Casio FX-61F Calculator

[Shock]

Anyone have a high quality scan or original pdf of the Casio FX-61F Calculator manual and formula list? The best I've found online is from manualslib.com and the attached formula list which leaves me a little cross eyed.

Update: Muttley has kindly done the formula list
Update: Daywalkerdha has kindly redone the manual

The manual from Daywalkerdha is lower contrast so way less artifact noise from bleed through. Appreciate both your work on this.

[Muttley Snickers]

If need be I could scan a copy of my formula list which is still in very good condition, the full manual would be difficult for me to scan as the book is rather small and tightly bound, otherwise hopefully somebody has a good PDF copy.

[Shock]

If need be I could scan a copy of my formula list which is still in very good condition, the full manual would be difficult for me to scan as the book is rather small and tightly bound, otherwise hopefully somebody has a good PDF copy.

Yeah it seems worth doing a decent scan for prosperity. It's 30 years old this year as well, an anniversary of sorts.

The oldest I could find is this one from 2005 similar to the one I linked in my OP. Lot of artifacts from page bleed through. Scanning an original with a lower contrast, a blanking page to prevent a little bleed through and modern processing to get a crisper black and white end image has got to to be better. If I had something decent to start with I'd give it a go myself.

https://web.archive.org/web/20051215223646/http://www.casiotechno.com:80/download/manual/FX-61F.pdf

[Muttley Snickers]

Doing a scan on my flat bed would probably wreck the book which is currently in very good order and hardly touched since new, the other options would be to either clean up the linked copy you posted with something like MS Paint or simply write a replacement text copy in MS Word or similar.

The paint edit and clean up approach would maintain originality but could be rather time consuming particularly for the pedantic such as myself. The rewrite altogether approach should be reasonably straight forward for somebody familiar with the formula shortcut keys, these would be a big hurdle for me without a list or some assistance.

[Shock]

The paint edit and clean up approach would maintain originality but could be rather time consuming particularly for the pedantic such as myself. The rewrite altogether approach should be reasonably straight forward for somebody familiar with the formula shortcut keys, these would be a big hurdle for me without a list or some assistance.

Well I had a quick look and it's like polishing the proverbial turd, it really needs scanning again. Here is the Casio FX-10F manual which was probably also done in the 90s. So yeah some straight pages and a decent scan would go a long way.

https://www.manualslib.com/download/775048/Casio-Fx-10f.html

Of course it would be nice to see it in color and all but unless you do that stuff day in day out recreating the whole manual sounds super time consuming.

If you have the formula list card handy, I reckon go for it. Perhaps try a black and white or grey scale scan and see how clean and straight you can get it. I'm not really the resident expert on scanning, probably that would be TerraHertz who has gone pretty deep on the subject.

[Muttley Snickers]

Here are both sides of the formula card in its original form, I've had to scan it at 600 dpi to maintain reasonable clarity and anything lower than that starts to look rather ordinary as you can see from the third and forth images below. The card itself has a slight sheen and almost a semi-gloss finish which makes scanning a bit tricky, anyway I will play around a bit more and create a final card later on this afternoon.   

[Muttley Snickers]

I took a snapshot of the first page from that PDF posted above and then spent fifteen minutes cleaning it up with the paint eraser, certainly doable but a hell of a lot of work with no great benefit really. The image below is just for comparison and not completed by any means, I do find this sort of stuff somewhat therapeutic but something this involved and tedious is not for me at the moment in regards to the paint cleanup method.   

[Shock]

Here are both sides of the formula card in its original form, I've had to scan it at 600 dpi to maintain reasonable clarity and anything lower than that starts to look rather ordinary as you can see from the third and forth images below. The card itself has a slight sheen and almost a semi-gloss finish which makes scanning a bit tricky, anyway I will play around a bit more and create a final card later on this afternoon.

Looks good. When you do your final scans see if you can get the border of the English table square. My old school method of checking for rotation and skew issues (without using a rotation tool) is in an editor make a net or square box around the text or table. Then you can manually compensate it by rotating and rescanning.

