A 3D-Printed Replica of the Classic Sinclair ZX80 to Celebrate Its 40th Birthday

If you care about computer history — or were simply alive in the ‘80s — then there is a very good chance that you’re familiar with the legendary Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. It was one of the most affordable and best-selling home computers of the 8-bit era, and was the first computer that many residents of the United Kingdom ever owned. But the ZX Spectrum wasn’t the first computer produced by Sinclair Research, because it was predated by the ZX81 and ZX80. Cees Meijer decided to take advantage of his 3D printer to create a replica of the classic ZX80.

When the ZX80 was first introduced in January of 1980 — just over 40 years ago — it retailed for a mere £99.95 as a complete computer (or £79.95 in kit form). That made it one of the cheapest computers ever produced at the time. A lot of corners had to be cut to reach that price point, and the ZX80 was infamous for its absolutely terrible membrane keyboard — a legacy that would continue with the ZX81 and ZX Spectrum. Instead of subjecting himself to that original keyboard, Meijer purchased a replacement keyboard from Sell My Retro that contains actual tactile switches that are far more comfortable to type with.

Meijer could have purchased an original ZX81 motherboard or could have assembled a new based on available schematics, but chose to use a Raspberry Pi Zero W instead. The Raspberry Pi is much cheaper and offers a lot more flexibility, even if it isn’t a purist solution. The keyboard is connected to the Raspberry Pi directly through the GPIO pins, as opposed to using a separate microcontroller to monitor the keyboard matrix. The original ZX81 case was vacuum formed, but the replica enclosure is 3D-printed. The 3D model he used is a tweaked version of the one uploaded by alvaroalea to Thingiverse. With the addition of a few printed labels, it looks convincingly like a genuine Sinclair ZX81 from a short distance away, but was far more affordable to build.