Building a 1967 Paperclip Computer

My cousin, Michael Gardi, has a hobby of recreating digital computing educational toys from the 1960s. He's produced several so far; see this blog post for a summary.

He has a new project, a recreation of the WDC-1 computer based on the book "How to Build a Working Digital Computer" by Edward Alcosser, James P. Phillips, and Allen M. Wolk. It's sometimes known as the "paperclip computer" book, as they used paperclips for the switches.

Mike says:

There have been a few implementations based on the book over the years. A couple are pictured above. This project will document my efforts to make my own version of a "Working Digital Computer" henceforth to be called WDC-1. My intent is to use period technologies but modern building techniques like 3D printing and PCB fabrication. I will probably not use paperclips for switches.

He's completed the project and this is what it looks like.

This is a cool project and I'm looking forward to seeing it the next time I visit Mike. If you want to try it yourself, details are in his Hackaday article.