My Calculator DM42 ist arrived ;-)

Discussion around the SwissMicros DM42 calculator
gduncan
Posts: 18
Joined: Sat Mar 03, 2018 3:18 pm
Location: Colorado, USA

Re: My Calculator DM42 ist arrived ;-)

Post by gduncan »

My wife received her DM42 in early February. I ordered mine a few weeks later. As someone with two units to compare, I thought I'd share my thoughts.
First off, I have really been enjoying working with the DM42! Moreover, my experience with SwissMicros has been outstanding, and I will be recommending their calculators to everyone I think might be interested. I very much appreciate the online forum as well.
dingebre wrote:
Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:33 pm
I too have noticed the enter key is a bit "dead" but only on the left side on both calculators. Anyone else notice this?
Yes, both of our DM42's have the same enter key behavior. The left side registers but does not click or depress much. My machine was much worse with regard to this issue. I eventually ended up peeling up the tape and replacing the enter key domes with domes from less used keys. I am hoping that this does not cause future problems. But the tactile response of the enter key is now quite good. Comparable, if not better than my wife's machine. Although still, the enter key does not click when pressing the left side of the key.
In an effort to improve the key feel throughout the entire keyboard, I disassembled the calculator and tried bending the keys inwards and outwards to loosen the plastic attachments of the keys to the front-plate. The result is that my keys are now considerably less angled, but the key presses are easier. I think it feels better.
Mine also had the problem of the opposite side of the machine lifting off a flat surface when pressing keys in the leftmost or rightmost columns. I emailed SM and received a quick reply with instructions to try stepping on the back of the fully assembled calculator, as well as to try twisting the assembled calculator diagonally. Well, I was very happy to correct the issue to near perfection by following those directions.
For now, I think the hardware aspect of my machine is in good order. I look forward to using it lots.

Greg
dingebre
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:01 am

Re: My Calculator DM42 ist arrived ;-)

Post by dingebre »

rkf wrote:
Tue Mar 20, 2018 10:07 am
dingebre wrote:
Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:33 pm
... I too have noticed the enter key is a bit "dead" but only on the left side on both calculators. Anyone else notice this? ...
MeToo, unfortunately. My workaround is trying to use only the rightmost part of the Enter key, giving the anticipated tactile feedback.
Thanks for the confirmation. Seems to be a feature :)
David

Collision Forensics & Engineering, Inc.
www.CFandE.com

Analogue Realities
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stefanoaz
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Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2018 8:25 pm

Re: My Calculator DM42 ist arrived ;-)

Post by stefanoaz »

My s/n 830 arrived on 4/17, seven weekdays after my order - decent transit time to Arizona.

I remember when the HP42S was introduced. I had owned an HP41C since 1980 and it got me through university, and my first years at work. I was anxious to see what improvements were in the new model. It was astonishing that they had taken almost all I/O capability out - that was a dealbreaker, and a blunder on HP's part.

I bought an HP48SX instead, but I never felt RPL was as intuitive as the 41C's keystroke programming was. Also at that time, PCs were becoming mainstream, so my 48's programming capability went unused. And when I needed symbolic algebra, the right tools were Mathcad - later Maxima and Mathematica - and not a tiny screen. But there was a hole left for a portable, programmable RPN machine updated from the 41C.

I've been waiting for this DM42 ever since Michael posted the first video of the prototype in 2016. I'm delighted with it, and certainly with the larger display and the enhancements that have come from Michael and Thomas's work. I'm glad they persevered for the years it took to come to this point.
HP-41C, 48SX, DM-42 s/n 830
K7ATR
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2018 8:24 am

Re: My Calculator DM42 ist arrived ;-)

Post by K7ATR »

I just got mine today, I ordered it about a week ago. I'm a previous customer of Swissmicros, having purchased a DM-41 and a DM-15L. While they are great calculators both suffered from a couple issues. I pulled the post out of my DM-41's PCB so it doesn't fit properly into its case any more, and the screen-printed labels on the case around the buttons on the DM-15L have started flaking off. That said, the DM-42 is a real beauty, the solid case and large screen, plus the heft of the thing really makes me happy. The buttons all work perfectly as well as having a really nice feel, I am really happy with this calculator so far. I have created some OFFIMG files too and tried that out.

Cheers to Michael and everybody involved in this project including the folks who made Free42. I feel this is easily the nicest calculator on the market especially in its niche, but even generally. It's great to see a small enterprise come to the rescue - a DM42 is even cheaper than a good condition HP-42S, with much more speed. I'm about to go downstairs and dig out my HP IR printer and try it out.
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