A brand new issue of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine has arrived. Our favourite article within this month’s pages is a little left-field – we fell for all the Pi-related Easter eggs hidden in this build.

We are big fans of the Unix philosophy here at Raspberry Pi Towers: devices should do one thing and one thing well. It’s great that you can have a calculator app on your phone or a laptop, but a dedicated physical calculator somehow imbues the numbers with more gravitas. That’s certainly the case for this 3D printed calculator built by computer scientist Chris Haynes. The Flapulator, as he calls it, is a calculator sporting a 3D printed mechanical flap display, powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico, and featuring the same Gateron KS-33 low-profile mechanical switches as seen on Raspberry Pi 500+.

To be frank, that’s enough for us: any device built in the modern age that uses an obsolete display technology gets our vote, but there’s more to this than meets the eye… or pi. As well a dedicated pi button, all the trigonometric functions only work in radians, and all of the angles used when designing the shell, lid, and body are either some form of pi or a derivative of pi.

Chris told us: “… I have found myself using the Flapulator more often than I expected. For quick and simple calculations, it does add some extra enjoyment that you just can’t get with a digital equivalent. I think we can all appreciate the joy of using a highly tactile device, and the Flapulator does a great job of stimulating all of the senses related to that. There is the satisfying feel of clicking the keyboard, the auditory pleasure in hearing the digits turn, and the visual enjoyment of watching the display update.”

Issue 166 of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine is out now!

If you liked this article, there are many more like it in the latest issue of Raspberry Pi Official Magazine. You can purchase a copy from the Raspberry Pi Store in Cambridge. It’s also available from our online store, which ships around the world. And you can get a digital version via our app on Android or iOS.

You can also subscribe to the print version of our magazine. Not only do we deliver worldwide, but those who sign up for a six- or twelve-month print subscription will receive a FREE Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W!