I have a lot to say about these:
But for now I am supremely thankful for this community and for the support in engaging replicas for these items.
Seen here,
Vintage ruler (not the same brand… not being replicated)
Energy Matrix Dampener tool (real parts being replicated by roygilsing )
And the interior calculator. (Being replicated by someone we all trust)
More details to follow tomorrow on my day off following family celebrations today
Happy Thanksgiving
Absolutely MASSIVE shout out to Poikilotherm
For their incredible support in figuring out what is likely the exact assembly inside using only vintage Star Wars verified components.
SATURDAY UPDATE:
THE REVEAL BOARD!
So, it started from the MOM thread.
while we were looking at *these* images.
v312 brought up this point:
.... right, not a bad heading!
The calculators he was sharing were vintage of different makes, like SHARP, CASIO, TI, etc... small repeated traces on the surface, relatively small IC chips and small capacitors like the one we were looking for.
... I wound up on MyCalcDB and datamath and was searching through pretty much all of the calculators in that time period, and there was one in particular that stood out (considering how limited the internal images are).
The CASIO FX-330
I was staring at the "hooks" on the button traces, and realized that was something *like* what we were looking for! It also had an IC and coloring that was a really nice match- so I found a deal on ebay and grabbed one.
When it arrived, none of the patterns matched up correctly and the IC was too large- however... It did bear a significant enough similarity where I knew a couple things.
The traces were the same style, the edges were routed the same way, and the colors were about right. It had to be Casio, and it had to be about 1982-ish.
So looking through MyCalcDB and filtering my results to some limiting factors- I realized something.
The larger calculators are typically multi-process... but some of the ICs on the CASIO (and SHARP) boards *might* have the proper amount of feet due to the ICs being more "basic-function" smaller process boards.
I noticed that in SHARP calculators- boards had 44 feet for basic 4 function processing but there wasn't any evidence (visually) of the same being true for CASIO on some websites.
So, I started buying up LC units if they were cheap and inquiring with ebay-sellers if they'd mind taking the hood off some of their calculators for sale.
LC-78G I got in first, and confirmed 44 traces and the overall sizing was nice on the IC but the board was all wrong. (note the button traces' shape however, and the RED capacitor setup)
(image from arithmomuseum)
Now, between 1979 and and 1983 they made a LOT of models.
Here are some others I viewed...
CASIO LC-100
LC-781
LC-786(var1)
LC-786(var2)
LC-787
Most of the others resembled the LC-78G
That takes us to the 785
You'll note in the photo- all the details are nearly exactly the same as the first FX-330 I got. I had found and ordered the 785 just afterwards (and it cost more)... but I wound up waiting to get it while I did all the other research.
It was very exciting to open up! (And tear apart quickly)
What a close match! You'll notice (despite using our MoM FX board)
That there were some wonderful similarities....
The capacitor footing was even very similar in appearance!
But, unfortunately- this 785B shared NO exact trace pattern to the board in question.
Considering it had a red capacitor and the back matched the photo from MyCalcDB- I did determine I might be out of luck because the photo on MyCalcDB must have been the 785 (blue capacitor after all).
However, a 785 popped up on ebay- and I had to know for sure.
A couple weeks later...
thank god... The photos on MyCalcDB were ALSO the 785B- just with a different capacitor!
Check out the two!
Photo (modification in progress) by Poikilotherm
Photo by : Poikilotherm
785B board on the left, 785 on the right. (DaveP statics)
There are a few small items to figure out- But what is likely a part of the shopping list are:
- TI calculator slide switch
- modified Honeywell momentary switch (Boba Rangefinder)
- Prototyping breadboard
- Batteries from the 785
- fast blinking railroad signal LEDs
- Death Star II structure laser etched brass
I'll let Poikilotherm explain more of the build process when they have a chance
BIG NOTE:
REPLICA KITS will be made. A faithful pre-cut REPLICA PCB is in development but until prototypes are complete I'll ask for your patience until our friends-of-the-board are themselves ready to share more details. DATE TBD
ENERGY MATRIX DAMPENER
Some of you have messaged me and since have managed to determine on your own what these parts are after your own research or the teasers posted... For allowing me the honor to announce/ reveal these I have to thank you!
For the rest, I hope you enjoy part II.
Sometimes you need to go to the dentist, and it's already awful enough.
In our found items' case... they might be used to loop a thin metal "matrix" around your tooth!
Or "dampen" your throat in the event of a dry mouth during oral surgery!
This particular discovery stemmed from one particular ebay find... and my subsequently being curious enough to buy an inexpensive version to sample the concept. The thing I did not realize (until I was still looking at this particular "nose and throat sprayer") was that the shroud came off the tip- and exposed a very similar looking piece of the puzzle underneath.
Not particularly too long later- some new variants were found.
... and purchased.
YA'LL, let me tell you. Some of these are NASTY!
Besides nose and throat sprayers for essential oils and pain relieving elixers- they were also used as surgery supplements, perfume dispensers, powder dispensers, as well as genital douches.
