Spectrum re-fit

Submitted by nathan on Sat, 06/26/2010 - 19:49

Photo of the cleaned up and repaired Sinclair ZX Spectrum.

Last week I was at the UK's first Vintage Computing Festival and picked up a new keyboard membrane for my ZX Spectrum and a replacement metal cover as the one that was on the speccy when I got it was a bit corroded. I took the opportunity to do another couple of jobs on the old computer.

First I cleaned it all, after fully dis-assembling it I put the two halves of the plastic box in the sink along with the rubber key membrane and gave them a good wash with fairy liquid. Next a bit of careful work with some model paint to re-apply the white to the "ZX Spectrum" text on the top of the case.

I also did an upgrade that required a little soldering and removing a component. I took out the modulator which drives the analogue TV signal. As analogue TVs are no longer any use in much of the UK they are becoming rarer and it's easier to plug into a composite monitor. Fortunately the signal needed to drive the modulator is actually a composite video signal, so by removing the modulator and wiring what was the input straight out to a video connector. I mounted the connector on a small piece of aluminium and bolted that to the board to make sure the connector was securely mounted. Once that was all done and tested, I put the keyboard back together, added the cover metal using some double sided tape like the original and then bolted the whole machine back together. Take a look at the pictures of the mods and the before and after.

Before