I am thoroughly enjoying your videos. My computer knowledge is very hit or miss, so I find I’m learning a good bit as you go along.
I’ve only watched the first video so far, but this is very cool!
I am teaching an introductory high school digital electronics class, so this is something I might point some of my students to. We’re just starting sequential logic and the kids will be learning how to make adders soon. I still consider myself something of a novice with this stuff, actually, as I mostly teach physics and we just cover analog circuitry there.
Fortunately, we use a packaged curriculum (PLTW) for the digital electronics class and I got a pretty good training course in it before I started, so I’m fairly confident with the topics we cover. And I’m gradually expanding my knowledge on the subject, which has been fun.
Your videos are very well done–I like the visuals and your explanations are clear and accessible. I appreciate you taking the time to share your work.
Very nice videos! Subscribed.
Well, a bit of Real Life got in the way of making videos for a bit, but Episode 3 is now finished!
This one goes into completing the full 16-bit adder build, and the interface module to tie all the adder boards together, and then me being a bit dissatisfied with the design and re-jiggering some stuff.
The next video should come much more quickly; I’m going to go into some useful protoboards I’m making for testing circuits with lots of digital IO.
Wow - you’ve been busy.
I think I agree with your decision to lay it out flat on a board for display - I guess it does mean the finished computer will occupy the walls of a room, but like you, I want to see all those relays clickety-clacking.
Well, I woke up today with about 150 (!) new subscriber notifications overnight; turns out my project got posted to Hackaday! I guess I’m really in it now. 
Should have episode 4 finished this weekend, hopefully!
Some of the comments to the effect ‘meh - this has been done before’ on that article are a bit disappointing, but I suppose not really surprising for the internet.
It’s a bit weird though - if your videos were about weaving baskets or baking bread, nobody would be saying “Dude, why are you bothering? - someone’s already invented that”. There is pleasure in watching something like this being built from first principles, and being explained lucidly along the way.
Also - irony- posting “Done before” to the internet from an armchair is not exactly creative, nor is it skillful.
Meh, that’s just the internet for you. There was a great reply on that thread:
Clickspring was in fact a big inspiration for me deciding to do these videos. Chris’s clockmaking series is absolutely astounding.
Not to get into the “stone knives and bearskins” race Amateur Barbarian mentioned, but this thread got me thinking about absolutely minimalist ways to make an electronic computer, and I’ve almost got it down to just copper wire. I know, at least in principle, how to make a diode out of copper wire; that gives me AND and OR gates. You can’t make a NOT with diode logic, though, so I’d need something else to make it functionally complete. A relay is probably the solution most in keeping with the principle, since it can be made with just wire and a ferromagnetic bar. (You could probably use work-hardened wire for the spring.)
I’m not actually going to build an electronic computer out of nothing but copper wire and iron nails, though, because I’m not a masochistic YouTuber. 
(More seriously, friedo, kudos both on the project and the videos. Impressive work.)
Bump just to say that I’m still enjoying watching your videos, including the latest one: Relay Computer ep. 5 - Building the ALU multiplexer - YouTube
What software are you using for your logic animations?
Balance, you might like this video: Full complex homebuilt breadboard 8 bit computer project.
I found this thru Motherboard, and as they say This Guy Designed and Built an 8-bit CPU from Scratch. Looks like nearly a klick of wires, a bunch of breadboards, dipswitches and LEDs but hey we can watch it count to 255 or hear it play the first couple of bars of the Mario theme song! That totally fucking rocks!
Seriously, Mr. Constantino’s work is amazing; just thought I’d share with others who might be interested and/or appreciative.
I didn’t see this thread first time around. I’m going to watch the videos when I get a chance, because my logic labs in college consisted of wiring up a circuit out of boards with a few gates or a single flop.
For memory our first lab involved an acoustic delay line, where the electronics pinged a long cable which sent an acoustic signal around it to come out the other time. Definitely slow enough for relays, I’d bet.
BTW the first post underestimates Shannon. Shannon invented digital electronics for his Masters Thesis. My professor who gave us the paper from it called it the most important MS thesis ever. And I believe it. His office was across the hall from my lab, but he never came to MIT by the time I was there.