I'm new here and felt like showing off my first project a bit so here it is. This project is to get an old ANITA MK IX working. The IX was released by the Bell Punch Co. in 1964 as a follow-up to the VIII which was the fist all-electric desktop calculator. Found it in an antique shop a few years ago and knew it was at least somewhat special, paid £25 for it and sat on it until now. Anyway, here is the schematic, drawn up partly due to my not being able to find a copy online (so this may be the only one) and to learn to use KiCad. It's not neat but this is my first reverse-engineering anything at all. One or two components haven't been identified (i'm pretty sure they're caps but not 1000% on it), some of the cans on diodes have corroded so there is no text visible.
At the moment I'm hoping to only have to replace a few caps but that is very optimistic and naive of me. Will post any updates.
Images are attached (hopefully!). If anyone would like a copy of the file, please let me know.
Cheers-
SL
Ooooh! Fun
Any dekatrons inside?[1]
I've just restored an ANITA 1000 LSI - a much easier job.
There's little restoration possible on my other 500inch long calculators, fortunately.
There's too much restoration required on my mechanical calculators, unfortunately.
Memo to self: do not get a Mk8 until mechanical calculators are eiher working or sold.
[1] I trust you have seen the world's oldest working computer, based on dekatrons, at the
excellent TNMoC next to the tedious Bletchley Park museum.
I never dared to fire up my Anitas (yes, several models, all sold now).
Essentially, almost all parts can and do go wrong in these machines, so it's almost the best choice to check every single component. The wicked semiconductors are known for their high failure rate, so prepare to "re-create" a couple.
It does have a Dekatron yes! I haven't been to Bletchly Park but I will when I get a car!
Once this is done I may see about getting some more old calculators, maybe even a mk8 :p
That's fair! I'll have to cross that bridge when I get there, I get that most components weren't built to last ~60 years haha