Have you got some magic up your sleeve to restore those well-loved keycaps? Or is the cure to just develop an appreciation for personal devices that have some "character"? (my usual solution)
Well all is not great in the house of panaplex today unfortunately.
Issues I found:
1. The caps were short. Sorted those and powered it up and mostly works. I can actually do calculations.
2. Mains lead had dissolved. Replaced this with a new three pin one, earthed the thing and made a lame as hell strain relief.
3. Middle display is fizzling out a bit. This was a contact issue. Solved.
4. Left hand display is totally dead. Swapped it with the middle one and it didn't work in the middle hole either.
5. Key mechaisms need refurb (looks easy enough - clean + lube)
Going to clean and test it thoroughly as the thing has socketed displays and lots of iffy looking pins on the panaplex displays so it might just need a good clean and the voltages checked and recalibrated as it has a ton of old carbon resistors in it.
Worst case I need a new Sperry SP-353. They turn up quite regularly BIN in the UK for bugger all, usually in things if you know what to look for, so it's just a case of putting this in the cupboard and lurking for a few months. It came with another calculator as well which is totally duff but might have something interesting in it. It has an early VFD in it by the looks.
As for the keycaps, they will be cleaned and repainted. The keytops have recessed lettering and I'm pretty handy with a can of enamel paint