cathoderaydude
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Update: huh! that's a lot of linkages
🕑 Added 2025-11-02 02:24:35 +0000 UTCnobody here minds getting a lot of emails from me right? okay cool glad to hear it. i thought you'd all like to see this
i figured out how to get the cover off. it's 4 screws.
A lot of people I've sent pics of this thing to did not realize that it's a Babbage Difference Engine inside. That is to say, this is a fully mechanical computer, consisting of several full-adders (I believe this is technically correct) made of steel levers, cams and wheels, which take quantities of money as input, and produce a sum as an output. I think.
This is sort of the problem - I don't know much about this thing and I can't seem to find any info. There's "lots" (relatively) available on the models from the 30s and 40s, but it seems like no collectors really care about the ones from the 60s-70s. So if anyone out there has resources, I would love anything you can find, especially as regards repairs.
I know enough about electromechanical systems to know I shouldn't just turn this thing on. It needs the cord replaced, of course, but that's trivial; it's also 50/50 that the motor will run, but that's also probably trivial. I expect the starting cap will be dry, but the bearings feel fine and it's very clean, surprisingly so in fact; I suspect it was overhauled fairly close to the end of its lifespan - which, based on what the previous owner told me, might have been sometime in the 90s or even later. I actually have a friend who tells me they saw a similar machine being used in a butchers' shop in the 2000s, and that scans.
I also believe that the mechanism is intact. Nothing appears to be stuck in an impossible position, there are no dangling linkages, nothing rattles, and whatever rust you see is purely cosmetic. This did sit under a porch for at least three years, and I believe dew condensed on the keypad, ran down and dripped into the front assemblage, but none of it looks bad enough to have pitting, I suspect it'll all come off with naval jelly.
Even more encouraging: the keypad works. I can press keys down, they move easily and seat reliably - with a very satisfying click - and when I pull the reset lever, they almost always pop right back up. When they don't, I can tell it's due to grease stickiness and not rust, because all I have to do is touch the operating rods to pop them up, I don't have to wiggle the keys side to side. That's EXTREMELY good news, because the keypad consists of several steel sheets sandwiched together; if rust starts, it gets ruined very quickly. The fact that this feels any kind of "good" almost certainly means no corrosion got inside.
My gut says that all this really needs is a little rust converter at the front, and then a top-to-bottom degreasing and relube, but that's like when the Car Guy (who talks a big game about projects he'd buy off CL but never seems to have anything in the garage) says he'd "just drop the transmission and rebuild it" and you're thinking "oh yeah, sure thing buddy, whatever you say." Taking this thing to pieces would be a herculean task - but not one that's actually beyond me. So. We'll see where this goes.
I bought it largely as a prop but I've always wanted something like this. My hope is that when I get the emergency manual crank (which you'd keep under the counter and use in case of a power outage) and try running the mech I'll find out that it Mostly Works and just needs a little TLC, but either way IDK how much time, energy and space I actually have to devote to this. I thought you'd all like to know that it's on my plate though.
also, point of order: the stream i said I'd start "in a little bit" yesterday started quite late... but then ran for uhhhhhhhhh twelve hours and ended at 3:30 AM. i played the entirety of F.E.A.R., which - I've concluded - is one of the best to ever do it. That game whips ass incontrovertibly, so if you need to kill half a day, and never got around to playing this seminal classic, and don't mind me saying the F word a lot, check out the VOD here: https://www.youtube.com/live/VL2uhnowRmo
I don't know how many people are interested in my game streams, I realize it's not exactly what most of you signed up for, but I figure I should at least mention when I have a notable one because it is, for whatever it's worth, a Product I have Produced.
Comments
epic__beard
I really enjoyed your F.E.A.R. stream!
Cathode Ray Dude
I absolutely need tips and tricks, anything you can do lmao.
Warren Garabrandt
I know of a certain person on Imgur that refurbishes and resells mechanical cash registers. If you get stuck or want some tips and tricks, I can put you in touch.
Gecko089
Wow, missed the stream, but Undying and FEAR in one stream? Gotta watch that, more or less my two favourites of the time. Looks like Santa came early disguised as the Halloween fairy! Also mechanical computing good. E-Mails good.
sdomi
this machine looks amazing! i can't wait for more about it, deeply curious how it works exactly also i can *never* catch your streams (but always watch the VODs) and i'm genuinely so happy about the 16GB of stream that's currently yt-dlping it's way over onto my home directory :D
vince
one of the big reasons i love your videos is, you put words to concepts i'm intimately familiar with, but would take, bare minimum, two rambling paragraphs to stumble through articulating and still miss the mark "Taking this thing to pieces would be a herculean task - but not one that's actually beyond me. So. We'll see where this goes" is an existential truth, a guiding beacon, the prelude to many of my proudest triumphs and mostly deeply embedded regrets also, i'm here for the off-the-cuff journey into mechanical computing, whether or not it turns into a full production
