Lightsaber calc bubbles

clutch

Both of my bubble strips have slightly flattened sides.

Darth Lars

I have an intact Exactra 20. The bubbles have flattened sides and the areas around the bubbles is frosted.
The LED circuit board looks like the one on Sym-Cha's TI-2000, except that roughly the three millimeters on the circuit board's lower edge are blue. The underside has the same paint: the green starts at 4 mm from the lower edge.
It looks as if the green color comes from a paint/film that has been painted on as insulator.
I don't know if there is green paint/film under the bubbles, because I have not removed them and it is difficult to determine by seeing through them.

Sym-Cha

Well James,

It seems that customers are lining up already. I am very anxious to see your efforts.
Please take note of the flattened edges when replicating ... now that it has been established to be accurate indeed.

Keep up the good work!

Chaim

KaanE

I can't wait to see some progress James.

PS: I have your avatar as mine in the MSN Messenger

James Kenobi 1138

I'm providing a real bubble strip to someone here on the RPF to be cast up un-modified in clear acrylic I believe. It's from an IT 20, not the 19. I'll let him chime in if he wants, or wait until there is more progress to show. I'm driving it up to his shop tomorrow.

When I get home I'll check my 'Luke toe pic' shot and see if I can tell if the original Luke ANH had the circle bubbles or the flattened edges version.

James Kenobi 1138

Yeah, I made that avatar to play along with everyones joke about me.

defstartrooper

Interested in acrylic copies.

Sym-Cha

Hi James,

I took the liberty of asking Joerg Woerner of the Datamath Calculator Museum the same question as posted here earlier. And here is some revealing news. I hope you will read this before you see your guy tomorrow perhaps you can put it to some good use.

Here's what Joerg said about the process of making the original TI calculator bubbles :

Hello Chaim,

Good observations – now I can really apply some knowledge I aquired
I’m an engineer at Leuze electronic and our products always combine electronics and optics. Most of our products use plastic molded lenses, something I know about!

The Exactra lenses are plastic molded parts and tooling is not easy. A tool is either cheap or has good optical surfaces. But we need for the Exactra only a small portion “optical quality”, the remaining part is just for easy handling and fixture on the PCB. What they did is a cheap tool for the part with a so-called insert for the lens surfaces. An additional part of polished steel “inserted” into the cheap “main tool”. What you observe is the “dividing line” between these two parts of the tool. They used probably one tool with two different inserts, 9 bubbles and 7 bubbles. Frozen or not? Easy, too: Sometimes depending on where or when it was manufactured, the toolmakers choose a rough surface of the non-optical parts of the tool.

Greetings from New York,

Regards,

Joerg

So it seems that all the calculator bubbles real and replicated should have flattened edges!

Lots of success with replicating your Exactra 20 James.

Chaim

P.S. At least I know that Joerg would be very pleased if no more still functioning Exactra's were destroyed when there's a perfectly goodlooking replica that would please all of us just the same as the real thing hence the reason why mine are still intact even both my Graflex Flashguns haven't been modified into lightsabers .... yet ... but they will be ... they will be

James Kenobi 1138

I dropped my bubble strip off today. It does indeed have the flat edges ! Very hard to notice unless you're looking for them.

Caster is concerned at shrinkage but the acrylic he's going to use has a crazy-small shrinkage rate and he's hopeful the cast and pulls will be fantastic. If I find out more, or he chimes in, more info to follow.

Sith_Lord_Hritz

James, I know it’s a little early but do you have any idea on price range and the size of the run?

clutch

That's to be discussed when he makes the interest thread in the JY.

James Kenobi 1138

Honestly, no. It's not my run at all, I just supplied a real bubble strip. He's got a few projects going on ahead, so whenever I know something I'll pass along the info.

James Kenobi 1138

Oh, just as a bit of trivia it's the same bubble strip I photographed for my signature banner.

Sym-Cha

Hi all,

when I pressed my bubbles on my Obi-Wan lightsaber ... it came to live
Luckily my friend Alexander was there and took a photograph with my old
Crown Graphic Special. Hence the picture is in sepia.



Chaim

P.S. Joerg told me that all the leftover calculator bubbles have been trashed by TI
... so indeed landfills are the place to dig Clutch

clutch

Hehe. Cool picture. Another thing I have seen people do is they back the strip with some chrome tape. What brought this on? Is there any photographic evidence to show that there may have been tape behind the bubbles?

Nighteyes

None that has been found so far as I understand it. In the photos from ANH the bubbles appear dark... looks like no tape in there and it was the bubbles reflecting the dark area where the clamp comes together. Then again, the photos of the Vader ESB reveals the calculator display still attached. Seems unlikely that if the part didn't fit the Graflex clamp they would modify the metal instead of the part that is easily disassembled. Maybe the MPP clamp was already damaged and they jammed that portion in because it was thick enough to hold.

Who knows...

SnDMaN

FWIW, my blast-tech ones come with the chrome tape...

sskunky

WTF! an Exactra 20 just sold for $201.50 on ebay? Makes my $18 seem a steal even without the box.

lonepigeon

I suspect we may see that one back on the market when someone doesn't pay. Buyer's remorse should kick in soon.

These things typically run $30-$40 (often less). I've followed a lot of them over the past several months. There's usually at least a couple listed every week.
Prices tend to go up on parts when popular RPF threads are discussing them, but this is ridiculous.

sskunky

Utter madness I tell you.
You know Chris you might be right. When they come round to their senses they might realize what a T**T they have been. I suspect someone put a silly high bid down not expecting it to reach it?

Sym-Cha

The Exactra 20 that I've shown here went for $21.06 but that was before everyone went
looking for flattened sides

Most of mine cost around $75 but that's including postage to The Netherlands.

Chaim

P.S. Anyone interested in a TI 2000? Bids will start from $200!!! Sorry ... just kiddin

clutch

Didn't that calculator come with the box and all the fixin's though? Perhaps a genuine calculator collector bought it? lol!

I've got two gutted Exactras here, but can't find it in my heart to throw them away. I tried putting a replica bubble strip in one, but the bubbles are too close together.

Sym-Cha

I say,

So when James comes up with a perfect replica bubbles-strip ... we can expect all the old calculators with replica bubbles going back on ebay
Hmm me se think se me se not so happy

Unless you used it for the Vader lightsaber with the board still attached to it ... then the calculator would be destroyed beyond repair.
So until James or his associate comes home with a perfect run the Exactra's are still REAL on ebay. Grab them while you can guys! If your looking for the authentic vintage "screen"-used effect that is ...

Chaim

James Kenobi 1138

While the plan it to cast a just removed from the calculator, un-modified bubble strip- I will say that the caster and I did talk about putting a small 'tell' in the casting so you could identify these from the real thing.

The 'tell' would not be on the part used in the saber, but on the part that you have to cut off the ends.

Son of Skywalker

Waiting with great expectation!

Any chance of replicating the board behind the strip also for Vader sabers?