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  1. #1
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    Default Machinist Calculator

    I put this in a recent thread, but that tends to get missed or buried in future, and I thought it may be of interest in itself.

    I've recently begun using a dedicated calculator for machining within the workshop and so far am very happy with what it has to offer. Although there are a number of applications available for smart phones that can do some of the functions of this, I haven't seen any that will do them all. Furthermore, when using my phone in the workshop it was getting covered in crap all the time. Phones are expensive and somewhat fragile, so I was quite happy to consider having a small dedicated calculator for the trig functions. When I saw this one I decided it was worth a gamble as it has a number of functions inbuilt that I'm interested in and will save both going to handbooks and (hopefully) making mistakes.

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    At the time of writing I've only used it for dummy calculations as far as 3 wire and thread fits, and now I know the basics of how to use it will begin using it in the workshop. However I do often work in mixed metric/imperial and have both machines in both. It can easily lead to mistakes ... just ask NASA ... twice! Already I've been using it to work through problems using both systems without the worry of rounding errors etc that normally begin to accumulate. I'm not suggesting that's good practice, just an unfortunate reality. Another feature that proved immediately handy was the inbuilt drill table (up to 78 mm drill size IIRC ). Up to 10 mm I have 0.1 mm step sets, so that's no issue, but above 10 mm I don't have full coverage. It's handy to be able to just click through the "chart" and find the nearest (in this case fractional) drill size to the hole I needed. Yes everything is available in charts, tables, and calculations, but it's definitely not as quick or as likely error free.

    It cost me $99 including postage through eBay and a store in Melbourne. Be aware this is the International edition, which is most likely the one that most here would be after.

    No financial interest in the product, usual yadda yadda yadda disclaimers.

    Pete

  2. #2
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    Default

    Not a bad looking unit... I know there are apps for android/apple smart phones, but some of them are very clumsy to use..
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  3. #3
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default

    Looks pretty handy Pete. I'm normally against these specialist calculators because any kids using them won't know how to do anything from first principles and will just get lazy using them. I do like the idea of all those look up tables being already in the calculator but I would still print out and post up tables like drill sizes as this would in most cases be quicker than finding the (of course it will be) "lost calculator" and turning it on etc. They are probably there but I can't see any brackets, so nested calculations would be a pain.

    Talking of brackets Some of you may be old enough to remember calculators that don't need brackets to perform even the most complicated nested calcs. The system is called RPN - reverse poulish notation. Once you get experienced with using RPN, all the brackets do is slow you down and then going back to bracketed operations is very frustrating. I still have the second of my RPN calculators , its an HP41CV. The batteries are shot but the adapter and magnetic card read still work so when I want to work on something complicated I sit down with a cup of coffee and in most cases I still like to lay out stuff on paper so I can see the whole thing set out including looking at all the numbers. Being programmable there are thousands of scientific and engineering libraries freely available and they can solve a lot of tricky stuff. I spent a lot of time on my 41CV - I even programmed a nuclear reactor model for it that took 16 hours to run on.

    The HP41CV and an even more advanced version with symbolic/algebraic manipulation are available as apps (AL Software) for about $12 so I have it with me where ever I am. The app even has the confirming button click which I alway thought was a nice feature on the original model. I don't recommend these unless you are familiar with RPN or have a some time to kill. However, the time spent learning is eventually recovered

  4. #4
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    Default

    I see they make an Android version for $20..... OK so I bought that.... Good thing about that is I can put it on all my android devices...
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  5. #5
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    Default

    Hey Bob, I haven't actually looked much at the calculator side of things, but doubt it would be terribly sophisticated. In reality I don't know if that would be much of a hinderance to be honest, at least not in a workshop.

    I agree, things like a drill chart aren't a terribly sophisticated thing to quack on about, but as I haven't had it very long I wanted to provide real-life examples of when I found it useful. I guess it's more icing on the cake than the cake itself. Everything it does would be available with a basic engineering data book and a $20 scientific calculator, but it's nice to have it all in the one place, and solving the problems with just the relevant data input instead of needing to work through the whole equation.

    Likewise, things like 3 wire measuring and thread tolerance (the required thread tolerance can be specified and min/max measurements for wires the user can specify will be generated). The reality however is that I have no one specifying a tolerance to me, so in a way it's all a bit of a nonsense. However I'm increasingly wanting to challenge myself to work to specific tolerances instead of "'bout right", both for the challenge of doing so, and because I'm doing more work for others. The figures are then generated in seconds, whereas working through them manually would take quite a while.

    My first calculator was RPN, I think the battery life was about the same as the half life of the Higgs Boson particle. I prefer RPN, but I went to the Ti-58 and finally the Ti-59 which are conventional. The above calculator has nothing in common with the '59!!

    Pete

    I see they make an Android version for $20..... OK so I bought that.... Good thing about that is I can put it on all my android devices...
    iPhone too I believe. I wasn't interested as one of the main things was concerned about was the iPhone getting knocked about (I also often don't have it with me in the workshop, whereas I wanted something to just leave there instead of always forgetting to take it. But functionally they should be identical I would think, so let me know what you think.

  6. #6
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    Default

    Yes I agree, that is the big problem with iphones, being the cost... Not cheap items... I picked up an older Android phone for $50, or a android tablet can be cheapish these days..

    not wanting to start an Android versus Apple pissing contest just comparing prices for products..

    What would be awesome if someone made an app where you could plug a DRO scale into a tablet....
    Gold, the colour of choice for the discerning person.

  7. #7
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    Default

    Ive got a scientific calc on my phone and because it's generally always in my pocket, its always handy. Scientific calcs are cheap as chips these days (not like when I was in High School) and so I have about 2 of them in the shed. Unfortunately I have a bad habit of placing them down on the nearest horizontal surface when finished, this means I never can find it again when I need it!

    I usually do metric to imperial and vice versa from first principles but sometimes I have a brain freeze with the conversion rates and muck up a job!

    Nice calc. The idea of having all the tabulated info in one hand held device sounds good!

    Simon

  8. #8
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    This raises the issue of a combined/dedicated device versus a bunch of single use devices.

    The problem with single use devices is when I go to use then the first problem is finding it and then the battery will most likely be dead, then I will have a spare battery for every other device but that one.
    The problem with combined devices is when it goes down so do a whole lot of others. Also the combined device is not always as good as the functions on a dedicated device.

    Ah . . . . .the trials of modern life!

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    Brisbane
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    Default Android DRO

    Hi RC,
    There is a guy who is working on and android DRO system.
    Not sure if it is for sale yet but looks quite good.
    Yuriy's Toys: DIY DRO Project

    Regards
    David

  10. #10
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    Jun 2012
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    Default

    That is cool! Nice find. Can we use this calculator for band saw application?

  11. #11
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    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by bosox View Post
    That is cool! Nice find. Can we use this calculator for band saw application?
    Band saw application?

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