Mechanical Arithmometer Restoration - Felix M a Maze of 400+ Pieces
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 เม.ย. 2024
- In this restoration video, you will see me restoring a mechanical calculator/arithmometer, Felix M.
The calculator is made of tin and many aluminum parts. It has over 400 pieces that needed some cleaning and care. It also had broken parts that I managed to remake and replace.
The machine was in an advanced stage of decay, not functional, stuck, and with broken parts. I've tried to give it another chance, and I think I have succeeded. Now, the mechanism seems functional, even though I'm not sure I know how to use it properly. I will do research on how to calculate stuff with it.
I found this object very interesting and challenging to restore. Based on Leibniz's technology, it could perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and, with some more elaborate user involvement, division. It was trendy and sold for 90 years. In contrast to the modern calculator's credit card size, the Arithmometer was large enough to cover a desktop.
The restoration process took me almost a month due to the many pieces that needed to be restored/repaired and cleaned.
If you know how exactly I can use this machine, please let me know in the comments section.
I hope I have caught everything, but if you have any questions, you can comment, and I'll get back to you!
Cheers! Johnny.
Become a member of the channel: / @rustyshadesrestoration
#restoration #restorationvideos #calculator #howto
Hi folks! It is one of the most complex restorations I have ever done, and I enjoyed working on this old Felix calculator/arithmometer a lot. I still need to learn how to use it correctly, and If you do, please feel free to write me a comment and not only! I respond to every one! I hope you like the video, and please give it a thumbs up for more! Cheers! Johnny
Как Вам техника из СССР?
If I could play with for a couple days I could probably figure it out, sorry. I pretty good at these kinds of things.
Have a look at 1stSpyGuy, he demonstrates how to operate machines similar to this one.
You still have some signifikant binding in the mechanism, and it looks like the revolution counter reset was inproperly installed, I would start by posetivly drenching every mechanical part in mineral oil for an extended time, both to disolve old oil and to lubrikate everything
Thank you. I'll take a look.
I'm fairly certain I could take this machine apart. I am confident that I could clean it. I am absolutely certain I would never get it together again. Great video.
Ha! Absolutely!😂
One of the best comments I have ever read on TH-cam. Concise, to the point and so very,very true. This restoration deserves many likes.
Most of the time when you find one of those they are actually in working order, just that all oil have hardened and ceased it up compleatly, so for those cases its unessesary to disasemble any if the intrecate parts, I would even recommend against dissasemble too much
Easiest repair is to just put it in a large bucket of minneral oil for a week than carefully moving things around, that usially diesolve the old grese and lubricate the parts, if some parts are still seased up you might have to put them under solvant for a few day and then lubricated.
If that dont work something might actually be broken or rusted but thats rare
😂😂😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣
The mere fact that somebody came up with a concept to design something like this is remarkable let alone what it does. All the intriguet parts...it blows my mind.
I agree! I was mesmerised all the time while working on this project. Those who designed this machine deserve all the credit.
@@rustyshadesrestoration and last but not least...you did a phenomenal job yourself working on it and restoring it to it's former glory
A vintage mechanical calculator ~ before their digital counterparts existed
When I was a child, some 50 years ago, my grandfather had one similar to this. When we visited him I always played with it. It worked perfectly but I had no idea what it was used for.
Hi Johnny. I'm over 70 but havenever seen one of these calculators. You did a magnificent restoration on it. I hope you can learn how to use it!
Many thanks! I will!
I am just under 60... and I HAVE seen one of these (or very similar)
This is very cool...
And I am impressed that you got it all back together... let alone back together AND working!
😳😁👍
Maybe because this is an adding machine made in the USSR
Мне почти 50 и я помню как играл в детстве с таким. ✌🏻
I'm 85. In 1959 I used the Swedish version of these to calculate quotations for pension schemes. There was on every desk
I think this is your most difficult restoration so far. Not only for the cleaning, brushing, painting...but just assembling it again must have been awfully hard!!! Incredible job!!
It took a lot of time, and I admit I was overwhelmed a little, but I managed to find my zen and continue the project. Now I'm pleased about that decision.
@@rustyshadesrestoration That´s what life is about!! Congratulations again!