So while I was exploring dental options to see if I could find more examples of this atomizer-
I found this at auction:
Dental Ivory Matrix Retainer (No.8)
As the cave scene is slowed down- this confusing shape popped up and... this matrix retainer was the first item I'd seen to make sense of it.
So there we have it.
Devilbiss Atomizing Sprayer (nose dampener)
and Ivory Matrix Retainer No. 8
We'll get to *which* Devilbiss on the back-end of assembly and modification:
I want to note and admit that we have not found the *right* matrix retainer yet... but have seen some great leads.
There are modern ones out there-
Antique on left / Vintage middle / Modern (and cheap) right
A note about the cheap modern Matrix retainers on Fleabay- the sellers notoriously send the WRONG ones pictured.
Now how to put them together?
ASSEMBLY:
Let's all thank Wilfurd Brimley... he really helped us out on this one.
His kit is very confusing to look at in low resolution until you realize 'how' it is happening ; and where to look.
After staring at this for a ghastly amount of time, and doing some photo-shop mock ups I had thought that the threaded rod on the retainer might pass through the threading under the atomizer.
Once Roy came on to help us out with this, he quickly managed to grab some higher resolution screen-grabs and we realized that the lip of the atomizer wasn't there anymore- and that the retainer was mounted directly from the spine.
So.... the cringe-worthy portion.
....not far enough
Getting it down as far as it needed to go- although the central hole nearly disappears it does expose the lower hole- already perfectly sized for a 4-40 screw. It needed to be drilled a bit further and tapped with a bottoming 4-40 tap.
We are then left with this assembly.
Which, I'm sure you may agree- hits quite the mark.
Considering we can't see a head in the photos- I opted for a 1/4" length flat head 4-40 screw and chamfered the hole on the retainer.
This allows for controlled swivelling, which I believe we can see clearly occurs between the ROTJ cave and Noa's kit in Battle for Endor.
So that's it!
A couple notes:
- The tip has something shoved in it to gain access to the control box switches (Finish nail or mechanical pencil tip/ pin or the like) because the two switches are just that small
- We still need to find the right type of vintage (or more likely antique) Matrix Retainer KNURLING. They began using them in the 19th c.
- DeVilbiss No.152 is the ONLY correct one. Not to say that a 215 or 162 can't be modified but the breather hole for the assembly is in the flange- which we now know has to be removed in order to mount it correctly.
- In order to mount it with this ease you need exactly the No.152
roygilsing and I are happily working on producing pre-modified replicas! There's a thread in the interest forum to continue THAT conversation.
But for now I am supremely thankful for this community and for the support in engaging replicas for these items.
Seen here,
Vintage ruler (not the same brand… not being replicated)
Energy Matrix Dampener tool (real parts being replicated by roygilsing )
And the interior calculator. (Being replicated by someone we all trust)
More details to follow tomorrow on my day off following family celebrations today
Happy Thanksgiving
Absolutely MASSIVE shout out to Poikilotherm
For their incredible support in figuring out what is likely the exact assembly inside using only vintage Star Wars verified components.
SATURDAY UPDATE:
THE REVEAL BOARD!
So, it started from the MOM thread.
while we were looking at *these* images.
v312 brought up this point:
.... right, not a bad heading!
The calculators he was sharing were vintage of different makes, like SHARP, CASIO, TI, etc... small repeated traces on the surface, relatively small IC chips and small capacitors like the one we were looking for.
... I wound up on MyCalcDB and datamath and was searching through pretty much all of the calculators in that time period, and there was one in particular that stood out (considering how limited the internal images are).
The CASIO FX-330
MyCalcDB : Calculator Casio fx-330
List "all" Electronic Pocket Calculators produced in 70\
mycalcdb.free.fr
I was staring at the "hooks" on the button traces, and realized that was something *like* what we were looking for! It also had an IC and coloring that was a really nice match- so I found a deal on ebay and grabbed one.
When it arrived, none of the patterns matched up correctly and the IC was too large- however... It did bear a significant enough similarity where I knew a couple things.
The traces were the same style, the edges were routed the same way, and the colors were about right. It had to be Casio, and it had to be about 1982-ish.
So looking through MyCalcDB and filtering my results to some limiting factors- I realized something.
The larger calculators are typically multi-process... but some of the ICs on the CASIO (and SHARP) boards *might* have the proper amount of feet due to the ICs being more "basic-function" smaller process boards.
I noticed that in SHARP calculators- boards had 44 feet for basic 4 function processing but there wasn't any evidence (visually) of the same being true for CASIO on some websites.
So, I started buying up LC units if they were cheap and inquiring with ebay-sellers if they'd mind taking the hood off some of their calculators for sale.
LC-78G I got in first, and confirmed 44 traces and the overall sizing was nice on the IC but the board was all wrong. (note the button traces' shape however, and the RED capacitor setup)
(image from arithmomuseum)
Now, between 1979 and and 1983 they made a LOT of models.
Here are some others I viewed...
