after spraying, what you are seeing is condensation of water out of the air but it evaporates quick, so no worries. evaporates even faster than alcohol
There's not that much difference between the calculators from that era, and the home computers from a bit later on. They're technically surprisingly similar, and the computers are in some ways only marginally more complex. (especially the kit computers) Probably explains why so many computer companies began as calculator companies.
Bloon Adjustment most of my videos were flagged by google for copyright reasons and removed from their index but i don't know why that concerns you or why I should care. I don't make videos for money.
I think your fuse theory is a good one. That's a common failure point on old British cars too (I have a 1969 MG Midget). One of the first things you do if you're having electrical issues is take the fuse out, polish it with some fine sandpaper, and put it back in. Cures a lot of oddities. :D
You're really good at trouble-shooting, 8-Bit Guy. You're also really good at explaining stuff, making anythhing really easy to understand, even to eople who have barely any knowledge of electronics
Erm at 3:18, vintage AC powered electronics without an earth pin, and a metal service over the PSU, let's touch it! Very risky idea, this could be ground referenced to the neutral pin, but because there is no polarity on the plug it could also be referenced to the live pin. If you checked before hand, ignore me, I'm just worrying about nothing... well maybe people watching and not realising they should also check. ;)
Woo! I have a PET 4032 I'm starting to repair. It looks to be dated 1980. Starts up, but freezes after less than a minute. I look forward to your PET repair insights.
Had to leave a comment, i watched many of your videos, but this one impressed me the most! Excellent repair mate! Gotta say I love watching you do stuff like this and always look forward to seeing more!
Your channel is such a treasure. I really appreciate that you take time to explain your thought process while making these videos. Thanks so much as always!
can a kids laptop (for example this one :www.ebay.com/itm/VTECH-NITRO-JR-NOTEBOOK-LAPTOP-COMPUTER-ELECTRONIC-LEARNING-TOY-CASE-CARTRIDGES-/162599583395?epid=672389566&hash=item25dbb0bea3:g:0r8AAOSwdhJZcfsZ) be modified to run basic?(maybe with replacing the rom chip or the storage chip)
IdonotknowwhyyoutubeletsyouhavealongnamebutthisislitsoiamusingitandmynameisLenny since it's quite cheap, maybe you could sent it to him by mail with a note asking that question, and then wait until his August fan unboxing video.
SaltyPeanut it depends how far away you are from the person I am 2 countries (Germany and France) with an ocean and some more states of US far away from him
![[TH] 2024 PMGC League | Survival Stage วันที่ 1 | PUBG MOBILE Global Championship](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/FVFT-PFwU80/mqdefault.jpg)
Great restoration. Having cleaned and fixed up a bunch of calculators in my collection, ahhh it's super satisfying to do this kinda thing because of how relatively simple they are.
Do you have any Commodore calculators in your collection?
Lazy Game Reviews how did u manage to comment 2 hrs ago.. says 1 minute ago
The 8-Bit Guy i wish i had stuff like you do. im young but would like to collect that sort.of stuff lol
Trevor Thompson That or he shared it with his Patreon supporters first, a number of TH-camrs who use Patreon do that though I'm not sure whether or not 8 Bit Guy is one of them
You added this comment 2 hours ago. It clearly says this video was uploaded 15 minutes ago. Are you a wizard LGR?
When I was a kid I never would have thought I'd be so enthralled with a video about repairing and cleaning a calculator. "Oh man, that thing looks so clean! Look how great the paint on those keys looks! I wish I could feel the action on those keys."
Rule 1 of watching 8-Bit guy. There can never be too many repair videos
Dje4321 You sir, are right!
AGREED
Agreed!
His repair videos are so damn satisfying
They feel like some sort of technological necromancy! Best kind of necromancy.
i love how this was considered as high-end stuff for executives back then but now it isn't even enough for primary maths.
This is why I love old tech: You can actually fix it.