Wow! A mechanical abacus. I'm so glad the printed numbers weren't ruined with time, they're so unique. This like one of the very first precomputers. I'm glad I decided to watch you again. Your work and consideration to detail has definitely improved.
Thank you for watching my work! I'm always trying to improve what can be improved. We are all learning by doing stuff 😀
Bravoooo maestro odlično uradjen posao.Veliki pozdrav od vjernog pratioca Mileta.
У моей бабушки был такой. Огромное восхищение вызывает такой аппарат, его изобрёл очень умный и талантливый человек. Считает не хуже современного простого калькулятора. Что же касается работы, то я очень жалею, что нельзя поставить десять лайков. Только механизм немного заедает, можно было немного смазки добавить.
That is incredible how you restored that arithmometer to working order. It looks much better too. I have never seen anything like that before. Excellent work.
Thank you so much for your kind words and for watching my videos. Cheers!
Hi Johnny! Great work, nicely done. A few words about this device.
It was produced in the Soviet Union since 1929 and up to 1978. The price of yours is 15 roubles ( written on the back side). The factories were situated in 3 towns - Kursk, Penza & Moscow . Why it has name Felix? It was named after Felix Dzerzhinsky- Russian and Poland revolutionary.
My best regards.
Thank you for the information, Oleg. Now that I know a bit about its history, it is even more interesting.
Me again...just came to my mind. Also, it was a photo camera named after Dzerzhinsky - ФЭД ( Russian abbreviation) stands for Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky.
Just for the information!
I apreciate it! Thanks! :)
Когда шел процесс разборки -у меня была тихая паника ,казалось всем деталям в обратном порядке не суждено собраться ! И Какой же восторг видеть механизм в идеальной форме!
Watching these cool old machines get cleaned up and brought back to life is one of the most satisfying things to watch on the youtubes. Great job.
I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thank you! 👌
Could I have taken this apart? Yes.
Would I have been able to reassemble it? No way in heck… 😑
Awesome job!!! ❤️❤️❤️👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
Wow! I'm in awe. That's an incredible restoration. Bravo, sir.
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
A brilliant piece. I studied accounting but operate equipment. I really love seeing this old computational device brought back to life.
One thing I have to say that I admire is how you can take all of this apart and remember how to put it back together. I’d have to record everything from the beginning just to see how to put it back the right way
Great restoration, Johnny!
I always look forward to seeing you put out a new video. I'm amazed!👍
Thank you so much for watching my videos. I highly appreciate that!
My grandparents had one of these on a shelf in their basement. I tried to use it a few times for fun but it was completely seized up
You are a genius mechanic !
and whoever conceived and designed that machine is an ET.
This machine should be used in a mechanical and computer engineering university. Students should know how to disassemble and assemble it and learn the names of the parts. I remember my time as a student, and later as a young electronic engineer, when we learned to thread and manufacture magnetic core memories, we could touch the bits!
You're a braver soul than I am.
Thanks for the compliment. 😄
For addition:
1) zero the machine.
2) write the first number to add using the levers at the top.
3) turn the handle in the add direction until the first number shows in the window to the bottom. 0 + first number = first number.
4) write the second number with the levers at the top.
5) Turn the handle in the add direction. Results show at the bottom window.
Substraction is the same, but in reverse.
For multiplication: multiplication is repeated addition. For example 10 X 5 is 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10.
1) zero the machine
2) write the number to multiply using the levers (10 for example)
3) turn the add lever 5 times.
4) read the result on the window.
The Bottom left window is a counter, it will say 5 when you have turned the handle 5 times. Useful ehwn multiplying, say 124 * 36 so as not to have to manually count 36 turns of the handle. Just check the counter window.
Division is the same but in reverse (division is repeated substraction)
The sliding tabs are for your reference so you can put decimal points wherever you want them.
That's a great piece of information! Thank you for sharing it with us! 🫡🙏
@@rustyshadesrestoration Also I forgot to say that moving the carriage left or right changes the multiplication, for example to multiply by 300 instead of turning the handle 300 times you move the carriage 3 places and turn the handle 3 times.
A great video, wonderful skills. Also in awe of whoever designed it.
