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Store139

213 orders since Dec 30, 2019

North York, ON, Canada

Ships from Canada.

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Sales to USA has been suspended, need to figure out shipping options. Store closed, CanadaPost on strike right now.

Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

5
10 4
7 3
0 2
0 1
0

Average Ratings

Product: (5.00)

Documentation: (4.59)

Shipping: (4.88)

Communication: (4.82)

All Reviews

Chris | May 11, 2025

An amazing kit from Chris Chung in Toronto, Canada.

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

This emulator kit for the Sinclair Scientific (and the TI Datamath) of 1974 is amazingly well done. It worked first time and took less than an hour to assemble from scratch.

The design ethos is perfectly in keeping with Sinclair - a diminutive pcb with small switches and a very clever shallow case added. It is even smaller than the original, a head-turner at the time 50 years ago. Eliminating the slide switch (ironically one of the least reliable parts of the original Sinclair) was a good move, taking advantage of the frugal sleep current consumption of the TI MPS430 20 pdip used.

Very high quality pcb and parts, with a useful violet filter added to ease reading of the 9 digit LED displays.
The alpha prompts are very helpful, as is the 'secret message' eeprom feature.
Ten out of ten, Chris.

Randall | Nov. 29, 2023

A very cool little clock.

For S14Clock LED Word Clock Kit (12 Characters)

Im a bit of an electronic clock kit collector and this is now one of my favourite clocks in my collection.

Very easy to assemble and the documentation of how to set it up is pretty good. The only flaw is the TimeZone setting will not take the suggested time zone string as it appears the string length is too long for the variable in my case and it gets truncated. Not a hard thing to work around but a little annoying.

It is now my primary time piece for my "cave" and has owkred flawlessly since I first set it up.
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Response from Store139 | Nov. 29, 2023
Hi Randall, thanks for your review. The TZ string capacity issue was reported and fixed (now 40 characters wide) 2 days ago. Please visit the github page and install the latest V2.03 firmware.

Christopher | Nov. 7, 2023

Fun "retro" 14 segment device

For S14Clock LED Word Clock Kit (24 Characters)

I purchased this for my home office that I'm outfitting with a "control center" sort of motif. I like the red LED motif, but I would see a few occasions where a "green" or "amber" one might be fun as well. I have 3d printed a "friction fit" enclosure for it that makes the display cover flush the the opening in the enclosure, and an appropriate hole for the USB-C plug, and 3d printed a "stand" that tilts it up slightly for close viewing. I added some "vents" to the rear of the enclosure, although I really don't feel any substantial radiated heat from the unit.

The designer of this went to great troubles to eliminate a surface-mount component to make the unit easier to assemble. The downside is that nearly every IO on the ESP device is utilized -- there may or may not be one that is available. I was thinking of tying to WS2812b style LEDs on my stand for alerts. I haven't had time to investigate if that is possible. The other downside is that the brightness of the display is limited due to the mutiplexing and charlie-plexing going on. In a perfect world, I'd like 25-50% more brightness.

All that said, this is a great device, and I plan on ordering a couple more.

Nate | Aug. 7, 2023

Very polished product that works and looks great!

For S14Clock LED Word Clock Kit (24 Characters)

Such a cool project. Soldiering was easy, instructions were straightforward. I plugged it in and it literally worked as expected. I didn't even have to adjust my timezone. The custom messages look great with the animations. A very well executed product that I'm really enjoying!

T | July 5, 2023

Great interface, awesome looking display

For S14Clock LED Word Clock Kit (24 Characters)

Easy to solder (I shake, but managed with surface mount, I used 0.3mm solder)
Worked straight away
Easy to follow instructions
It's awesome being able to show the time in many formats and also display and send messages from the phone via IP address
Good quality and well considered placement of parts

The transition effects are so satisfying to watch!
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Response from Store139 | July 7, 2023
SMD component eliminated in latest HW design. Now easier to solder.

Michael | May 21, 2023

Terrific LED kit. Easy to assemble and reasonably priced.

For S14Clock LED Word Clock Kit (24 Characters)

Kit arrived well packaged and only took a couple of weeks to reach me in the UK (no customs delay either, unlike many of my purchases from the USA).

I was a bit concerned about soldering the demultiplexer but I played with a cheap SMD practice kit from Aliexpress in advance and with the right tools, it was a breeze. The rest of the kit was very quick to assemble, simple through-hole soldering and a bit of bolting together. I had to re-flash the code, due to the Wi-Fi problem described on the Github page but otherwise it powered up like a charm. The product description mentions that the 24-char display is dimmer than the smaller 12-char model but I can confirm that even in bright sunlight, the bigger unit is perfectly readable.

I have similar display called the WOPR by Unexpected Maker and it's interesting comparing the two. The WOPR feels more sophisticated, with the 3D housing, darker faceplate and front facing buttons but I do like the retro feel of the S14-24 and it's hard to fault the elegance of the design; one demux and a microcontroller in a very compact package. The web interface is also excellent.