@@CaletoFran even back then they were dickheads with repairmen?
@@CaletoFran you can fix old apple computers, its just harder with the all-in-one computers (apple lisa, macintosh se, macintosh plus, original macintosh)
@@DanTDMJace pretty sure he's referring to modern apple tech. But also some of those old mac's will not be repairable either due to leaky Capacitors or because the SCSI interface just dies (Dave's mentioned it in other videos)
Finally met the only man in the universe who's never heard of Q-tips :)
Hahahahahahhahaha right????
Did you know that there are cotton swabs that have alcohol in them from the factory?
I was confused because of the the context so was like q-tip q-tip then I was like OHHHHHHhhhh those things
Get with the drip Karen
Waiting for someone to avoid colliding with the joke, it hit my head hard, I had to go to the hospital
This is one of my new favorite videos. I love these where you go into more details about the actual repair process.
Likewise. Very cool to see how you reverse-engineered the chip behaviour and used that info later to find the stuck key!
It would be cool if he did an intro to the Multi-meter video for people just starting out diagnosing electronics.
Agreed. And it's still really easy to understand for novices since David is so good at simplifying subjects
The animation of how the keyboard scanning works is particularly good.
The 8-Bit Guy gave me new hope on TH-cam tech reviewers again.
seriously. I can't stand the loud, overproduced, obnoxious, click-baity youtubers that are so prevalent nowadays.
Why were you watching you tubers that caused you to lose said hope?
I remember when my teacher told me using calculators was considered cheating because when I grew up I wouldn't be carrying a calculator in my pocket everywhere I go. Ha!
Experimental Fun mail them a pocket calculator
Your teacher made a sound judgement based on the information he had available at the time with the intention of turning you the most capable and independent. Sounds like someone who cared about you and your future.
Unlike the people, and maybe yourself, who want some bizarre satisfaction from getting back at him. I suppose no good deed goes unpunished.
Teacher spotted ^^^^
Oddly enough, I was never told this. Then again, I didn't have an establishment-paid teacher either.
Experimental Fun lol calculators are such a waste of money now because you can have one on your phone
I was 13 back in '72 and was fascinated by all the new digital desk calculators showing up in stores. I always made it a point to stop by the display and mess around with whatever they had plugged in, and I remember that Commodore calculator was one of them. Fun times...fuuun times. :)
Hey, it's the PET that I donated! Can't wait to see the PET episode later. I'm sure it'll be super interesting. Good luck getting the keyboard fixed!
hahah.. it's safe to say you'll be seeing a lot more of that PET.
Same. I'm looking forward to the Commodore PET video
I found a similar PET with a keyboard problem, and after some AltaVista-ing (this was many years before Google) I discovered that the solution was to use the blue end of a pencil eraser on the metal contacts under the keys. That seemed to clean them up enough for the keyboard to start working again.
The scary electrical arcing noise coming from the back of the CRT was another matter...:)
The "blue end" of a pencil eraser? What's that?
IT'S THE PEN ERASER :)
When ever you do these repair/restorations it inspires me to do the same. Surely, I am very young but something that we share in common is our love for old computers and old tech products that had a significant history. I love your content and as always keep up the great work.
Q-Tips are great for cleaning hard to reach places..
on ebay if one searches Foam cotton swabs, you can find q-tips with cotton but also has a foam "overlay" on it, No mess! and some swabs fuzz less than other swabs
Maybe toothbrushes for babies and toddlers?
Marko Ahonen foam qtips? gonna have to remember that, thanks for the tip! (pun not intended)
I really needed something I could scrub with some force. Q-Tips would just bend.
EXACTLY! When I saw him "jamming"screwdriver and cloth in the key hole I shouted out :use a QTip". In the past I too have used the screwdriver and papertowel trick. Sometime back in the eighties I discovered the QTips with long wooden sticks but realized a cheep ole' dollars store QTip works just as well and come in bulk
I'm a bit shocked how really simple that is for how much it cost back in the day... interesting to watch, but honestly about 15 times during the whole thing I was thinking "that is a ton of work to multiply 6x7 just to find out the meaning of life, the universe, and everything!"
