Restoring the Heathkit ES-400 Computer

摘要

Several years ago, I restored Heathkit's smaller analog computer, the EC-1. You may have read about it in the May 2016 issue of Nuts & Volts. Afterwards, I vowed to find and restore my dream computer: the ES-400. Amazingly, a nice gentleman in Northern California heard about my quest and just happened to have one in his storage locker. He said I was welcome to it for free if I would give it a good home. What a laugh! I'm located in Southern California, so we met up the coast about halfway between us, and made the transfer. Unfortunately, on the trip back down to my shop, I had a major problem. The transmission in my SUV failed and the computer and I shared a tow the final 103 miles - $2,200 later, the SUV was back in operation and the so-called "FREE" computer was safely in my shop. C'est la vie!