An Open-Source replica of the legendary device for all. Build your own or reserve your hand-crafted masterpiece today.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Ending a chapter, beginning a new phase
4 months ago
– Wed, Nov 19, 2025 at 09:43:32 PM
Ouf! It’s been a fun (but long) ride!
As of Mid-August, we were finally at the point where we were assembling our very last Open Antikythera Delrin unit (at least for a while).
Last Delrin Rotating Assembly
At the end of August, we had another 4 Open Antikythera Full Mechanism units ready to ship and this concluded our Assembly needs.
3 of the last 4 Assembled Delrin Full Mechanism
By Mid-August, all 4 units (plus the last UpFront) were delivered, and this (finally) concluded our Kickstarter fulfillment. Once these last units shipped and were delivered, we enjoyed a well-deserved break and then continued with renewed passion in our metal version(s).
Last 4 FullMonty and last UpFront leaving (plus a BigBack Open DSKY...)
Aluminum prototypes are for sure our first step, with at least one Brass unit to follow. It is even possible that we will create one unit in Bronze as we already looked into this feasibility and cost.
First components of first Aluminum Prototype
It has even been suggested that we Jewel the mechanism, (instead of bearings) in our assemblies, but lacking the expertise, we would require expertise help to jewel something the size of a brass Open Antikythera so this is not in our short term (Aluminum) plans.
First Completed Metal Rotating assembly with most gears for Full Mechanism
As you may be aware, metals are (way) more expensive than the best fancy plastic polymer available (and that was before ALL the New Tariffs!). We are looking at 10 to 100x price difference for raw materials depending on the selected metal material...
Sample Brass Gears
So, as finance allows, we plan on acquiring raw materials and continuing building our metal prototypes.
Please make sure to follow our blog and YouTube channel.
All episodes are currently freely available, but we are considering offering premium/exclusive material (via Patreon?) to help us move along (if there is a desire).
Every dollar helps!
Without your financial support, we may simply have to close the business and just become a hobby. Please let us know and show us that what we do matters to you.
July Update
9 months ago
– Wed, Jul 02, 2025 at 11:33:57 AM
Hello All!
We have completed shipping all domestic units! We're now focusing all of our attention on international shipments. Those of you who are awaiting your rewards outside of the US, you should have already received a private Kickstarter message from us. We will need to come up together with an individual plan to get your reward in your hands.
Also, we've produced two videos to help in the building or troubleshooting of your Open Antikythera, should these problems arise.
Thanks for sticking with us. We're in the home stretch!
-Marc
May Update!
10 months ago
– Sat, May 31, 2025 at 05:30:38 PM
Hello patient Kickstarter backers,
Wow, what a difference a month makes!
Kickstarter says we are now 87% complete on our fulfillment, and as of yesterday, we have shipped and delivered 13 of our Fully Assembled FullMonty units and ALL but three of our FullMonty kits have been delivered!!!
We have personally contacted the three remaining International FullMonty kit backers and await their replies to proceed with an alternative shipping method as the US Tariffs and US Government cuts are currently preventing USPS from being reliable at this moment. We see the ridiculous tracking movements for international units, and to those of you who are affected, we feel your pain.
Note to International FullMonty backers: we are getting close to ship your rewards and because of the above situation, we will contact each of you individually in the coming weeks to discuss shipping alternates for you and make sure you agree with an alternative shipping method and accept current tariffs and are prepared to receive your unit.
Note to every Assembled/Tested FullMonty backer: please make sure you keep your shipping box to protect your unit during any transportation/shipping that could be required.
Note to ALL backers: our "Open Enigma for Dummies" instruction manual was written by a backer, B.J. Gleason, and our Open DSKY "Command Reference" was also written by a supporter, Bill Walker. We appreciate and celebrate their effort and would like to offer all of you the opportunity to also be contributing and be celebrated if you can volunteer some help in the user manual of the Open Antikythera. Be creative!
We are currently building and shipping 2 units a week and that seems like a good cadence for James and me.
Continue to be patient, we are getting close to shipping your unit.
We have started including this info with our fully assembled units: "Carefully remove the protective film. Should you feel the need to clean these clear acrylic panels, do NOT use any chemicals like Windex, Acetone, Ammonia, or Isopropyl Alcohol as it will damage the acrylic panels causing them to crack. If needed, you can delicately clean the panel with Dawn dish soap and water.
When you unpack your unit, please do NOT rotate the crank until the unit is outside the box and right side up."
Likewise, to explain installation of the additional skin, we now include this info: "To install the Open Antikythera cosmetic skin, simply slide the bottom panel under the needles and warp the sides so they fit under the edges of the wood, then repeat the process for the top panel. Now you have an Open Antikythera wearing a shiny English skin!