Now build a computer to find out the specific question.
@@someguy2135 that was the PET
Looks simple, but manufacturing chips wasn't as easy back in the days, especially considering the very low yield and high defect rates with the processes they had.
@@steve.Lowles can't have been, Douglas Adams specified that deep thought was an apple. Must have been the Apple 1
I dont know why, but I love watching you repair things
DatOneDudeJohn join the club
Same with me.
8:03 - I'd recommend buying a box of isopropyl alcohol wipes. I use them all the time for cleaning corroded connectors. I usually get the small "Prep pads", the same stuff that nurses use before giving injections. They're small, easy to open and quite cheap. You can also use lens cleaning wipes, though I think those have lower alcohol content. But those are better for cosmetic cleaning than the prep pads.
I have never went so fast to watch a new fresh video from my favourite channel. Keep it up, David!
I HOPE ALL GOOGLE BASTARDS DIE A PAINFULL DEATH | dead meme smh
If you're gonna troll, I recommend you go somewhere where people will actually care, not to a channel about retro electronics.
you can be so hurtful sometimes
Verm, how is he trolling? hes complementing Davids video!
Thanks! Wait a second...
Paper towel and a screwdriver? Q-tips my friend. Q-tips are your cleaning-in-small-places friends. :)
even my butt my friend :)
Astricx cotton swabs.
Those things to "clean" your ears.
Now that's interesting. Specifically because Q-tip is the brand name, as opposed to the generic term (generic term would be cotton swab over here...another example is hot tub vs jacuzzi, or facial tissue vs kleenex) So that does surprise me that Q-tip is an unheard of name, as it's a Johnson & Johnson brand, which I assumed was a globally recognized brand.
I use Q-tips to clean the small spaces on traffic lights in electronics that I use on a regular basis
Plus a plastic pry. Watching knife on plastic hurt.
8-Bit Guy those hex screws can usually be undone with a modular screwdriver without any bits installed.
If they're 1/4". that is correct. If not, a cheap 1/4" drive set at a place like Harbor Freight has got to be under $10. I was amazed he didn't have one.
I don't know anyone who doesn't own at least 1 standard modular driver. They throw them into driver kits for free. :P I've got like 7. I mentioned it because most people have never thought of using a modular as a tool without the bits. :P
You beat me to it! Excellent suggestion.
@SgtPiggie
It's just odd "spends thousands of dollars on electronics" "doesn't have the one tool you get free in pretty much every multiple tool set including sets fans have seen him using and recognized from their own toolbox" :P
Yeah. I typically use it as a disarming tactic so people know I'm not trying to be critical or antagonistic. I'm honestly a very light hearted person but people tend to take me the wrong way in text so it's become a habit to include that so they know I'm trying to be friendly.
You're exactly right about the fuse. One of the things I learned in basic electronics class from a teacher who hand-drew circuit boards in the 60s and 70s was that even if you have contacts which don't visibly look corroded, an oxide layer can form which prevents the flow of electricity (or has high impedance, which would also be bad). The trick I learned from him was to scrape these contacts with a knife any time you're working around them, since it can take years for an oxide layer to build up, and if you're already in there working, it doesn't waste any time to do that tiny bit of preventative maintenance. This applies not only for fuses and battery contacts but for switches and such too. Normally, you soak these things in vinegar in 8-Bit Keys, which does the same thing, but in this case, the contacts are soldered. If you're feeling up to it, you should give the fuse contacts a nice scrape with a pocket knife. I use one that I wouldn't be afraid to use as a screwdriver.
I've got a PET 4032 and I can tell you that cleaning the keys is really easy. Took me less than an hour, including disassembly. Be careful, the shift lock key has a different type of switch, and needs to be desoldered from the board before you take it appart. Have fun!
