Helping LGR to restore a vintage Sanyo ICC-0082 calculator

LGR asked for help rescuing a gorgeous Dictaphone 1680 calculator, née Sanyo ICC-0082. We are happy to oblige. And while we are at it, Ken reverse engineers the enigmatic Sanyo chipset that makes it tick.
LGR's original video: • Smallest Battery-Power...
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[@LGR]

Thank you so much for offering to help with this! It's just wonderful seeing such a lovely piece of tech functional again. You guys are awesome 👍

[@ToTheGAMES]

Send them more stuff to fix!

[@aserta]

Yey!

[@wishusknight3009]

Thankyou so much for being a part of preserving such obscure pieces of history. I love it!

[@Schroefdoppie]

Man..you had the A-team working on it! Sweet👍

[@mizterwizerd]

@@Schroefdoppie ah, now I want to see Marc, Ken and the rest do the a team intro... I think the real question is who gets to play whom!

[@stephendavies923]

I know that I understand some electronics, having worked in the field many years ago, but Master Ken is a Sensei! It is always a wonder to watch him work. Thank you for both your content and managing to get such a great team of honest, humble and knowledgeable people together.

[@RickBaconsAdventures]

I'm so happy he sent it to you guys! Marc and the team are the most professional and qualified around. Some folks were advising he send it to an amateur and I was worried. LGR is great

[@kaitlyn__L]

I’m really glad too! I was one who recommended Marc, and was equally worried at some of the other suggestions for people who work on much newer gear. This is a perfect vintage for Marc!

[@bsvenss2]

In the worst case, he could have sent it to the 8-bit Dremel and paperclip guy. *LOL*

[@thesteelrodent1796]

@@bsvenss2 still have nightmares about that video 😐

[@JoeDurnavich]

Ken’s got the lab coat too and you know once that lab coat goes on, that piece of vintage electronics is getting reverse engineered. Guaranteed.

[@venw6811]

Good choice! If these guy can fix a AGC, they can fix this.

[@Derpy1969]

Apollo engineers repair calculator during lunch break.

[@thelegalsystem]

I never expected a delay-line memory system to show up in a calculator like this

[@0MoTheG]

Correctly, it doesn't have one.

[@vincentlextrait3092]

There is an interesting earlier version of the ICC-0082 with true nixie tubes! I have two of these, and they work!

[@Brainwizard.2]

I just love Ken. He does a such phenomenal work in restoring every piece. Logic piece of our human minds barehand creation. From his kittle, explaination, blog, career and calmness. I really hope i can be someone like him one day! Thank you for the interview as well, Marc! Edit: + Every assistant and producer here!

[@Rutherford_Inchworm_III]

They call him Master Ken for a good reason - even Marc is in awe of the man's ability to interpret circuitry. He's like the Circuit Whisperer.

[@TechGorilla1987]

I'm going to have to say that this is something I couldn't ever have imagined would happen. Supreme!

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Yea, this is a crossover I never would have guessed.

[@Zerbey]

When two of my favorite channels work together you know it's going to be a good day!

[@JPBennett]

We need to see that calculation in slow motion. Would be interesting to see what those tubes are actually doing during the number crunching.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

would assume they just show whatever is floating through the memory at the time

[@benjaminhanke79]

I would like to see a working simulation of this in a logic simulator.

[@dr_jaymz]

This is my similar calc doing it. I don't know what is the slowest calc to do. I assume its large number then division by some nasty number. Thats what I did.

[@kevinreardon2558]

I inherited my Uncle's Ampex tape player (tube based) but all it did was buzzed. I learned tubes way back in Junior High, but not well enough to understand the diagram. About 30 years later, I took a leap of faith and replaced the power circuitry. I had to replace two of the tubes with Russian tubes, which no doubt made my Uncle roll over in his grave (he used the player to record the concerts he did for the Admiral during diplomatic assignments). Well, with that guesswork, it now works. A lot of "standards" changed, like in the audio plugs, but a few adapters and all is OK. I gain a lot of comfort seeing you applying the same intelligent guesses and reasoning I did. Growing up in the 60's, with a "shop" teacher who hated my mother, I managed to learn enough about electronics to enjoy this channel. It relieves me to know I really do understand the Electronics of the Ancients .

[@rsmrsm2000]

Reverse engineering the talents hidden in old technologies, I see, is not an easy task. You are very good! Congratulations.