Thank you! Yes, the person/s who designed this deserves all the applause 👏
This is how restoration should be...top drawer stuff...keep the good work up.
Thank you, Michael! 😀
I wouldn't ever have the patience to do all of that. Many kudos to you. Watching restoration videos like this has always intrigued me. They don't build anything to withstand the test of time like they used to...
Wow! I would have ended up with a pile of parts! As always I always read the description to find out what information you have about the project and I like seeing how long it took you. Thank you for sharing
Glad you enjoyed it!
So eine rechen Maschine habe ich auch noch zuhause 👍
State of the art, Soviet made calculator circa 1989, 17 years after I bought my first Texas Instrument digital calculator.😝 Super nice resto. Love it.
But you have to admit, this ones way cooler. lol
@@Jack908r In 1972 my friends Bowmar Brain and a year later my TI was way cool.
This video was fantastic. 😊
Thank you! 😃 Glad you enjoyed it.
Hello mister beautiful restoration beautifully restored good job well done
Thank you very much!
Awwww HELL no!!! Do you hunt grizzly bears with a salad fork, too? Does anything intimidate you? That was amazing man!
I've never seen one of these and CAN'T imagine tackling that project without a well-written manual, a 1-800 number support line to call, and a PTSD group meeting as an outlet! 🤣🤣🤣
Hahaha 😅 You made my day!
really wild somebody engineered this. so many little parts. I couldn't imagine building one of these from scratch on how difficult that task would be
Looks amazing! Im sure i would lose at least 50 pieces before i even finish cleaning let alone put it together!
Glad you like it! 🙂
The restoration was beautiful and perfect. Congratulations!😀💜💜💜
Thank you! I'm happy that you enjoyed this project too. 😊
@@rustyshadesrestoration 😀💜
Hats off to a magnificent piece of work. I've never seen anything like this before
Glad you like it! 🙂 Till I saw it at a flea market, I also didn't know that such a thing existed.
I just took a picture of my cat watching this video with us. He enjoys it as much as we do
Wonderful! I would love to see it.
@@rustyshadesrestoration sent it to you on Facebook Messenger for your page. It was the only way I could figure it out.
Thank you! I'll check it out! 😀
Pěkná, čistá práce. 👍
Tremendo trabajo. Felicitaciones 👏
Saludos desde Valdivia al sur de Chile 🇨🇱
Gracias 🙂
Стал, как новый! Даже немножечко лучше!!! Класс!!!
Отличная ресторация 🎉
The amount of detail you went into with this is insane!…Great video!
Glad you enjoyed it! 😃
В детстве я мечтал о таком, мне он казался очень интересной игрушкой. Но пятнадцать рублей - это было очень дорого для семьи простого советского инженера с тремя детьми.
Świetna robota stary👍 Kalkulator wygląda jakby wyszedł dopiero z fabryki.
Dziękuję bardzo!
"Hey, great work with the number wheels! But maybe you could make the plastic frame white so that the numbers are easier to see. A simple trick: put the wheels in a solution of water and UV agent, then shine a UV lamp on them for a few hours. This will make the yellowing disappear and the numbers will really stand out. Just a tip that I would recommend!"
Hi, thank you. I know the technique, but that is paint, not white plastic. The wheels are made from aluminium. Cheers!
Reading the description of this thing makes my brain hurt, but your restoration of it is beautiful! But, then, I'm not a maths person. Maths and I don't get along, really.
Are the videos also used to help you remember how to put things back together?
I take pictures and notes for that.
Przepiękne maszyny przepięknie jest odrestaurowane ta maszyna Pozdrawiam serdecznie. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
Dziękuję bardzo! Pozdrawiam
I have done exactly the same restoration (without repainting) on the very similar Original Odhner 107. From what I can see, the Odhner is of a much higher quality. Nice job!
I'll check it out. I didn't know about Odhner ones. Thank you! 😀
After doing that I think you can do anything
♥️♥️♥️ so many parts! Just wow! Beautiful restoration, but I don’t know how you kept track of all those parts! ♥️♥️♥️
Thank you! Cheers!
🤩AMAZING👏👏👏✨✨
Glad you enjoyed it!
