Ben Heck's DIY Calculator Episode -- Episode 192

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Ben, Felix and Max take us back to 1972 and the invention of the first calculator this week, then decide to hack their own! Watch as they use the Raspberry Pi Compute Module and a Formlabs SLA 3D printer to create their own graphing calculator.

You can find the build files for this episode here or download as a zip.

Top Comments

clem57 over 10 years ago in reply to balearicdynamics

Too much acting!?!
Clem
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balearicdynamics over 10 years ago

I am passionate - also due my age - about the first '70s electronic calculators. The only critics to this good video is that it was the worth, IMHO, to make it a bit slowly in some parts dividing the story in two episodes. Or finding some other ways to put users more comfortable to try to replicate something similar with their stuff.
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balearicdynamics over 10 years ago in reply to clem57

There was a lot of evidence that it was done just to make more intriguing.
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DAB over 10 years ago in reply to clem57

Yes, but Ben looked really supportive.

After all, its not like he never screwed up a first build attempt.

DAB
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sa-penguin over 10 years ago

I would have used a keyboard encoder chip, like the TCA8418 (I2C interface, 10 output lines, 8 input lines, supports up to 80 keys). For long term, I would like to see the PCB released - corrected to use the original Pi Compute Module.
The saddest thing I got from this is - if you don't have access to fancy 3D printers you are hosed. Might I suggest showing alternate methods of creating keypad buttons, as a future project?
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clem57 over 10 years ago in reply to DAB

did you notice how Felix took the rap?
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DAB over 10 years ago

Very good episode.

I like how you showed the initial failure and then made the fix.

Much more realistic than expecting everything to work first time.

DAB
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clem57 over 10 years ago

Great job Felix and Ben too. I like the way things turned even when against the plans.
Clem
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