[@unebonnevie]

I've enjoyed watching Ken and Marc in action! They are such smart guys!

[@MikeSmith-sh3ko]

In 1970 most calculator's used the same logic as mechanical adding machines this is why there is a += and a -= if you want to add a number use += but taking away needs a bit of thought. 10+2= ? 10+=2+= will give you 12 as expected.but to take away 2 from 10 you need to push 10+=2-= to give result of 8 . Great restoration of lgr's vintage calculator the only thing is once you start collecting them it gets a bit out of control. Great work 👍

[@Sir_Uncle_Ned]

As soon as I saw the title, I knew this thing was in safe hands. Glad you guys were able to get it back to full health.

[@w.p.958]

Marc & Team this was fantastic! Also glad to see the Collab with LGR, another great channel! Also want to say it is great that your team is so knowledgeable about older technology - you know the saying, if we forget the past, we are doomed to repeat it. Old ideas still are relevant to new inventions and discoveries.

[@pilznille]

LGR in collaboration with CuriousMarc. Two of my most liked vintage computing channels here on KZbin. Very nice to see such a beautiful piece of tech here.

[@BOBXFILES2374a]

Back in 1980, I was working at a company. One of my co-workers told me that her father's boss had bought one of the first hand-held calculators. (I think later than this, with the little red LED numbers). It cost $600.00, and they all went over to the Boss's house to see it! Thanks for helping out LGR!

[@SpinStar1956]

I think it was very nice that you helped him out and even more that another vintage piece was made whole. I too do these repairs and I find that I get tremendous satisfaction from doing rescues like this one. I'm hoping that people will realize that even f they don't want or fancy something that they will 'pass-it-along' and one of the best places for this is thrift stores where I have found several very nice old things that with just a little know-how gave me a great piece to use and enjoy...

[@nutsnproud6932]

Marc, Thanks for helping Clint.

[@dav1dsm1th]

Typos are timeless. Great video.

[@ag3ntorange164]

Absolutely magnificent repair. Great work bringing her back from the dead! So excited for LGR I am a huge fan. I am lucky to own a fully working Nixie Tube Walther ETR-4 from 1973. It also has a shift key to display the other 8 digits. It also places the decimal points in a similar way.

[@624Dudley]

Thanks, Marc & Company! Nice to see that lovely seven segment display. That glowing orange presentation is familiar to pilots of a certain age; the famous Bendix King KX-155 nav/comm (among others) used a later gas discharge module for numeric frequency display. The modules are no longer available, and gradually the fine old radios are being phased out as their displays conk out.

[@kei_otake]

LGR, CuriousMarc, and now Adam Savage with that Ghosbusters gizmo - it’s like Infinity War but for my nerdy KZbin channels

[@paulwomack5866]

I love what this group considers a "simple" repair.

[@jondough76]

I love that you can see the numbers 'roll' as it is calculating.

[@acmefixer1]

Battery juice ate Marc's HP 9825(?). Now it's done it again! Batteries should be sealed and/or located below the electronics so the juice runs out the bottom and saves the PCB. Thanks, Marc and crew for the great repair video. 👍👍

[@ezragonzalez8936]

That's awesome. I never thought you and Lrg would do a collaboration. You guys should do more! Cheers from Park City Utah!

[@mspysu79]

Great job fixing such a cool calculator. Those chips really do look like Rockwell chips, they are very similar to(but smaller than) the PWM "MOS Voice" Chips in the Allen Digital COmputer organ from 1971.

[@elsaarmstrong-zp6ng]

I used to repair calculators way back in 60’s-70’s and a good test calculation was 22/7 = Pi or 3.142857 ! Of course all the keys/functions were also tested! There were many makes but Sharps had a huge range! The early models had 14 logic boards all with discrete components! Fault finding was single step mode and checking flip-flops which made up registers for + - etc. X was repeat addition, division was repeating subtraction. Fault finding was to component level (chips were in research at that time) and logic boards cost a fortune! Fraser

[@mn5655]

Wow !! LGR and CuriousMarc

[@benjaminhanke79]

He should have mimicked LGRs "Welcome to an LGR thing!"

[@rpavlik1]

so glad this lovely calculator made it to the safety of your lab and was able to be fully revived, even putting back an original component others might consider dubious 😁

[@MatSpeedle]

Two of my favourite KZbinrs collaborating is just awesome! :D

[@SixplusonemediaAu]

So wonderful to see a collab between you both. Fantastic restoration and great to see it working again.