I recently got one of these at a recycling center. Another one saved!
"I'm gonna clean all the kes, even the ones that still work"
*badass music starts playing*
I honestly re-watch this video just so I can sway to the music.
I don't bang my head to rock and metal all the time...
Cy Nothing Best comment ever. 😂
The song is called Troubled Hearts... can't say who its by
@@lambda101 Troubled Hearts - Anders Enger Jensen.
@Metagalactic Llama He does pretty much all of David’s music now.
Every time I watch one of these restoration/repair videos, I'm inspired to go dig into some of my old tech and see what actually makes it tick!
Thank you for taking us through the chip and explaining how it works. Your channel is my personal favorite on youtube! Keep up the amazing work
one of the beauties of youtube is allowing anyone to get into thing they would normally find it hard to get into. i would never meet you and never have anyting to do with old tehnology. TRUST ME. Yet bcuz of youtube i can watch you all the time and ur videos are cool and relaxing for some reason. I never thought I'd enjoy watching a channel like this so much lol.
I wouldn't care at all about this calculator if a) it were not a Commodore and b) you weren't making one of your excellent videos about it.
Meanwhile, I only cared about it because of the TI brain I already knew was in there. My house was on the OTHER side of the home computer war. Protip for long-retired TI management: Don't put your 16-bit machine with 16K of RAM into a price war with a friggin' VIC-20, especially if you're not going to cut costs with the build quality.
Foam: I don't feel so good Mr. 8-bit guy
CritCat You’ll be all right.
Ha ha noice infinity war joke
I wonder if that foam was why the calculator wouldn't power on at first, with how disintegrated it was some bits could have gotten stuck to the circuitry.
Glad to see that work out :)
Also there is something beautiful about how simple those switches are.
I was friends with Steve Wozniak. In the mid ‘70s when he worked at HP, I remember him asking me about curves. They were designing switches with domed pieces of metal that would snap to make contact with the circuit board below. Here you go.
I can't describe how much I enjoy these videos. I'm only 19, so I've never even touched a Commodore. Still, these videos are insanely interesting and I've certainly learned a lot from them.
It's always fascinating to see old circuit boards from the 70s and 80s because they look so sloppy and interesting compared to today's boards.
Go 20 years earlier than that and they just bodged a load of components together by their leads, so compared with that these were professional :)
It's kind of amazing how far we've come.
Right? Old boards are so interesting to mess with. I was trying to repair an old 1960's era Geiger surveyor and the board inside was this very simple single layer thing with what were clearly hand-laid copper traces. It was so cool. Old boards almost have an organic look to them.
Yeah they definitely give a different vibe.
Something I've learned from watching a bunch of these videos is generally the main thing to fix old electronics is to simply clean them. I got a bunch of old calculators and that fixed really everything.
I introduced my Dad to your channel around the 4th of July by showing him the episode you did on the TRS CoCo (Mistakenly recalling from stories that was his first computer. When in fact his was a TRS-80 Model 2 I believe.) It was a genuinely great feeling watching him react, get sentimental and tell me stories about his 8-bit days (Like as a late teen early twenty something financing through his credit union his tape drive) thinking back to his days of tape drives and early floppy drives. I want you to know the connection that is reaching from at least in this case of two nerd borns in 1961 and 1988 respectively. Also and I have no right to request, but I could only imagine the joy it would bring both to recall the days of his youth and the joy it would bring me just watching his reactions. I you could do any videos involving the TRS-80?
I recall he mentioned having a video on the entire tandy coco line on the backburner so he might just well bring it up.
In any case, there's a series i like (although not nearly as slick and well edited as David's videos) called Tezza's Computer Collection. He did a bunch of videos on the TRS computers you might enjoy, at least as a holdover until david gets to it himself..
As I was informed by my Dad, the CoCo line was "VERY" different from the 80 series as the CoCo
Thanks for the info though, I'll take a look at it. I do hope David does some on them though. I have found his videos to be the best production by far.
