Custom calculator takes us back to the 70s

There are certain design aesthetics from all eras that manage to survive the fashions of their time and live on through history. Ancient Greek architecture is still used for design inspiration in modern buildings, the mid-century modern style of the 60s still inspires various models of consumer goods, and the rounded and sleek cars of the 90s are still highly desirable qualities in automotive design. For electronics, though, we like this '70s-inspired calculator that [Aaron] recently built.

The calculator harkens back to the days of calculators like the HP-29C with its large buttons and dot-matrix display. [Aaron] constructed the case from various woods with a screen angled towards the user, and it uses an LCD screen similar to those found in antique calculators. The calculator's brain is an Arduino that slides easily into the case, and [Aaron] also built the keyboard from scratch with Cherry MX-style mechanical keys soldered together in a custom shape.

The software to run the calculator is fairly simple, but we're very impressed with the woodwork, styling and keyboard design in this version. [Aaron] is also fixing some bugs with the power supply as he uses a DC-DC converter to power the device from a single lithium battery. For those who prefer early 2000s graphing calculators instead, be sure to check out this graphing calculator arcade cabinet.