CASIO LC-100
LC-781
LC-786(var1)
LC-786(var2)
LC-787
Most of the others resembled the LC-78G
That takes us to the 785
You'll note in the photo- all the details are nearly exactly the same as the first FX-330 I got. I had found and ordered the 785 just afterwards (and it cost more)... but I wound up waiting to get it while I did all the other research.
It was very exciting to open up! (And tear apart quickly)
What a close match! You'll notice (despite using our MoM FX board)
That there were some wonderful similarities....
The capacitor footing was even very similar in appearance!
But, unfortunately- this 785B shared NO exact trace pattern to the board in question.
Considering it had a red capacitor and the back matched the photo from MyCalcDB- I did determine I might be out of luck because the photo on MyCalcDB must have been the 785 (blue capacitor after all).
However, a 785 popped up on ebay- and I had to know for sure.
A couple weeks later...
thank god... The photos on MyCalcDB were ALSO the 785B- just with a different capacitor!
Check out the two!
Photo (modification in progress) by Poikilotherm
Photo by : Poikilotherm
785B board on the left, 785 on the right. (DaveP statics)
There are a few small items to figure out- But what is likely a part of the shopping list are:
- TI calculator slide switch
- modified Honeywell momentary switch (Boba Rangefinder)
- Prototyping breadboard
- Batteries from the 785
- fast blinking railroad signal LEDs
- Death Star II structure laser etched brass
I'll let Poikilotherm explain more of the build process when they have a chance
BIG NOTE:
REPLICA KITS will be made. A faithful pre-cut REPLICA PCB is in development but until prototypes are complete I'll ask for your patience until our friends-of-the-board are themselves ready to share more details. DATE TBD
ENERGY MATRIX DAMPENER
Some of you have messaged me and since have managed to determine on your own what these parts are after your own research or the teasers posted... For allowing me the honor to announce/ reveal these I have to thank you!
For the rest, I hope you enjoy part II.
Sometimes you need to go to the dentist, and it's already awful enough.
In our found items' case... they might be used to loop a thin metal "matrix" around your tooth!
Or "dampen" your throat in the event of a dry mouth during oral surgery!
This particular discovery stemmed from one particular ebay find... and my subsequently being curious enough to buy an inexpensive version to sample the concept. The thing I did not realize (until I was still looking at this particular "nose and throat sprayer") was that the shroud came off the tip- and exposed a very similar looking piece of the puzzle underneath.
Not particularly too long later- some new variants were found.
... and purchased.
YA'LL, let me tell you. Some of these are NASTY!
Besides nose and throat sprayers for essential oils and pain relieving elixers- they were also used as surgery supplements, perfume dispensers, powder dispensers, as well as genital douches.
So while I was exploring dental options to see if I could find more examples of this atomizer-
I found this at auction:
Dental Ivory Matrix Retainer (No.8)
As the cave scene is slowed down- this confusing shape popped up and... this matrix retainer was the first item I'd seen to make sense of it.
So there we have it.
Devilbiss Atomizing Sprayer (nose dampener)
and Ivory Matrix Retainer No. 8
We'll get to *which* Devilbiss on the back-end of assembly and modification:
I want to note and admit that we have not found the *right* matrix retainer yet... but have seen some great leads.
There are modern ones out there-
Antique on left / Vintage middle / Modern (and cheap) right
A note about the cheap modern Matrix retainers on Fleabay- the sellers notoriously send the WRONG ones pictured.
Now how to put them together?
ASSEMBLY:
Let's all thank Wilfurd Brimley... he really helped us out on this one.
His kit is very confusing to look at in low resolution until you realize 'how' it is happening ; and where to look.
After staring at this for a ghastly amount of time, and doing some photo-shop mock ups I had thought that the threaded rod on the retainer might pass through the threading under the atomizer.
Once Roy came on to help us out with this, he quickly managed to grab some higher resolution screen-grabs and we realized that the lip of the atomizer wasn't there anymore- and that the retainer was mounted directly from the spine.
So.... the cringe-worthy portion.
....not far enough
Getting it down as far as it needed to go- although the central hole nearly disappears it does expose the lower hole- already perfectly sized for a 4-40 screw. It needed to be drilled a bit further and tapped with a bottoming 4-40 tap.
We are then left with this assembly.
Which, I'm sure you may agree- hits quite the mark.
Considering we can't see a head in the photos- I opted for a 1/4" length flat head 4-40 screw and chamfered the hole on the retainer.
This allows for controlled swivelling, which I believe we can see clearly occurs between the ROTJ cave and Noa's kit in Battle for Endor.
So that's it!
A couple notes:
- The tip has something shoved in it to gain access to the control box switches (Finish nail or mechanical pencil tip/ pin or the like) because the two switches are just that small
- We still need to find the right type of vintage (or more likely antique) Matrix Retainer KNURLING. They began using them in the 19th c.
- DeVilbiss No.152 is the ONLY correct one. Not to say that a 215 or 162 can't be modified but the breather hole for the assembly is in the flange- which we now know has to be removed in order to mount it correctly.
- In order to mount it with this ease you need exactly the No.152
roygilsing and I are happily working on producing pre-modified replicas! There's a thread in the interest forum to continue THAT conversation.
Last edited:
