Spice question

[[kby]]

Hopefully an easy one…what was the year of the changeover in the way the Spice calculators were put together (i.e. assuming the serial number was reliable, whatever date code would likely indicate a Spice calculator with the redesigned construction)?

[Steve Simpkin]

(06-07-2019 06:42 PM)[kby] Wrote:  Hopefully an easy one…what was the year of the changeover in the way the Spice calculators were put together (i.e. assuming the serial number was reliable, whatever date code would likely indicate a Spice calculator with the redesigned construction)?

AFAIK the only way to tell is by weighing the calculator. If it weighs around 175g (6.25oz) it is the newer soldered version. Around 220g (7.75oz) and it's the original press-fit version.

[rprosperi]

(06-08-2019 07:24 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  

(06-07-2019 06:42 PM)[kby] Wrote:  Hopefully an easy one…what was the year of the changeover in the way the Spice calculators were put together (i.e. assuming the serial number was reliable, whatever date code would likely indicate a Spice calculator with the redesigned construction)?

AFAIK the only way to tell is by weighing the calculator. If it weighs around 175g (6.25oz) it is the newer soldered version. Around 220g (7.75oz) and it's the original press-fit version.

To partially answer the question about what year... I don't have too many Spice machines, only 1 of each (except several 34C, because, well... they're 34C's) but these samples partially clarify the changeover date:

HP-32E: 2134S, 217g
HP-37E: 2219S, 174g

Thanks to Steve for the simple weight metric, very handy.

[[kby]]

(06-08-2019 04:04 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(06-08-2019 07:24 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  AFAIK the only way to tell is by weighing the calculator. If it weighs around 175g (6.25oz) it is the newer soldered version. Around 220g (7.75oz) and it's the original press-fit version.

To partially answer the question about what year... I don't have too many Spice machines, only 1 of each (except several 34C, because, well... they're 34C's) but these samples partially clarify the changeover date:

HP-32E: 2134S, 217g
HP-37E: 2219S, 174g

Thanks to Steve for the simple weight metric, very handy.

Thanks to both of your for the info and for checking. I was thinking weighing was perfectly fine, except I feel a little odd (and not sure how difficult it would be to ge the correct answer) from someone on TAS if I were evaluating a machine, hence my question on dates. Allegedly one had an upgrade done to it (by HP) but it still has an old (1980?) serial number; assuming no case swap or something. I would have thought they would have just sent the person a new calculator—at least that’s what they did when I had some complaint (which I can’t remember, but it probably wasn’t really that serious, except to the snot-nosed nerd I was as a junior in college in 1976 who had admittedly just spent $800 on a calculator).