This is a great story of one maker’s quest to repair his Aunt’s 42-year-old Casio FR-2650A, a device she not only used every day for work but which was a family heirloom as well.
After 42 years working in the federal government my electric calculator died. Why is this so sad for me… because the calculator I have used my entire government career is actually the same one my dad used. When dad retired he gave his calculator to me. So god only knows how old the thing really was. The paper feeder stopped working years ago, but now you can’t see the numbers anymore. They became fainter and fainter. I babied it as long as I could.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.