Still, that 600 DPI scan amazing compared to the other one.

[EEVblog]

In case there isn't one, I just took a hires photo of mine
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eevblog/42531713520/in/dateposted-public/

Casio FX-61F Scientific Calculator by Dave Jones, on Flickr

[EEVblog]

Also scans of the formula card
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eevblog/albums/72157697541391512

[Muttley Snickers]

I did a series of electronics courses at Tafe back in the late nineties and all of the students were compelled to purchase one of these calculators so that everyone was on the same page, I have no idea what they are using today, probably an Android app which I am guilty of myself.

Electronics Calculator
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appdevgenie.electronicscalculator

[EEVblog]

Electronics Calculator
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.appdevgenie.electronicscalculator

Pathetic, doesn't even have scientific function keys 

[Muttley Snickers]

Here are my final offerings in relation to the FX-61F Formula Card which accompanies the calculator, the images have been cleaned up considerably and there is room for further improvement if somebody has the desire. I have also included two additional versions for English and Spanish, the original card size was 128mm high and 140mm wide should anybody need to make a replacement.

[Shock]

Top job Muttley they look great .

For anyone who is game to tackle scanning the manual let us know. I've done some in the past by opening the staples carefully and deconstructing it page by page. It's also easier then to use a blanking sheet of paper to stop bleed through while scanning.

[Muttley Snickers]

Believe it or not my first ever job was as a bookbinder and unfortunately the FX-61F manual is glued so a proper scan would probably be destructive. I'm not sure how we can totally eliminate the bleeding from the reverse page without a lot of editing work as I touched upon back in reply #6, if you open each of those images in new tabs and switch between them you can see that the existing PDF does have potential for improvement. I was also thinking that perhaps we could send Casio an email to ask if they have something in their archives before trying to scan the book.

[ogden]

I'm not sure how we can totally eliminate the bleeding from the reverse page without a lot of editing work

Simple trick: put (pitch)black paper behind page you are scanning. Such black cover shall be accessory for every flatbed scanner.

[Shock]

I did a series of electronics courses at Tafe back in the late nineties and all of the students were compelled to purchase one of these calculators so that everyone was on the same page, I have no idea what they are using today, probably an Android app which I am guilty of myself.

Depending what course but at Universities they are still using the good old calculator, really just updated versions of what was being offered in the 80s with the same questionable design choices. They typically fall into non programmable, programmable, graphing and finance.

I just recently brought a Casio FX-100AU PLUS (non programmable Australian model) which was approved for statistics part of a course. The "Natural Textbook Display" runs about 5 lines deep and has easy input for algebra and statistics, not a bad calculator.

I prefer plastic over rubber buttons. I'm not a fan of silver plastic but being able to easily read the functions in general is a bonus. At the time of writing the Casio FX-100AU was the best thing going aside from the Classwiz series (which has a nicer display) but it was absent from some approved lists.

[Muttley Snickers]

I had a look around on the Casio Support page earlier and they do have a number of manuals for older models but the FX-61F is unfortunately not listed, just out of curiosity I saved one manual for the FX-50F PLUS which I have posted below, there was a message which stated that if you cannot find something specific then to contact Casio Support in your region, this might be a valid option.

Casio Manuals English.
https://support.casio.com/en/manual/manuallist.php?cid=004

Casio Past Models Asia Region.
https://www.casio-intl.com/asia/en/calc/pastmodels/

[Shock]

The Casio FX-50F was around 1987 and the Casio FX-61F was around 1988 or 89.
The Casio FX-50F Plus is only a few years old so the Plus is a difference of over 20 years .

The Casio FX-50F is a little nicer scan than the Casio FX-61F
http://www.usersmanualguide.com/manuals/casio/FX-10F_FX-50F.pdf

[ogden]

I wonder what would it take to manufacture made by Casio EEVblog calculator (maybe as crowdfunding project)? I would love to have such next to my fx-991es.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I wonder what would it take to manufacture made by Casio EEVblog calculator (maybe as crowdfunding project)? I would love to have such next to my fx-991es.