Removing these two halves may be a bit more complicated, so only install the skin if you prefer the shiny golden look. Thank you for your support and we hope you love your device as much as we loved making it for you :)"
We have started to receive feedback from our kits and assembled units, and we want to thank each and every one of you who shared. Good or bad, feedback is a gift that allows us to grow, and we really appreciate it!
We would like to put our units into the hands of the media, experts and scholars of the field. We believe we have something special that can help the community advance the understanding of this phenomenal device. If you can help us reach these folks, please let us know. If you can post pictures of your unit to your media channels, please don't hesitate and mention #Open Antikythera and S&T Geotronics.
Until next month, Marc, James and Mathieu
Some Helpful Kit Building Tips from a Backer
10 months ago
– Sat, May 17, 2025 at 06:24:39 PM
Hi All!
We have another monthly update coming soon, but in the meantime, we wanted to share something special.
We received an email that might help some of you as you're building your kits. As we've always said, this is a collaborative process, and we invite all of you to send us tips or post them yourselves.
Read the email from Dan below.
"Hi Marc - And James,
I have now completed the Antikythera! :D
Here are a couple pictures of it.
And a few comments to my build:
I added a few extra spacers (from my own stash) to various places in the gear train. It made it run easier. E.g. The outer moon phase gear assembly got one.
I sanded almost all the gears very carefully on the 'writing side'. It removed the slight raised edges from the laser cutting. It also helped to smooth the gear trains :)
I also had reamers lying around so I used those instead of James' neat trick with the axles in the cordless drill. Then the axles/gears really ran smoothly.
I also reamed the small dials very carefully, so they fit on the axles and gave them a drop of superglue. The large dials I also reamed - and cut the treads with a tap.
I cut all the threads for the grub screws with a tap. (I have a lot of special tools ;) )
I drilled a couple of extra holes for screws in the wooden case - halfway up the long side without the crank. That panel was slightly warped, so I screwed it to the middle spacer. It helped.
I could not really figure out how the golden skin should be attached. I did not want to glue it in place, so I left the machine with the clear sides.
All those bloody small pieces of protective film almost drove me Nuts!! Haha!
I am considering adding small LEDs hidden in the grooves to light up the engravings. tempting. If I do it I will send pictures.
I think that was all. :)
And THANK YOU for a great kit and a wonderful experience in assembling it. It was definitely worth waiting for - and the price was OK.
The screwball shipping trouble is now one of those crazy stories worth telling :)
And also, thanks for great support!
Oh, and I will dig up my Open Enigma and my Open DSKY Apollo thingy and take a "Family Photo" and mail you asap - during next week or so. As promised.
Feel free to use the pictures and my mail as feedback if you want to.
And now I am looking forward to seeing your next project.
.....What about Babbage's Difference Engine as a kit? :D
A lot of friendly happy greetings from Denmark!
-Dan"
Thanks Dan! Here's how we answered his question about installing the skin:
To install the cosmetic skin, simply slide the bottom panel under the needles and warp the sides so they fit under the edges of the wood, then repeat the process for the top panel. Now you have an Open Antikythera wearing a shiny English skin!
Removing these two halves may be a bit more complicated, so only install the skin if you prefer the shiny golden look.
April Update
11 months ago
– Tue, Apr 15, 2025 at 11:50:59 AM
Hello Backers,
We built a couple units, and we were not completely satisfied with our finished product. For that reason we are making a few more tweaks in our assembly process. We've decided that instead of our original plan to manually mill enough Axles, Rods and Dowels to build and ship the first half of the assembled units (Phase 1) starting this week, then return to milling the remainder Axles, Rods and Dowels next month using our "soon to be delivered" Rownd CNC Lathe (Phase 2), we would serve you better by doing the full run of Axles, then focus all of our attention and energy on building assembled/tested units that are much more likely to survive the shipping process.
This will not delay any of the second half batch (Phase 2) as it is work that needed to take place anyway. But the first half of assembled unit's backers will be delayed by a few weeks, with shipping probably starting in May.
The good news is that out of the 400 axles we still needed to make as of the March update, we are now down to just below 100. So, we are still hoping to be done assembling your units by the end of June. Fingers crossed!
All sub-assemblies that were ready last month are safe and waiting for the rest of the axles required for the integration into completed/tested units. Our shipping box packing layers are also designed and we started producing them.
As kit backers will probably agree, building a successful unit is a meticulous process and takes time, no shortcut in sight. But the ready sub-assemblies and repetition of steps should allow us to become more efficient as we build more units.
Stay tuned, if warranted we may send another update this month with some pictures of our first few units ready to depart. Would any of you like us to provide an unboxing YouTube video of the Full Mechanism Open Antikythera? Let us know via a Kickstarter message.
Once again, thank you all for your continued patience and support.
And a few comments to my build: