Lightsaber calc bubbles

Of course at least the ESB/ROTJ Vader saber uses the circuit board under the bubble strip as well - so that calculator would be scrap.
 
Spike said:
Ok, I dont build Lightsabers, but how the hell did someone ever figure out this is what the 'bubble strip' was from :confused
Click to expand...

Boy, this brings back memories :).

There might be others who came to this prior and/or independently, but I was the one that "outed" the Exactra on the RPF years ago. This and proposing that the Luke ESB saber did not have a beer tab are two of my small and humble contributions to figuring out the OT Graflex based sabers.

At the time, my post sparked a passionate debate since there was still varying opinions over what we were actually seeing in the available reference.

I don't know who first theorized they might be or were LED magnifiying lenses, but I just followed that assumption (while personally believing that I should be looking for 7 bubbles) and began investigating 70s era electronics. At first I thought they might have been longer lense strips, such as those from a Speak & Spell, cut down but nothing I found came out to be the right size after it was cut. Finally, I came across the short-lived Exactra 19 and 20 models.

If you examine enough of these, you'll discover there were actually two types of bubble strips in them. One is completely clear while the other is frosted with only the lense area being clear.

Justin =)
 
Hi everyone,

I took the liberty of using the pics in this thread as an example and added a 50% redline. Are the bubbles NOT completely round. See pictures attached. See what I mean?

And when I opened all my TI Exactra 19's and TI 2000's all those bubbles were not full circle either :confused :eek :wacko

So here's my question : Are all the authentic vintage calculator bubbles like that and thus are all the replica's mistaken? (The Parks has a perfect round finish.) :confused

Any of you with real calculator bubbles ... could you please enlighten me.

Thanks for you attention.

Chaim
 
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Sumatra said:
It's not cool to be posting live auctions.
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I second that. I was thinking of bidding on this but I think I might give it a miss now every man and his dog knows about it! I'll wait tlll the next one or so comes up.

My real bubbles incidently are frosted on the flat and clear on the bubbles. The originals are also crystal clear in comparison to the plastic copies.
 
Hi Jeff and SSKUNKY,

Thanks for your replies, since this is my first post I was not aware that an unspoken RPF rule NOT to post LIVE AUCTIONS was in order.
My sincere apologies. I thought I was doing everyone looking for authentic calculator bubbles a favor. :$
(I edited my post and removed the link, guys!)

How about the question I posted? :confused

Chaim
 
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You can't go by pictures because of barrel distortion caused by the camera lens and the effects of the reflections on the clear plastic.
 
Thanks for your reply Clutch.
Yes I know. :rolleyes
That's why I opened all my Exactra's yesterday and took the calculators out of their case and ALL 4 of them were as I explained by use of posted pictures.
Where I drew the thin red line the bubbles are flattened just a bit on both sides. I shall take pictures of my TI Exactra's with their bubbles tomorrow at work using a high res camera (Cambo TC with Leaf Digital Back)

Chaim
 
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I'm curious as to why this exactra 20 has a blue background
EX20_DISP.jpg


and this one doesn't:
e_EX20_A.jpg



what does yours look like, Chaim?
 
Does board color have anything to do with accuracy? I know very little about the bubble strips.
 
There's some pics of vader's saber that look like the blue circuit board is underneath the strip. Lonepigeon may be able to shed some light on this.
 
Interesting, I wonder if the color issue could just be attributed to color correction, or a lack thereof. Here's a pic of my Exactra 20 that I made with our scanner:
Exactra20BubbleCircuit_2.jpg


Here's the exact same Exactra taken with my digital camera:
Exactra20BubbleCircuit_01.jpg


The one from the scanner looks very blue the other a much truer green.
 
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