I believe Dave has previously approached Casio but got no reply.

[Bud]

is it an option to just snap photos of the book pages with a smartphone and post them raw somewhere for people who wants to take it from there.

[Shock]

is it an option to just snap photos of the book pages with a smartphone and post them raw somewhere for people who wants to take it from there.

There is a book/manual scanning method using a camera and a piece of flat non reflective glass to ensure the page lays flat. It gives great results if done properly and doesn't require the book to be pressed flat, so yes that is an option.

[EEVblog]

I wonder what would it take to manufacture made by Casio EEVblog calculator (maybe as crowdfunding project)? I would love to have such next to my fx-991es.

I believe Dave has previously approached Casio but got no reply.

Yep, no reply 

[TheAmmoniacal]

I wonder what would it take to manufacture made by Casio EEVblog calculator (maybe as crowdfunding project)? I would love to have such next to my fx-991es.

I believe Dave has previously approached Casio but got no reply.

Yep, no reply 

Try harder! Email their Japanese office in Japanese!

[ogden]

I believe Dave has previously approached Casio but got no reply.

Yep, no reply 

Right. Not easy task to get in touch with big Japanese company about your small business offer. Regional office shall be tried first to get at least some contact, then you work your way up the food chain:

https://www.worldbusinessculture.com/country-profiles/japan/culture/business-management-style/

[EEVblog]

I believe Dave has previously approached Casio but got no reply.

Yep, no reply 

Right. Not easy task to get in touch with big Japanese company about your small business offer. Regional office shall be tried first to get at least some contact, then you work your way up the food chain:

https://www.worldbusinessculture.com/country-profiles/japan/culture/business-management-style/

I found the head of product marketing on LinkedIn and emailed direct. It's possible that it wasn't the right email, but it didn't bounce.

[mikeselectricstuff]

I believe Dave has previously approached Casio but got no reply.

Yep, no reply 

Right. Not easy task to get in touch with big Japanese company about your small business offer. Regional office shall be tried first to get at least some contact, then you work your way up the food chain:

https://www.worldbusinessculture.com/country-profiles/japan/culture/business-management-style/

I found the head of product marketing on LinkedIn and emailed direct. It's possible that it wasn't the right email, but it didn't bounce.

With 32K followers on Twitter, maybe worth a tweet asking if anyone has any contacts at Casio, or can translate a request into Japanese ?

[Shock]

I found the head of product marketing on LinkedIn and emailed direct. It's possible that it wasn't the right email, but it didn't bounce.

Casio makes great calculators don't get me wrong, but the build quality I think has nothing on the vintage Casio FX-82 style calculator. Something like that with modern plastic buttons and inserts and a dome keypad on pcb would last forever. The aluminum keypad bezel and the LCDs they were using back then have stood the test of time as well. The Casio FX-61F is a little too flexible for my liking.

Then again if you were doing things from scratch going the landscape HP 15C route (w/optional RPN) wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[EEVblog]

This is the guy I tried to contact:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-prunk-9429882
Director of marketing for calculators

[DJbarro]

I wonder what would it take to manufacture made by Casio EEVblog calculator (maybe as crowdfunding project)? I would love to have such next to my fx-991es.

I would definitely see an EEVBlog branded calculator with functions and capabilities like this FX-61F (electronics engineering), but with directions and input from Dave to the manufacturer. Just like with the 121GW.

[Dielectric]

Maybe the Swiss Micros guy would take up the challenge?  I've got his DM16C "programmers calculator" and it's glorious but highly refined for bit twiddling.

