The Curta.org Bulletin Board

[Pete]

So, I was fooling around with one of my late-model Curtas, and, argh, broke the damn clearing ring. It was cracked before, but when I touched it the crack spread and now the piece is irretrievably broken. And I don't have a replacement. This means I now have two Curtas with missing clearing rings.

I must say, I prefer the machines where every piece is metal. But collectors like to have every type, and I do have several Curtas with plastic cases, crank handles, and clearing rings. These parts will inevitably degrade over time in a way that metal does not. Eventually my plastic parts will become worthless.

Now, recent developments in "3D printing" have led me to believe that we could get replacement clearing rings produced without too much trouble. Does anyone on this board have any experience in these matters? Or any suggestions?
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Cheers, Pete

[murff]

here is one...



(the last one - the drawer is full of other parts - no more Löscherhebel)



And - I do not think 3D printed parts are so highly durable...
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:: m u r f f
:: curta.li

[Pete]

Murff,

I agree with you re: durability - but I think this will change as the technology matures. Regardless, if one could have, for example, 100 clearing rings produced for one CHF, they could break every six weeks and it wouldn't matter!

I'll look into this and see what can be done.
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Cheers, Pete

[Pete]

Just as an update to the above posts, I now have a few dozen black plastic clearing rings - indistinguishable from the originals - which fit any of the various models that originally used the plastic clearing rings. I replaced three in my collection!

These cost me a few bucks to get made (3D printed example plus milling the production units was $250!) so I'm not offering them for free, but I imagine cheaper than you'll find them elsewhere!
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Cheers, Pete