I still have a CompuCorp calculator from 1972 in mint condition. I'm glad David is restoring interest in this old technology.
It worked again because it knew it was in good hands now.
*now in good hands.
wholesome
I'm subscribed for over two years now and I have no interest in technology whatsoever. But seeing you struggle with these challenges and finally come out on top somehow feels like I, too, did win. Just putting my faith in a nice guy and his expertise that is far beyond mine is rewarding.
*finds 4 piece toaster with commodore logo taped on*
"I must restore this!"
A piece of titanium with a commodore logo
@@BruhMoment93_ a box with a commodore logo
i’d watch that
lmao imagine commodore making toasters
A toaster that can toast 4 at once is valuable tho
I'm amazed that you have gone years without ever needing a 1/4" nut driver. That used to be one of the most common fasteners in old electronics. I have one in the drawer with all my common screwdrivers and use it constantly.
Fuse: three likely possibilities: 1 - corroded contacts to the fuse holder; 2 - cold solder between the fuse holder and the board; 3 - crystalized solder in the fuse itself. Since it came back to life it was probably bad contact to the fuse holder, but all three are possible with those symptoms.
The foam under the keycaps was both to reduce click noise and to keep dirt falling into the keyboard out of the unit.
The foam in the springs was to dampen them to eliminate the possibility of key bounce, something you really don't want on a high-speed calculator keyboard.
My guess on the mysterious DOA repair is that the contacts in the power switch itself were probably oxidized and by simply mechanically flipping the switch a few times you cleaned it off and it began working correctly.
I suppose that could have been the case as well, didn't think about that.
Always try to work the switches on stuff like that a few times before you jump in. In any event, a self-healing repair is always the best kind.
I love old calculators. I personally restored some Commodore N-60 Navigator, and S-61 Statistician handhelds, and a Sony Sobax ICC-600W nixie tube calc. The two Commodores are MASSIVE handheld specialty function calculators (the number in the title actually mirrors the number of keys). Both suffered severe battery corrosion, and required trace rebuilding.
The Sony was a nixie tube calculator from 1969 or 1970, and used hybrid modules instead of integrated circuits. The hybrid modules were epoxy dipped ceramic plates with carbon film resistors printed on the plates, with physical capacitors, inductors and transistor dies bonded and electrically connected to the printed circuit pattern on the ceramic. The epoxy dip protected the finished module. In the late 1960s, the US government still bought a LOT of the available chips, thanks to the space program, and ICs were not that competitive for consumer devices.
Sony hedged their bets on hybrid modules being a viable consumer option integrated package... and pretty much ran into a dead end technology when the IC market's pricing dropped out the bottom in the early 1970s... Interestingly, brought on very much by the demand for early consumer calculators. By 1974, there were easily over 100 companies all vying to market their own brand of a calculator, and within a couple years, that was culled down to around half a dozen.
The rise of Commodore as a computer maker was very heavily influenced by their role in the calculator market. As you mention in the video, Commodore bought MOS, to remain competitive against TI in the calculator market. When the calculator market dropped out, and they went from being serviceable professional devices to mass produced economy commodity items, they weathered the transition with high end specialty calculators, like the N-60 and S-61 that I restored, till they could fully transition into the then new personal computer space. Of course, the rest is history. The irony, is they likely survived the calculator to computer transition because they had done it once before... But from typewriters to calculators. Commodore used to produce typewriters, but cheap Japanese typewriters flooded the market, killing profitability in the low end consumer typewriter space. They had transitioned into calculators at just the right moment, and further hedged their bets against Japan by rebranding Japanese calculators int he west, thus being the channel for some of the inevitable cheaper Japanese models to flow through...
Shame they didn't keep such forward thinking with later business decisions...
I took a break from working on electronics to find... 8-BG working on electronics! Score!!