[@superspit]

Oooh! I've repaired two of these very units, now in my display!

[@CuriousMarc]

Yeah! Congrats.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Ahh I loooove that you can see it calculating on the screen, since it’s serial and puts the digits up with a shift register. Feels soo classic sci-fi. An effect that can waste a bunch of cycles nowadays. Really adds to the vibe from the neon tubes! Neon discharge is one of my favourite hues ever.

[@SarahKchannel]

I think Ken is a relative of Spock - "its a pretty strange architecture" - fascinating..

[@disruptive_innovator]

I'm fascinated by vintage display tech. This was really neat to see the inner workings and repair process. Thanks!

[@aitorbleda8267]

This brings back memories. A mix fo combinatorial and sequential.

[@superspedboy0076]

Love it when youtubers help other youtubers! Thanks!

[@aserta]

Man! I'm so happy that the calculator came here.

[@fyler1]

oh my goodness... 2 of my favorite channels together... absolutely amazing!!!

[@socialite1283]

I am totally in awe of your knowledge of all things electronic.

[@nevadaxelizabeth]

a Clint x Marc episode?. yes please. glad to see Clint sent you the calculator. that machine deserved to be repaired

[@danielleite8131]

that's crazy, when I saw this broken calculator on LGR, I thought "oh CuriousMark could repair this..." and now you are fixing his calculator xD

[@CraigPetersen12f36b]

I watched LRG's video on this and it brought back memories. I found one of these in a thrift shop back in 1983, I think I paid $2.00 for it, the one I had was the Sanyo branded version. When ever thrifting I'm always on the lookout for old calculators, TI, HP and others.

[@donmoore7785]

That serial bit math I would never have guessed. Interesting that in the end, you really didn't need the schematic or the knowledge how the chipset works. Cool!

[@russellhltn1396]

Certainly seems odd. I think it was done to avoid having to create multiple adder circuits. By using serial bit, they only needed one adder.

[@Rob2]

You know what... when I got a case like that, labeled "Dictaphone", I would be very surprised to find calculator in there!

[@TimoNoko]

This motivated me to fix CASIO A-SA from 1969. A fuse was blown. It costed 50 cents 2010. Fully functional Nixie-tube Casio seems to be 800€ at Ebay. PMOS-logic is very strange, because operating voltage on those chips seems to be negative 25V.

[@douro20]

Yes Clint does an excellent job with his videos. That comes with doing such work professionally for nearly twenty years.

[@ItsClodsire]

I was just thinking about this calculator... My calculator collection has been growing lately and I've been fantasizing about it, great job making it work again!

[@GusFernCa]

The serial logic of this machine reminds me of the design of the original KENBAK-1 microcomputer which used two 1K-bit shift registers to implement 256 8-bit bytes of RAM with a hard-coded state machine to implement not only a fairly clever instruction set but all of the front panel logic for examining, storing memory as well as running and halting the processor. Very clever and very different from typical modern microcontroller design.

[@zxborg9681]

I liked seeing that serial ALU design. Funnily enough, I implemented a similar scheme in a Xilinx FPGA a few years back to make optimal use of some of the fast built-in addressable shift register elements at speed. The more things change, the more they stay the same! And now I have LGR's whole new channel to explore, too. Nice.

[@paulwomack5866]

When I was working with AMD 29300 bit slice (not really bit slices) the registers and latches in the range all had a serial "through channel", so that ALL the registers and latches could be joined up in one massive daisy chain with read/write access. Very helpful for initial loading, and for the debugger we wrote. (this is all from memory, it was 1986. If you want details you'll need to look them up!)

[@zxborg9681]

@@paulwomack5866 Just looked up the databook to jog my memory. Man, to think that 35 years ago they were making parts I still think are cool! I know JTAG is mainly for pin scanning and board test, but I thought at one point you were supposed to have been able to use it for a similar idea, to preload and examine internal state as well as pin state. I can see how that ability would make your debugger work nicely, though.

[@martinswan9175]

It's a trip being able to "see" the calculator actually calculating when you hit enter. So cool.

[@Chriva]

Clint _AND_ Marc + gang. I can only handle so many heroes in the same video :)

[@MrRemi1802]

Whaaaaat! NO division by zero? 😱😱😱 I was expecting this moment for the whole video!