Brilliance just Brilliance
I'm glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Un travail fantastique !!! Bravo 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
Merci beaucoup! 🙂
Благодарю мастера за отличную работу. Все сделано с душой. Спасибо за труд. Удачи вам на канале. 📹🛠️👍🔥
It was that kind of a calculocountomaton that inspired the Finnish mechanical wizard Emil Henriksson (1886 - 1959) to design the first Abloy locks and keys in about 1907. He was working at a mechanical workshop in Helsinki at the time under Vilhelm Falck-Rasmussen. He was 21 years old and kept his innovation under a lid for a while. The first locks were introduced to the market in December of 1918. The country was recuperating after a bloody and dividing civil war and jobs and economic activities were sorely needed. The name Abloy = AktieBolaget låsfabriken - Lukkotehdas OsakeYhtiö (in Swedish and Finnish) was formed. The brand and the new technique had to compete with Yale, Chupp and others, so it was touch and go for a while, which was frustrating for Emil, who finally decided to sell his patent to a J.H Nordquist for 100 marks. Equivalent to roughly 50 dollars today, the price was ridiculously low, and as it turned out Mr. Nordquist was a middle man and soon sold the lot back to the company. Emil remained in the companny as a member of the board, a worker and a minority stockholder. Later the economic crisis in the 30's nearly collapsed the entire brand, but after some rather vexing events the company and the brand were saved. By that time Emil had left the company and started a new career in fine mechanics. He was not bitter, only noted that Abloy's problems were not caused by lacking craftmanship but by poor business management.
Great work man 👌🏻
Thank you! 👌
This is such a cool machine
Amazing!😮😮😮❤❤❤
Amazing job
Smontare è facile, ce la farei anch'io, ma come fai poi a rimontare il tutto ?
Come fai a ricordare ogni passaggio ?
Chapeau !!! 🎩🎩🎩🎩🎩
Interesting piece,never seen one or heard of one,but it’s on the internet,so must be true.LOL.very nice work on something that is obviously quite intricate in the day.great video as always.just continue on doing what you do best and carry on.😎😎😎👍👍👍
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it!
EXTRAORDINARIO!!!!
🥰
What's a brilliant restoration! How many pieces did you clean! Incredible
Thanks! Indeed, there was a lot of small parts to clean etc 🙂
Amazing resteration ur a braver man than me for tackling that pheew im glad u got it done it look amazing now well done sir.
Thank you! 👌
Machined surfaces should be masked for painting to maintain seamless operation. During the assembly process a small amount of oil is needed to some places.
Great job ! But how does that work ?
I also would like to understand that. 😅
As I read, on the left side are displayed the rotations, and on the right side, down the "main display" where the numbers are added/divided, etc and up, just to dial the numbers. I didn't have time to play with it, but I will try again.
Nice to see! 👍👍 Great 👍!
Thank you for watching! 🙂
Моя бабушка работала с таким. Но я так и не научился им пользоваться. Есть идеи что и куда на нем нужно крутить?
На корпусе специальные рисунки нанесены. На 21:27. Умножать и складывать вперёд по стрелке крутить. Вычитать и делить в обратную сторону.
This was crazy, there were so many parts! It's really fun to watch you restore everything! Your videos are so great!
Just wondering, I'm not knowledgeable about these things, but why did you not need to do a hardening/tempering step after casting the new piece? It almost looked a bit bendy as you were breaking it off the supports.
The part was still hot when I break it off, after that became very hard. I used 7075 aluminium. Is the most common of the 7000 series grades. It is an extremely high strength alloy; the strongest of all commercial grades of aluminium.
great job!
Thanks!
Very good job 👍👍👍
Thanks! 🙂
So many little tiny parts to keep track of.
I stopped counting at 394
О, Железный Феликс!
Я помню те времена, когда они продавались в канцелярских товарах. Стоил, по моему, 15 рублей СССР. Кстати, не так уж дёшево!
Хорошая работа по восстановлению исторического прибора!
Для аутентичности надо было для покраски использовать "молотковую эмаль" (hammer enamel) - она до сих пор есть в продаже.
How much will it cost in these days?