Easily my favorite channel. Love the restoration videos, i'm learning tons, and a huge plus that you seem like a really nice guy (and a Commodore fan). Thanks for posting great content!
Really love watching you fix things - always fascinates me :)
Great restore :) very satisfying to restore something that was not working. A couple of recommendations. You can buy different sized Q-Tips for when you need to clean tight areas, you can soak the q-tip in whatever cleaner you wish to use. Also when using compressed can of air. Do not press and hold and wave the can around that will release the fluid that's inside and damage your electronics. The best method is to use short bursts of air, the action of the air coming out of the can will remove the debris and your compressed air can will last longer between uses.
"The traces look hand-drawn." They probably were!
@@QuarTheDev and probably atari 2600 joystick
It is always so satisfying to see an old device restored in such a nice way, even if it is just a calclator. Im looking forward to see the PET episode.
I love the new theme song, its so happy
This calculator seems to look like the Texas Instruments desktop ones
that I used to repair at Ryman’s office supplies. In the Texas ones, the number
5 key went wrong usually. Our repair was to heat up the solder joint of the
wire rod connecting the PCB to the key. We’d then push the rod upwards,
towards the key. That usually worked well. Thanks for an interesting nostalgic upload. You're gr8!
When I was going there, my high school (Maryvale, in Cheektowaga, NY) had six of the PETs on the left (your right) and two Apple ][s
I have had a fascination with repairing electronics around the house since I was a young boy starting with my nes. I love watching your videos. I can tell you are very passionate and knowledgeable about this topic and many more. Keep up the great videos!
I am addicted to 8 bit guy videos. There will never be enough of them for my liking until i can literally shoot them directly into my veins.
excellent video as always. attention to detail. well researched. always in focus, no sloppy camera work, this is professionally made video by a good home content provider. saving the history of digital age we live in. IMO quality educational experience.support this channel if u can.
Deoxit saves lives, man. No need to scrub anything with light oxidation like that.
You are my hero. I purchased one of these at a thrift store ~20 years ago for a buck or two. It also has issues with some of the keys. I need to dig it out and attempt to clean the keys as you did in this video. Thanks for reminding me I have one of these classics in a cupboard somewhere.
I physically recoiled at that foam. That's so nasty.
It's very common. Foam rubber breaks down over time, as it's biological plant-based material (most don't realize this as it seems so artificial, but it's really not). There are synthetic foams that last longer but they're more expensive. "Standard" foam is only good for about 10 - 15 years before it falls apart.
MrJest2 plant based? What's the name of the material? Today they use polyurethane foam, and it doesn't last worth shit, and it is fully synthetic, so there's that, the minor surface oxidation and halogen-based fire retardant eat it up. I actually think cellulose acetate foam lasts a lot longer.
I took out the heater matrix of my 1972 Hillman Avenger a while back, which was covered in just the same foam where it is mounted up to the air ducts inside the dash. Disintegrated foam everywhere. I replaced it with draught excluder foam. The car also uses some of this newfangled silicon technology in the rectifier diodes of the alternator. The white heat of technology was really starting to happen in 1972.
Ewww. I've never had the displeasure of opening something old enough that had foam in it so I had no idea it could do that. Doesn't surprise me, but its still super gross. Thank you for the information!! That makes a lot more sense now!
+Siana Gearz - Older foam is latex based, so it's made of sap from the rubber tree (plus catalysts and foaming agents). Around the time this came out, polyurethane foams were also starting to become available, but they were more expensive (and also break down when cheaply made, due to the organic component molecules oxidizing). This sample could be either, but my bet would be on the older cheaper version.
Mine arrived on 10 JULY 2023; completely functional. Even if it were not in working order, it's nice to have as addition to my collection. On your unit, I suspected the foam was at least in part the culprit. I was born 1970, so I can identify with this machine, and others from late 1960's - early 1970's.
I got your notification very late.
