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Comment by bediger4000 | Hacker News Reader

I tried to find a place to buy a new slide rule for my 15-year old. I've got twins in different schools, one school doing a lot more math than the other, and I wanted to get him going on logarithms. Couldn't find a new one, just antiques on ebay, etc. I ended up making one of the paper ones, but they're not the same.

Does anybody make new slide rules?

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I don't think anyone still makes new slide rules, except for the E6B flight computer which is rather specialized. However, you should be able to get a metal Pickett slide rule on ebay for a reasonable price; they're great slide rules and being metal rather than wood will tend to hold up better over the years (moisture can really mess up a wood slide rule). Something like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/234503446574

> except for the E6B flight computer which is rather specialized

That's a positive, not a negative, since it demonstrates a whole host of practical problems that can be solved quickly with a slide rule. And they still work fine for general multiplication, and they are cheap and easy to get.

You can buy refurbished and also new-in-box (a bit expensive depending on the model) slide rules from various sites, such as https://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/sruniverse.html.

I thought about getting into hand making them, figured out most of the techniques that I can do in my garage with some components (the end brackets, and cursor runners) being made on a 3D printer. But I'm hung up on where to get the cursor springs from, or what would be a good substitute. One of these days I may revisit the topic.

Concise in Japan[1] still make circular slide rules (the 300, 270N, 28N 27N). I bought a couple from them a few years ago. Good quality, and work well.

[1] https://www.sliderule.tokyo/products/list.php

Maybe an E6B would be helpful.

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