This is a Marchant "Silent Speed" ACR8D electromechanical calculator from the 1940s. It is currently jammed up, stuck on a division problem it never finished, and is apparently the most complicated mechanical calculator out there. Wish me luck!
Well this is disappointing. While trying to loosen up stuck mechanisms a few teeth broke off of an important gear. Guess this is now a parts machine.
@ajmartinez That would be fun. At this point I'll need to source a replacement gear at a minimum and then completely remove the control unit to reset all the interlocks. I think the easiest path is to find another parts machine and then make one good machine out of both of them.
@kyle probably the easiest path indeed, but given the common thread through which we met I would wager few who have met either of us ever expect the easiest path to be the chosen one!
@kyle can you 3D print one? (He says, totally ignorant of 3D printing and the stress factors involved.)
@lwriemen Many 3D printers themselves use 3D-printed gears, so they at least can hold up to those stresses. In this case the teeth are small enough they might not hold up so well to constant stress against metal gears.
@kyle when I’m back stateside let’s sync on this. See if I can use my actual degree to get this machine running again. It’d be nice to a) help you out, and b) exercise the machine design parts of my brain.