I''m so impressed by your broad and deep knowledge of... well, seemingly everything. Your whole process of getting the keys fixed up on this was absolutely inspired and taught me a lot. Great upload!
It was probably the two axial electrolytic capacitors. Caps need to recondition themselves if they have been off for a very long time. You may want to replace them as they are probably dried out.
This is the second time I'm watching this footage. There's something about this calculator that is so satisfying. I think they were using these back in the day in stores to calculate the total price of the bought stuff. They would just sit on the counter connected to the power supply and do their job.
I was going to type "LGR is jealous" but then I saw his comment...
LGR is jealous
Great episode. Pin-outs can be a little daunting sometimes, so to see you dive in like that was encouraging.
No hex driver for disassembly, and no q tips for cleaning the key mechs??? You're killing me, David! Still, keep up the cool vids! =]
Sean's Retroverse Also needs more Deoxit.
Yeysssshhhh! DeoxIT is awesome stuff
Sean's Retroverse - His reply to other poster said he didn't want to use a q-tip cause it would break with the force he was using to clean the base of the buttons. :)
Sean's Retroverse - it saves lives. Then again, if everyone had some, I wouldn't get awesome deals on old Technics receivers and turntables at thrift shops.
A great repair/restoration job. We used the original Commodore PET for Computer Science at Strathclyde University Glasgow back in 1978. Looking forward to your video on these computers.
Time to go to bed
*checks subscription box
SHEIT
Same
Same
fecman94Playthroughs Same
Don't check it before going to sleep.
???
PROFIT!!!
Great video. Good to see the thought process behind identifying the problem and fixing it. Thanks.
Been waiting for this with great anticipation!
OobiDoobScoobyDoobyBenubi Now touch your tongue to mine...
Dylan Higgins You know, to make it official.
OobiDoobScoobyDoobyBenubi To make what official?
Dylan Higgins You know, all of it.
I was in the last generation of sci/math students who learned to use a slide rule out of necessity. To do the simplest accurate calculation in, say, astronomy, required using tabulated values of sine, cosine etc. and doing linear interpolation by hand. Needless to say this was unbelievably tedious and prone to error. Well for Christmas in 1975 I received a fantastic gift - a SLIDE RULE CALCULATOR, the Commodore SR-1400, which CHANGED MY LIFE :) I absolutely wore than thing out!
"I carefully removed the cover" [footage of jabbing a knife around all over the place]
You know the thing I love about these restorations is seeing these items being given a second chance at life. Lovely.
Such a great channel!
That was so cool! The process of exploration was cool to see. I also really liked the diagram to show which pin from the chip that each key used.
6:46 is it ever a concern when you get liquid coming out of the compressed air spray? I bought some dollar-store ones and they all do it, so I'm worried about using them on electronics. The expensive can I had never did it.
compressed air usually gets cold after spraying, what you are seeing is condensation of water out of the air but it evaporates quick, so no worries. evaporates even faster than alcohol
Awesome that you got the Commodore calculator up and running like new.
Wow... never knew calculators were that big 😄. Great video!
SC13 you think this calculator is big.. look up the Friden EC-132
You think THATS big? Check out the Analytical Engine.
Back in the 1940s, calculators were the size of a breadbox and all mechanical.
There's not that much difference between the calculators from that era, and the home computers from a bit later on.
They're technically surprisingly similar, and the computers are in some ways only marginally more complex. (especially the kit computers)
Probably explains why so many computer companies began as calculator companies.
Those mechanical calculators are such a jewel of engineering. They're truly marvelous machines.
Watching your restoration videos is sooo therapeutic and relaxing for me. Thank you!
1200 views and the video was uploaded 6 minutes ago. Wow
+padistedor And it takes you 9 years to get 95K views. Wow.
Bloon Adjustment most of my videos were flagged by google for copyright reasons and removed from their index but i don't know why that concerns you or why I should care. I don't make videos for money.
