Strange VFD Display Tubes In The Facit 1128 

Open Day Tickets for Sundays :- this-museum-is-not-obsolete.com

I love those hand-drawn traces on the PCB. That would've been drawn at a larger scale with felt tip pens and then photoreduced and put on an acrylic transparent sheet to photo-etch the PCB.

Hi Sam, I'm glad the calculator arrived in one piece. As far as I know, the half-height zero was used because this machine does not blank out the leading zeros in the display. So it makes it easier on the operator to see where the number actually starts. The green bit in front of the display did not fall off, I took that off so that one could see the tubes better :-) Forgot that was still in there. To put it back on you unscrew the mesh, put the green bit in front of the mesh and put the mesh back in. I like the Acrylic box idea, it would definetely be cool to have it running and being able to see the inside. Have fun with it!

"Fah-sit" is correct. It means "answer" or "key". :)

Great video! There are some more Swedish people here so I don't have mention the pronunciation again. Fun fact... Until ca 1970 Facit only made mechanical calculators and had ~10,000 of employees. Then the electronic calculator was introduced and Facit was left behind. The kind of calculator you have was a "me too" product. The business went down and 1973 Facit was sold to Electrolux (the vacuum cleaner company).

Oh, so have we had an official name change for the museum? They both sound cool so no worries. Thanks Sam!

"Facit" is the correct solution to a math problem in some languages. Probably of Latin origin.

I love it!!! in any case, facit!

this stuff is just so cool! Those switches for the keys are just beautiful - not to mention those gorgeous tubes

for someone who hasn't gone to school for electronics I'm always really impressed by your knowledge and appreciation of the field

Link the number buttons (0-9) to a simple square wave oscillator, hook each one up to a note in a decatonic scale, make it beep in key. Bonus points if you can make the oscillator read the numbers from calculations on the screen to create a really impractical sequencer.

I’m only halfway through but I’m hoping, at some stage, you’re going to input the numbers 55378008 and turn it upside down, like any good school boy would! 😂

Hello, swedish person here. Facit: "Fa" as in "father", and "cit" as in "sitting".

Cool piece. I had an original Sharp Micro Compet from 1969 that had the same display tubes. I took it apart because I was an idiot back then

Facit (yes, you said it correctly the first time) was a Swedish producer of office machines (such as typewriters and calculators), but it all went south for them quite fast when office electronics took over in the early 70:ies. Under new ownership they tired to market a PC in the early 80:ies, but with no real success. Some parts of the company was sold to Nokia others to Ericsson. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facit

I’ve seen that, or a display like it, somewhere before. What a wicked cool idea for a museum. Were I not on the wrong side of the planet, I’d def visit.

Reminds me of a friend of mine having one of the first pocket calculators way back in 68 or 69. It was a Sharp brand one and it showed exactly the same sort of (imho) very elegant green display. I remember too that it was worth then quite a hefty bunch of money.

That is one awesome calculater.

Really cool display, I find the digits very legible, quite a bit more readable then normal 7 segment displays. I was wondering where the + button went untill you demonstrated it with the = button.

No Sam, what are you doing!! You don't do it like that, you do it like this!!! Nice find there mate!

I think it is pronaunced fasit, in Norwegian is means something like the solution or right awnser. Like for the math books in schools, the teacher has a special copy with all the right awnsers, and that is called a "fasit" in Norwegian. Swedish is not the exact same language, but words usually have a similar or atleast related meaning. :) Think I have seen a similar device, or with that type display when I was a kid.

I have some spare original nixie tubes and a vintage (portable) calculator with Nixie tubes you would love.

I've done a lot of research on those tubes, the ones you have are actually dg12b :)

Gettin' Dutch with those angles!

I guess they were trying to make it look more like handwriting instead of electronic. I like it.