[@KeritechElectronics]

Its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness. Great restoration project. Those ceramic ICs, teeny tiny tubes... absolutely lovely stuff. And it HAD to be ruined by a leaking electrolyte, didn't it? I use IPA for dealing with this sort of damage, but I'd replace all the electrolytics if I were working on it. Might use some clear nail polish for attaching the wire to the PCB, also solder it where the trace remains (especially when you don't have the soldermask here) for better mechanical durability. The Facit looks like a miniaturized version of the Soemtron 220, a marvel of 1960s East German electronic engineering running on full discrete germanium transistor logic, ferrite core memory and 15 nixies. Looks very similar but a few times bigger. That's gonna make a nice restoration project. Inspiration coming from you, of course. Makes me wish I could work with you in your lab. 4:09 now THAT looks pretty... discombobulated.

[@mikemike7001]

The display is gorgeous, but just look at those cool keyswitches.

[@maicod]

14:18 Master Ken's super dry humor . LOVE IT

[@thebiggerbyte5991]

A great crossover! I'm now waiting for a whole season of CuriousMarc fixes LGR Thrifts :)

[@GYTCommnts]

Man, this was like watching a meeting of scientists determined to solve a mystery. Just awesome!

[@thirstyCactus]

This colab makes me so happy! ♥

[@VegasCyclingFreak]

Well that was a pretty simple problem to diagnose and fix. Leaking batteries eat the copper tracks on PCBs in a lot of old stuff.

[@GrumpyTim]

Wayhey, well done Marc, another lovely vintage calculator rescued, and what a little beauty it is too, kind of glad it wasn't a fault involving unobtainium.

[@38911bytefree]

Ultra neat machine ..... so cool and the explanation from Ken was amazing , electronics trying to mimic the old dinosaurs ....

[@Sloxx701]

LGR is great. Nice work Marc. I just watched a documentary on Facit yesterday so this is nice timing.

[@ToTheGAMES]

Greetings! CuriousMarc here with another LGR fixing thing.

[@cgarby]

Two of my favorite channels

[@codebeat4192]

That is a great result with the sherifs of electronics 😀👍 Not a subject of this video but the world is so weird nowadays, alot of people see this as trash because it is not working, bulky and old. I wonder why that is as is, is it because people don't understand the art behind technology? Imagine what people throw away these days, it is enormous without some effort to repair it, every day, every week, every year. Insane. Will there a blank period in time of history because of this behaviour? I am very glad people like you still exist, it is wonderful. Nice piece of well made tech restored to its glory. Nice video!

[@clomb1234]

I saw the original video. It’s so great to see you successfully fix it. Thank you!

[@tim_bbq1008]

you guys are awesome. that's an impractical calculator from a bygone era. "the minus sign is in your head" is hilarious.

[@MarkyShaw]

When worlds collide! ❤

[@lionlinux]

it's about dec words channel :-) (joke)

[@GeorgesChannel]

Great episode! Watching keeping this wonderful technology alive is very satisfying! Thank you for your rescue mission!

[@SidewaysCytlan]

Oh that's awesome! I remember thinking you'd be the perfect guys to fix this when watching the original video, and it actually happened.

[@cncshrops]

And Asianometry just released his history of Facit! So calcutors are the flavour of the month 😊

[@ToTheGAMES]

I love that channel

[@mikcnmvedmsfonoteka]

Cool crossover with LGR, what's next - 8bit guy, Teachmoan, Tehnology Conections etc!?

[@brunomoyano8727]

Hope so

[@ToTheGAMES]

I hope the 8-bit guy, because if that man tries to fix something it's a recipe for disaster.

[@mikcnmvedmsfonoteka]

@@ToTheGAMES especially if it's something rare... and you use dremel and paper clip on a psu

[@brunomoyano8727]

@@mikcnmvedmsfonotekayeah realy he is more of retrobriths

[@Rob2]

@@ToTheGAMES Repairing is better left to Adrian (from the digital basement)

[@enoz.j3506]

Great video,from an electronics engineer perspective i would have conformal coated the board, so any future battery leak would not eat the traces ,or worse eaten one of those ceramic ics.Would of been good to see inside the battery box,i'm guessing Nicad.Amazing these old electronic items still work after so many years.Thank you.Subbed.

