"Pristine" ZX80 for sale on eBay

[omanawa]

I am the eBay member who listed the Sinclair ZX80 referred to above.

I want to assure those who have been interested enough to comment in this forum that the computer and manual are both as they were when I purchased them (unboxed, wrapped in plastic) at a computer show at the DC Armory in the early 1980s. The ZX80 and manual have never been unwrapped and therefore never used.

It's 35+ years ago, but I remember several things clearly:
• There was a "Sinclair" logo sign hanging above the booth, in addition to the ID sign the show promoters provided.
• The guys staffing the booth were knowledgeable about Sinclair products.
• There were a half-dozen large cartons stacked at the back of the booth, presumably filled with ZX80s, manuals, and accessories.
• There was a real buzz at the booth, largely because of the ZX80, which to my knowledge had never been seen in the DC area before, but also because one of the original Mercury astronauts (Gordon Cooper) was in the booth, chatting with visitors and giving autographs. Somebody had enough clout and credentials to get him there. Clearly, this was not an initiative of "some guy in the US [who] imported some units "in bulk" [who] "wrapped the parts in cling wrap to sell at some electronics show."

I kept this ZX80 in its as-purchased condition (in a closed box with a silica gel packet) because I intended to sell it some day. That day has arrived, and I hope it goes to a new owner who will appreciate and value it for what it is.

[1024MAK]

Hello and welcome to our forum.

I think most of the comments are because in the UK, most of Sinclair's early computers were normally only sold via mail order. Hence it appeared very unusual for some to be sold as has been described.

I hope your sale goes well

Mark

[Moggy]

Hello and welcome to our forum.

I think most of the comments are because in the UK, most of Sinclair's early computers were normally only sold via mail order. Hence it appeared very unusual for some to be sold as has been described.

I hope your sale goes well

Mark

I echo your comments Mark although I still suspect this to be a UK/Euro 80 and therefore unusable in the US, if only by the lack of the larger mandatory for the time FCC label (unfortunately obscured in the photographs.)

It would help the sellers case more to check this as he/she is likely to get more bang for his/her buck if it is a UK model as UK models are listing at £450-500 over here.
The non factory shrink wrapping is meaningless to Sinclair/Timex collectors(white poly's and plain brown box is how issue ones left Tek Electronics as did this later Timex made issue two,not poly wrapped) so they won't pay a premium for it and as for users like our selves who couldn't care less how it's wrapped,they will show low interest to un-tested model.

Like Mark I wish you well with your sale but in answer to your comment about a new owner.. " who will appreciate and value it for what it is." then it has to be said that a shrink wrapped untried/tested zx80 is exactly what it is and worth a damn sight less than the current bids it has received so far, but good luck with it anyway.

[msellan]

Well, I wanted to share the details of the ZX80 that I bought on ebay recently. I was really excited about this item because of its "pristine" condition. The ZX80 I have came from a guy who tried to build it as a kit and ended up sending it back to Sinclair who replaced the board with a factory one but sent it back to him in his case which has a couple of solder burns on it. So I've been looking for one with an unblemished case ever since.

So I have to say, you all were right about this one. It is a UK model and not a US model even though it has a US Sinclair power supply. The wrapping was definitely just clingwrap and not "sealed" in any way. My original ZX80 that I bought in '81 didn't come in plastic wrap either. Sadly, this unit was clearly not new. It too had solder burns in the case, the grommets holding the case together were mismatched and the circuit board looks to have been repaired at some point. But happily, it works just fine. Now I just need to find a good condition issue 1.

Here are some pictures of it. I placed it side-by-side with my US model just to compare visually how they differ. The coloring of the logos and the thickness of the black lines around the "zx80" is interesting to me. If anyone has any other questions I'm happy to answer them or post more pics!

Best,

-mark

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[Moggy]

Nice to see a couple of Issue 2's in good order.

A shame about the state of the board but as long as it runs all's well.
The difference in logo's is quite interesting and some thing I've never noticed before plus they are both sporting the internal functions stickers normally found on the vacuum formed styrene issue one's made by Tek electronics and not the later issue two Timex made ABS models.

Also the solder marks you mention are more likely to be marks made by the cassette/antenna cables which may have been laid across the case for a long time which for some reason causes a reaction with the plastics involved.

US and Brit cousins side by side nice.

Should you ever strip them down some shots of the engine room would be nice.


Regards.

Moggy.

[1024MAK]

Also the solder marks you mention are more likely to be marks made by the cassette/antenna cables which may have been laid across the case for a long time which for some reason causes a reaction with the plastics involved.

Any cables made from PVC insulation will in time mark plastics like ABS. This is due to the plasticiser moving from the PVC to the plastic case, and causing a "melted" look.

A similar reaction occurs between polystyrene packing and PVC cables.