I have a similar but smaller FACIT 1115 from 1971, with the same odd VFD digits. I have another 1115 where the only difference is it has the usual 7-segment digits and I guess it's newer. Interesting to hear about this odd display from the brochure! I don't really buy that argument that the odd 8- or 9-segment display is easier to read. Maybe that's the entire truth, but what if the reason is that it makes the decoding electronics cheaper? Perhaps there is a really easy trick to drive these odd digits, saving a lot of expensiv silicon?

The Name of this thing is pure gold. :D FACIT sounds a little bit like the german word "Fazit" wich means "conclusion"... What would even make sense for a calculator...

Those reed switch buttons must be pretty reliable! It's such a cool way to make a numberpad

Getting a vacuum form wouldnt be that hard as long as you can find a place that can do it. a transparent top piece would be awesome tho

This would be a good calculator to be featured on Numberphile.

I don't know why, but the shapes of the digits remind me Comic Sans.

A funny coincedence that you as well as FranLab did a very similar device at same time (I believe her's is slightly older) btw this display font is sick!

adam savage has some great videos about making plexi cases and vacuforming!

why not make a "sandwich" out of the facit calc, built an acrylic spacer and have the original shell and buttons as the top "lid" with the bottom either standing inside or being the real bottom? that way you can see the display through the acrylic front without blocking them like the black front plate would, use the original buttons and see the internals. it would also be somewhat smaller than a full on enclosure :P

video: there be strange VFD tube me: bet it's not really that strange video: wonky numbaaa me: oh, bless

Lol I thought the slanted camera and commentary was a play on the italic style of the font

Oooosh! Whatta beauty :O

i think i had a dream about LMNC having a video about a synth that had VFDs in it??? why are my dreams like this?? lol

Those could be Hall effect switches

Facit isn't strange. You are strange! -- All Swedes

Certainly a very interesting device. I’m not sure I have ever seen a keyboard using reed switches.

6 my fav.

Yah.. ummm.. I looked it up! lol Most everyone would never guess the Pronunciation! Here we go sv , Swedish "Facit" = /fɑːsɪt/. en Eglish word equivalent /ˈfɔːsɪt/ or /ˈfɑsɪt/ a.k.a Faucet! English translation sv "facit" = en "fact"

first thing tgat came to me when hearing about Facit was Faceit

Fran Lab?

Suprr cool charakters

Noooooo, now I'll never be able to find these tubes :( These tubes were made by itron, as well as a the ussr, called the iv-2, but the Russian ones are extremely rare This font was made to stand out, and in fact on many old regular 7 segment vfd calculators they would make the 0 an o, i believe it was to emulate these snazzy tubes

I have the Facit 1125 here at home, that one is with nixie tubes and magnetic core memory EDIT: I once uploaded some pictures of it: imgur.com/a/nhGAf

Id worry about lost keys if you expose the keys to interactivity.

Ah FAC IT, just put it in a clear box! LOL

I am pretty sure the name comes from the Latin "facere", "doing". It literally means "it does". If so the pronunciation is the same C as in "chips".

Any CS players out there notice the FACEIT vibes?

We germans have learned Not to call a device *fuck it*

I have a VFD clock in my room

My wife said we need a calculator and i said , naaah facit

You should try google translator with sounds! It pronounces Finnish and Swedish NOT the dirty word as you pronounced it in English.

It's a shame that you are enforcing timeslots at the museum. It's not possible to even contemplate arriving for a 1 hour timeslot after a 300-350 mile drive. I've had the journey to roughly your area vary by as much as 7 hours depending on traffic and the number of accidents that day. Are the timeslots just because of the Rona? Will it be general admission in the future?

someone showing off a calculator and not typing in 80085? blasphemy :)

this is the 66th comment. good day !

It's pronounced fah-sid

Its a 6 segment display. Not this 7 segment rubbish

you could probably cut a pressfit enclosure out of some plexiglass or whatever those sheets of acrylic that come with paper stuck to prevent scratching them are called