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I’ve been trying to pin down the age of the BGM machine I’m working on. To me the design feels 1988-1992, but that’s just a hunch.

This task is not made any easer with this being a commercial device as the dates for these are harder to pin down based on fashion. The internet is of no help and I can’t get to the motor to see if that has a date sticker.

My last hope for finding a date was the chips as sometimes these have date codes on them, however on this occasion I’m not seeing anything that clearly confirms a date. If you’re a chip expert could you have a glance over the pictures I’ve posted here and see if you can decypher anything from the text printed on them.

There are seven chips - some were easier to get a good angle on than others (the last one I've uploaded two pictures of) …but these are the clearest pictures I could capture.

UPDATE - We’re going with 1988 as the most recent date. 

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Comments

Anonymous

Thanks for giving me yet another opportunity to experience failure! I tried finding the data sheet for the Hepta-Darington Array IC (M54519P) on the chance that it might describe the date code. I did find a copy of the data sheet (http://datasheet.elcodis.com/pdf2/89/48/894877/m54519fp.pdf), but it does not describe the date code. For what little it’s worth, the data sheet itself is dated August, 1999. If you feel you really must know, which apparently you don’t, you could always try contacting Mitsubishi Electric (https://www.mitsubishielectric.com/en/contact/index.html) directly, explaining that you are a beloved global celebrity and influencer, and demanding the information. Best regards, and pip-pip!

Anonymous

In the 1980s, chip manufacturers often printed only the least significant digit of the year to avoid confusion with chips that might have type numbers that could look like date codes. So instead of 87xx or 88xx you might see 7xx or 8xx.

Peter Laws

``explaining that you are a beloved global celebrity'' OMG! He is, isn't he!! :-D

Grace Robbins

"explaining that you are a beloved ___ ___" Definitely so, Mat - not a household name but beloved for sure and I hope faring ok currently 😶. And fill in blanks because what you do is indefinable.