The only slight criticism I have of the physical design (also true of the WOPR) is that for an otherwise slim unit, the plug-in microcontroller sticks out quite a bit from the PCB and is clearly visible from above or from the side. A lower profile header or even soldering the controller directly to the PCB would vastly improve the look.

Concerning the software, a useful feature that I think could be added is the ability to enter the time zone as a location, e.g. Europe/London and have the unit adjust for daylight saving automatically. As it is, I had to enter +1 for British Summer Time and I suppose that I'll have to change that parameter back to zero when we revert to GMT in the autumn.

Those minor comments aside, I absolutely love the S14-24. It's old-school tech with a modern twist-superb!

Ryan | April 12, 2023

Great clock! exactly what I was looking for

For S14Clock LED Word Clock Kit (24 Characters)

It's an awesome clock, well made and thought out. Had a couple issues trying to get the console working to join it to my wifi network, however I discovered it to be an issue with Google Chrome / it worked fine in firefox.

Garry | Feb. 7, 2023

Great little kit

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

I bought this kit for some much-needed soldering practice. It arrived very quickly and was easy to put together. Works very well as the quirky Sinclair Scientific, but with more reliable keys (I have an original version too!)

The firmware has some nice touches, including a personalised (and modifiable) "secret message". The ability to slow it down gives an interesting look at how much work is involved in each calculation. Cool also to be able to run as the DataMath.

Joshua | Oct. 7, 2022

Neat calculator kit

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

It was pretty easy to assemble (and this was only the fourth kit I have made), but it would have been nice to have a picture of how the battery holder on the 2020 version is supposed to be put in.

In DataMath mode it works like regular four function calculator, in Sinclair mode it works like a Sinclair Scientific, which is kind of a strange scientific calculator (To get sqrt(45) you would use 10^(log(45)/2), and to get that you would type 4 5 E 1 Up X 2 / Down X and get 6.7091E00)

If you have ever wanted to build your own calculator, I recommend this kit.

Mario | Aug. 28, 2021

very nice DIY kit!

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

I received this as a DIY kit, arrived fast and it was well documented and easy enough to put together. Worked first time as expected, it is very nice to have a functioning replica of this historic calculator and gain a bit of insight into how it works. Thank you!

Christopher | July 27, 2020

What a great gadget that brings back a lot of memories!

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

I sure loved the golden age of scientific calculators and this project sure hits a home run with me. Very enjoyable to build, to hold and to use once in a while.

Christopher | July 27, 2020

WHAT A WONDERFUL BLAST FROM THE PAST!

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit

This piece of kit was wonderful to build and great to hold in my hand. Really brings back memories of the golden age of scientific calculators.

Eli | July 19, 2020

Awesome easy-to-assemble kit

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

Kit was super easy to assemble, and the two calculator simulations are a lot of fun, especially in conjunction with the online simulations. Incredible to see what was squeezed out of so little space!

Douglas | July 17, 2020

Went together quickly, works well

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

The kit was complete.

It wet together quickly.

It performs well in both modes.

Though the instructions are brief, they are enough to assemble and use the calculator.

Joseph | July 6, 2020

Excellent product, performs exactly as advertised.

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit (2020 Version)

Chris Chung, we're not worthy! Beautifully engineered and faithfully executed, worked first time out of the box. Arrived on time. Definitely worth the $10 to not have to resuscitate my soldering chops. Appreciated having my name in the secret message. Chris, you brought great joy to this 75-year-old geezer.

May 2021 update: New board is great; the battery holder is a big improvement!
See: https://www.dropbox.com/s/30497zfml2eotf1/Sinclair.jpg?dl=0 for an assembled version.

Douglas | June 18, 2020

Excellent item

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit

Excellent emulator which precisely matches the original. The use of LPM4 to get an auto power off is cool. If I have a criticism, it is the negative sign LED is a tad too flimsy (I broke mine during soldering - yes I am v experienced): I intend to replace it with an smd led when I get an opportunity.

Many thanks.

John | March 19, 2020

Retro calculator at its best

For TI MSP430 Emulating Calculator Kit

I love this kit. The construction is pretty simple (it can be a little fiddly getting the switches just right, but if it was too easy what would the point be, right?). I opted to use a socket for the displays and IC, but in doing so I bent the IC pins and snapped a few off (oops) so I just soldered the replacement IC in directly (thanks very much for the speedy replacement!) and it worked perfectly. I kept the displays in sockets, and they seemed happy.

The real joy is using this thing. You need to read the web sites linked to from the description to fully appreciate what this is: a piece of genius that shrank a scientific calculator into something that should not have been possible. The coding is genius, and it's fun to work out RPN and watch as the poor little thing tries to calculate SIN :-)

This kit emulates two types of calculator so make sure you know which mode you are in, so you can read the relevant printing on the PCB. Overall, very please. I got the version with the retro LED bubble displays for full-on vintage effect, but the version with the modern LEDs will probably be easier to read and will be just as much fun learning to use.

Remember to get the original Sinclair manual from the links!

(I built this kit with my 11 year old doing the soldering, and it was a great way to spend time together)