@@rustyshadesrestoration I don’t think it’s too much of an amount - I’ve seen a couple of these adding machines as elements of installations in accounting departments along with wooden abacuses, but it’s all for fun and therefore they won’t pay much
Bonjour. beau travail. je possède deux machines identique mais je ne sais pas non plus comment les faires fonctionner...
If I put that thing back together it'd probably still be better at maths than I am 😂
😂😂😂
This thing took like three business days to be disassembled
Great video. I think it could've benefitted with annotations on what and why you were doing things at certain times.
I was late with everything, so this time I couldn't. Usually, I add annotations and translate them into many different languages. Cheers
Very complex machine and restoration too.Genius who invented this machine.Where the machine was made?
This one is in Kursk, Russia, but as I understood from folks around here, it is a soviet copy of an American design.
Restaurado Aritmômetro felix m 😉
Some company should put real bells on their motherboards.
I still need to learn how to use it correctly, and If you do, please feel free to write me a comment and not only!
I have sent you a link to the original instructions for the Odhner machine, I don't know why the message does not appear.
Thank you! I'll check it spam. Sometimes, links are considered spam.
Советский механический вычислитель "Феликс-М", завод "Счётмаш", город Курск. Судя по заводскому номеру, год выпуска 1974-1978й. Вероятно, 1976й, но это не точно.....
Please make a follow up video once you learn how to use it and get it working.
oh my gosh its a genuine thingamajig!
well shoot my dog and call me sally, i was way off!
Thanks! 😀
Is that thing of Soviet provenance? I see it's stamped in what appears to be Cyrillic.
Edit: A quick Google turned up a Wikipedia page for Odhner Arithmometer, originally manufactured in Russia beginning in the late 19th century and continuing until the 1960s. Yours appears to be based on that, if not in fact an actual Odhner device.
Yes, it is Russian, and it cost 15 rubles (written on the back) on the front is the name Felix.
Eu tenho uma máquina dessa, mas de cor verde .
Está guardada a muitos anos. 4:50
Сколько же таких ставших не нужными феликсов валялось на площадке для сбора металлолома ! Знать бы тогда...
Não precisava desmontar a máquina, era só desmontar as partes que precisava de pintura e o restante era só lubrificar. 7:52
What is the metal you melted?
Hard aluminium
8:43 Did those foot pads become 3 degrees whiter and minty fresh?
Asking for a friend.
Absolutely 💯
Так вот, что за железный Феликс, интересная штуковина)
How on Earth can you remember, where each part goes? Did you do like diagrams to remember what goes where? Or is it just registrated in your brain as you take it apart?
I pay a lot of attention while I disassembling. If I work daily on the project, I remember if I take a break (like a weekend), I still remember but only the parts. The screws and washers are a problem because they are too similar, so for those, I write down or take some pictures and add notes.
@@rustyshadesrestoration I see thanks for your answer ^^
I can tell you this much. It has Russian writing all over it.
I did a little googling. This is the Felix Mechanical Arithmometer, 1920-1970
Yes, it is written Felix M and the price
@@rustyshadesrestoration You can find the exact year by looking up the serial number. Very neat little gadget.
Oh, I have to check that. Thanks for the info.
Стальной барашек заменён алюминием... лучше уж однобокий, но стальной.
Арифмометр совсем не старинный. Это поздний экземпляр, скорее всего, 1970-е годы. Ручка- барашек была стальная, алюминиевая копия- это плохо, она недостаточно прочная. К сломанной ручке можно было приварить пластинку. Но в целом- хорошая работа.
The adding machine is not at all antique. This is a late example, most likely from the 1970s. The knob handle was steel, the aluminum copy is bad, it is not strong enough. A plate could be welded to the broken handle. But overall, good job.
Thank you. That's hard aluminum 7050; it will survive more pressure than a
welded piece. Cheers
👍 muito bom 👏👏👏👏👏👏
Obrigado
Bro did not just what i assume was aluminium cast a simple wing nut...You know, a standard part.
The wings are not equal; one is lower, and it acts as a stopper, too. I couldn't find such a thing anywhere, so I had to make a new one. 😀
👍💯
SOOOOO MANY DAMN SCREWS LOL
Колеса счетчика оборотов собраны не верно, потому и не удалось сбросить в ноль