The Heath Company originally sold the EC-1 from 1959 to 1971. It had 17 vacuum tubes and lots of knobs and banana jacks in an awesome front panel. Figure 1 is a picture
from the Heathkit catalog. Nowadays, they show up on
eBay on a fairly regular basis, but some of them can be
quite expensive.
Nothing is Ever Simple
When I bought the computer, I knew I was in for a
major cleanup after seeing the photos on eBay. Figure 2
shows the unit just after I unpacked it. At first, I thought
that a little 409 cleaner would do the job, but I soon
I love restoring old electronic equipment, bringing things back to life. A while ago, I
was excited to find a vintage Heathkit EC-1 analog computer for a reasonable price
on eBay. It definitely needed a little TLC.
Old Heathkits
Never Die,
They Just Get
Restored
40 May 2016
FIGURE 2. This EC-1 was purchased on eBay for $420.
It obviously needed a major restoration.
FIGURE 3. The finished restoration included new vacuum tubes,
tube sockets, binding posts, potentiometers, and a line cord.
FIGURE 1. The Heath Company sold the EC-1 analog
computer from 1959 to 1971 for $199.95. Today, they can sell
for well over $1,000 on eBay.