I think your fuse theory is a good one. That's a common failure point on old British cars too (I have a 1969 MG Midget). One of the first things you do if you're having electrical issues is take the fuse out, polish it with some fine sandpaper, and put it back in. Cures a lot of oddities. :D
8:04 You never heard of Q-tips?
Also, replace the capacitors.
The capacitors shouldn't need to be replaced. It's from 1972 which predates the bad capacitor plague of the 80s and early 90s.
You're really good at trouble-shooting, 8-Bit Guy. You're also really good at explaining stuff, making anythhing really easy to understand, even to eople who have barely any knowledge of electronics
10:42 so that means you born in 1975.
Clever use of the chip itself to find the key that was stuck on. Nice video.
Isn't that a 4 bit machine? You might need to change your name to the 4/8-bit guy!
Thanks for posting this at 1AM, I love this channel now.
Rather than using a paper towel and a screwdriver to get inside the switches, why not use a Q-Tip?
q-tips are too difficult to clean switches
What the hell is a q-tip
@@funnygaming4641 a q-tip is a plastic stick with cotton on both sides
Wow that expalnation of the keyboard matrix was excellent!! I always windered how they could sense that many buttons with so few data lines!
But can it divide by 0?
+PickelJars ForHillary Here's the real question: if you do 2 square root X 2 square root, will it come up as 1.9999998?
It’s 0
I just found your channel about a week ago. I can't stop watching now. I love this kind of stuff. Please don't ever stop making videos!!
Erm at 3:18, vintage AC powered electronics without an earth pin, and a metal service over the PSU, let's touch it!
Very risky idea, this could be ground referenced to the neutral pin, but because there is no polarity on the plug it could also be referenced to the live pin. If you checked before hand, ignore me, I'm just worrying about nothing... well maybe people watching and not realising they should also check. ;)
Hopefully it's isolated via the transformer, but with old kit (even new kit if it's cheap and imported) better safe than dead.
Woo! I have a PET 4032 I'm starting to repair. It looks to be dated 1980. Starts up, but freezes after less than a minute. I look forward to your PET repair insights.
Q-Tips are your friend
I enjoy these repair videos. Nice to see good documentation of the inner workings of older technology.
Something in my brain automatically converts the numbers on that display into the familiar Commodore character set...
Had to leave a comment, i watched many of your videos, but this one impressed me the most! Excellent repair mate! Gotta say I love watching you do stuff like this and always look forward to seeing more!
Shit, I'm too late to be a top comment here :( I broke my chain ;-;
because why not?
This is my favorite video so far, I like all of your videos, but this one I just comeback to every now and again.
Please add the key sounds back in the intro. Otherwise, OK.
No one cares.
Dr Ivo Robotnik I guess that's your opinion, but some people can't be satisfied without it. It's like a music video without music.
Your channel is such a treasure. I really appreciate that you take time to explain your thought process while making these videos. Thanks so much as always!
can a kids laptop (for example this one :www.ebay.com/itm/VTECH-NITRO-JR-NOTEBOOK-LAPTOP-COMPUTER-ELECTRONIC-LEARNING-TOY-CASE-CARTRIDGES-/162599583395?epid=672389566&hash=item25dbb0bea3:g:0r8AAOSwdhJZcfsZ) be modified to run basic?(maybe with replacing the rom chip or the storage chip)
IdonotknowwhyyoutubeletsyouhavealongnamebutthisislitsoiamusingitandmynameisLenny since it's quite cheap, maybe you could sent it to him by mail with a note asking that question, and then wait until his August fan unboxing video.
SaltyPeanut it will not be cheap for me to send it because I live In Czech Republic ($60)
IdonotknowwhyyoutubeletsyouhavealongnamebutthisislitsoiamusingitandmynameisLenny oh it's only $20 Canadian for me
SaltyPeanut it depends how far away you are from the person I am 2 countries (Germany and France) with an ocean and some more states of US far away from him
I am absolutely loving the traces and little voltage notes on that board