{
  "id": 11033748,
  "title": "YouTube lunatic designed and 3D printed a working mechanical calculator",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/youtube-lunatic-designed-and-3d-printed-a-working-mechanical-11033748",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-30T20:39:35.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Register",
    "slug": "the-register",
    "url": "https://www.theregister.com/offbeat/2026/09/30/youtube-lunatic-designed-and-3d-printed-a-working-mechanical-calculator/5300273"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A YouTuber has successfully 3D printed a pocket-sized mechanical calculator, proving that this type of gadget can indeed be made from plastic filament. The device, named 3D all Workshop's build, is based on a 200-year-old component called the Leibniz stepped drum, which is found in many mechanical calculators. The calculator can perform addition and multiplication, but lacks the ability to subtract or divide due to space constraints. Workshop encountered numerous issues during the two-month project, which involved 100 design iterations. The final calculator consisted of 109 pieces, took 17 hours to print, and used 90g of filament. Despite numerous requests for a design publication or sale, the YouTuber hasn't made his creation available.",
  "summary": "If you can't afford a Curta, we still don't recommend trying this: It'll eat up months of your life and all the filament you have",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Register Science",
        "title": "YouTube lunatic designed and 3D printed a working mechanical calculator",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/youtube-lunatic-designed-and-3d-printed-a-working-mechanical",
        "published": "2026-09-30T20:39:35.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}