[@m.k.8158]

That battery box has likely been restuffed, which is why it's still working..NiCads of the type used in those units would be pretty much useless by now.

[@enoz.j3506]

Yes,i just would of checked for peace of mind.Having been in the repair business for 40+ years , it payed to be thorough.They probably checked it out of camera.

[@fullmuppet]

Best KZbin retro tech crossover ever.

[@JB2X-Z]

I knew there was a reason I subscribed to you a while back! This was a great restoration, fantastic job!

[@neddreadmaynard]

Ken brings out his double barrelled brain gun again and blows us all away. The Master.

[@thesteelrodent1796]

happy to see this beautiful old piece of tech repaired and Clint really did a great job showing off the gorgeous ceramic ICs in his video

[@T_Mo271]

What a nice piece of equipment.

[@Dirty_Bits]

Awesome work! Even though the problem was anticlimactic, the process and description of the hardware was fantastic!

[@fgaviator]

Nice job! Wonderful calculator. And good to see the original cap being retained. All followers of the recapping cult were probably screaming at their screens "Noooo! You can't do that....". But, if it's a good cap and nothing is wrong with it, then nothing is wrong with it. Well done.

[@erikdenhouter]

I was screaming that way, but I am not a recapper in that sense. A cap can have leaked and still measure enough capacitance. This one 25% above the rating, but what if it was 35% before leaking ? Many old caps are manufactured far above their rating. Wondered why the cap was not replaced since there was no clear sign of something else has leaked. Would have wanted to see the leads without the green isolation for instance. Don't forget that this radial cap has lived its live hanging on its long leads, vibrating at the end, not glued. The rubber around the leads are subjected to opening up that way.

[@JoeDurnavich]

Putting a 50-year old electrolytic capacitor back in is pure Marc.

[@dwagner6]

Literally my two favorite YT channels hopping in bed together. What a great day!

[@grubboy3514]

"Wow, only you can figure that out" said Marc to Master Ken...🤣

[@fallwitch]

What a beautiful calculator. Great job getting it sorted.

[@eddiehimself]

The most ambitious crossover of 2022!

[@dwaynezilla]

That nixie calculator has a real nice feel to it

[@wishusknight3009]

that is beautiful workmanship.... really...

[@theposguy1435]

I love the ceramic package on those chips

[@crazor01]

What an awesome collab

[@Enjoymentboy]

Always love watching you dig into something unknown and just getting to work. Seeing the testing at the beginning reminded me of a little calculator test I accidentally discovered in grade 4. Bear in mind this was used on an old calculator that was limited to 8 digits. I learned this would tell me how the calculator rounded up/down when going to 1 digit. I put in eight 9s and divided by 3 four times (ie 99999999/3=33333333/3=11111111/3=370370.6/3=?). The answer would usually come up as 1234567.8 but if the calculator rounded down it would go to 1234567.7 and if up 1234567.9. It never actually helped me in any way but as a kid I always thought this was pretty cool and I loved trying it out any time I got my hands on a different calculator.

[@m.k.8158]

That reminds me an old trick I remember on calculators: you type 11111111, hit multiply, and hit equals-you will get 1234567.8 on most calculators(assuming an eight digit display). If you then hit 1 and equals, you get all 1's, hitting 2 and hitting equals will get all 2's, etc. This will not work on all calculators-the rounding can affect this, and the second part relies on auto-constant, which some calculators did not have. On some calculators, you will get an over-range indication along with the digits, along with the decimal point between the 7 and 8

[@AIJenkins]

Hi I’m new to this channel! Thanks for the tear down and repair. Since the cap wasn’t the culprit, my money is on body sweat from the person who repaired the battery back in the day. 🎈

[@lionlinux]

THat's so good to see i'm not the only one loves old tech

[@kellyherald1390]

This has to be one the easiest restorations you've done in quite a while. Great job keeping this calculator from being cannibalized and being lost to history.

[@amysyrmis3457]

My two favourite KZbin creators thank you

[@Jawst]

Wow I've got one similar this!!! The power suply is bigger than the calculator!!!!

[@larsbr4519]

Good one, I Iive 20Miles from Åtvidaberg where the Facit factory was situated.

[@brendenbradach]

Never thought about looping to keep the data fresh but the control systems remind me of a finite state machine I once build from logic ICs.