[Old Nick]

I have 2 of these calculators, one working and one with the LCD broken. I've emailed casio several times about a replacement screen over the years. The first time was late 90s early 2000s. And they quoted £25 to repair the calculator, I waited several months and then got in touch again ready to send the calculator to be repaired and pay the fee. Unfortunately, the several months from my fist inquiry until I acted on it was long enough for casio to no longer repair them. I've also asked them several times if any models of a similar age use the same LCD, but they don't have details on such things and no interest in looking I guess.
Does anyone know if there are compatible screens on similar casio calculators? I'd love to revive my old one

[cdev]

I have a Radio Shack EC-4014 which is made by Casio and looks to be the baby brother of the pictured unit.

[Shock]

Does anyone know if there are compatible screens on similar casio calculators?

I had a quick look for you and found the same series all seem to have unique displays.

If you want to research this yourself inside the first few pages of the each calculators manual they show the display layout of the calculator. The product catalogs also show most of them are different.

[Old Nick]

I never though of looking in the manual, I still have a pristine manual and box for the 61F
Thanks for your input. I feared the screens would all be different.

[Shock]

If you have a spare manual for loan or for sale I'm interested. Ideally I want to end up with a good electronic version of the manual that is easy to read.

[Muessigb]

This is the guy I tried to contact:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-prunk-9429882
Director of marketing for calculators

His LinkedIn profile states that he has quit Casio in 2016, so two years before your post. Perhaps it's time to find someone else now.

[EEVblog]

This is the guy I tried to contact:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-prunk-9429882
Director of marketing for calculators

His LinkedIn profile states that he has quit Casio in 2016, so two years before your post. Perhaps it's time to find someone else now.

Hmm, perhaps!
If anyone has any linked I'd be glad to contact them again.
Interestingly I found this marketing plan:
https://world.casio.com/media/ir/results/201905_452/midtermplan_en.pdf

[KE5FX]

Are you asking them to build a reproduction of the FX-61F or other 80s-era calculator?  I'd be all over that, but I can't imagine it's even remotely possible.  Never mind the parts, the tooling will have long since been obsoleted or lost altogether. 

They'd have to charge thousands of dollars per unit to justify a limited run, I imagine.

[EEVblog]

Are you asking them to build a reproduction of the FX-61F or other 80s-era calculator?  I'd be all over that, but I can't imagine it's even remotely possible.  Never mind the parts, the tooling will have long since been obsoleted or lost altogether. 
They'd have to charge thousands of dollars per unit to justify a limited run, I imagine.

I'd settle for a modified FX-260
The housing for the CFX-400 watch still exists as a databank calculator, it would just need a new LCD, chip and key overlay.

[EEVblog]

Sales:

[Shock]

Hi, so i recently bought an fx-61F that came with a manual. I tried to scan it at a reasonable quality.

What a champion, thanks you did great job on that. Even though the contrast is lower it's very low artifacts from bleed through so way easier to read.

[tooki]

The manual from Daywalkerdha is lower contrast so way less artifact noise from bleed through. Appreciate both your work on this.

FYI, the way to prevent bleed through when scanning is to put a black backing sheet on the reverse of the page being scanned.

[Shock]

Looks even better now, higher quality seems to make the page alignment a bit more noticeable. In the past I found rescanning pages as I went produced better results than using processing for alignment. If I recall correctly I changed my desktop to a lower resolution and used the scan preview and crop tool as a ruler to check text/table/line alignment which made it fairly "quick" (which it never is).

Tooki sounds like he wants to volunteer to proof read the manual changes.

[CarryWise]

It appears that the post from Daywalkerdha has disappeared - can anyone provide the scanned copy of the manual?

[Shock]

Send me a pm with your email address and I'll email it. Too big on the forums I think.

[dani1024]

Send me a pm with your email address and I'll email it. Too big on the forums I think.

Hi, can you also send it to me? Will send a PM with my email
Thank you

[Shock]

Enjoy.

[Crazor]

Can someone please upload that scan somewhere? Makes no sense to PM and mail it to everyone.

[Shock]

Sure PM me I'll email it and you can upload it somewhere. Probably https://archive.org/ is a good place. I don't have an account there nor will be making one, but feel free to help out if you want.