This is one of the reasons that new goods and there cables are put in plastic bags by manufacturers.

Mark

[msellan]

Should you ever strip them down some shots of the engine room would be nice.

You read my mind! I actually took it apart a few days ago. I always take everything apart. The biggest surprise to me was that the US case is sprayed with the conductive material both top and bottom whereas the UK case was only sprayed on the top. From the circuit board it looks to me like ICs 9 and 10 were worked on at some point but otherwise seems clean.

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Also the solder marks you mention are more likely to be marks made by the cassette/antenna cables which may have been laid across the case for a long time which for some reason causes a reaction with the plastics involved.

Any cables made from PVC insulation will in time mark plastics like ABS. This is due to the plasticiser moving from the PVC to the plastic case, and causing a "melted" look.

A similar reaction occurs between polystyrene packing and PVC cables.

This is one of the reasons that new goods and their cables are put in plastic bags by manufacturers.

Mark

As for the "burn" marks in the case, I didn't know about interactions between PVC insulation and ABS. Or that antenna/cassette cables been in contact too long could cause such a mark. It's good to know! I'll be sure to mind my cable management and storage with these better in the future.

It's interesting in this case because according to the buyer this machine was never unwrapped or used. I assumed it was from an soldering iron because my other 80 has them too and that one started its life as a kit. Here's a little close-up of the two spots on this case:

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The larger spot just seems so discrete. It looks like it was nicked with something. But overall, I'm glad to have it. I've never been able to look at the differences between the UK and US models, so that's been fun.

Best,

-mark

[1024MAK]

It's hard to say what caused the larger mark on the case (in the left hand picture). But the marks in the right hand picture do look like they are due to the case being in contact with PVC cables.

Mark

[Moggy]

Thanks for this msellan.

An issue three board,I get to see one after thirty odd years at last and definitely the last of the line I would have thought.

It has the later matt finish keyboard again nice to see but I'm bemused as to why the UK top case is metallised as in the UK at that time we weren't as strict regarding radio noise/interference and we didn't insulate our cases this way, unlike in the US with the FCC whose requirements meant they went into a hissy fit when the Sinclair electrostatic printer was introduced and promptly banned its sale in the US.(which was good as we ended up with the much superior Alphacom/Timex TS2040 thermal printer as a result)

I suspect a bit of mix and matching with the cases has occurred with this"pristine" example.

The bodge with the bent wire around the EAR socket leaves me stumped,the two ceramic caps are possibly a crude frequency filter and the resistor which links the pos to ground on the EAR socket is a factory fit I have seen before(the three I have owned included)used I assume to bleed off/lower the EAR socket output as the 80 is a lot louder in this respect than the 81 and when using cassette players in the past I had to use a mid volume settings to avoid distortion whereas with the 81 the volume was always flat out.
The signal from 80 is a damn sight more powerful than the 81 so perhaps the resistor is used as a crude attenuator?

Again thanks for sharing.

[msellan]

Hi Moggy,

Thanks for this msellan.

An issue three board,I get to see one after thirty odd years at last and definitely the last of the line I would have thought.

It has the later matt finish keyboard again nice to see but I'm bemused as to why the UK top case is metallised as in the UK at that time we weren't as strict regarding radio noise/interference and we didn't insulate our cases this way, unlike in the US with the FCC whose requirements meant they went into a hissy fit when the Sinclair electrostatic printer was introduced and promptly banned its sale in the US.(which was good as we ended up with the much superior Alphacom/Timex TS2040 thermal printer as a result)

I suspect a bit of mix and matching with the cases has occurred with this"pristine" example.

It was my pleasure to share - any reason to take something apart

I too was surprised to see the metallised (I almost typed that with a 'z') top case as I thought the UK ones weren't made like that. I've been wondering if some of the last ZX80s sold were "return" units? The ebay seller mentioned that he bought it at a convention for $99.95 which was far below the original selling price. I never saw advertised a lower price than the $199 for an assembled unit. I could imagine Sinclair piecing together machines from bits here and there especially at the end. That would explain more about why a supposedly unused machine would have various signs of use.

Another thing backing up your theory that's hard to make out from the pictures I posted is that the white case grommets were mismatched. The UK one had all five white grommets but the ones on the right side and the one in back were "oversized" and on the left side one was oversized and one was "regular" sized. When I put the case back together I put all four larger ones on the sides and the smaller one on the back. But even so, the case top had clearly been removed and then replaced with different grommets.

It's funny how many secrets these little machines harbor. I wonder if Nigel Searle is still around? Wasn't he the main guy in charge of operations when the ZX80 was shipping? It would be interesting to try to contact him for an interview to hear what it was like from the inside in those days. If nothing else I could send him my nearly forty year old letter with his signature telling me that he couldn't refund my money. He might get a kick out of that.

Best,

-mark