Wanted to see if anyone has an interest in purchasing Fred Swemmers Gottlieb sys80 driver boards, the one with the "flashy" LED light show. I have contacted Fred recently and he advised that he no longer produces these driver boards (he still makes the MPUs), however, he is willing to order a batch of unpopulated driver circuit boards (PCBs) of his design and we can source the components and solder them in ourselves. He will provide a bill of materials with all the required parts needed to function. Minimum order is 12 at a cost of approximately $650, which equals to about $54.17 per board unpopulated. I feel this is very reasonable and I'm in for 2 boards and if anyone else is interested, please post here your thoughts or PM me and if we can get to the total 12 orders, I will contact Fred and have him order us the boards. Here is a link to youtube with his board in action!

I believe the Gottlieb system 80 driver boards were interchangeable/universal between any Gottlieb system 80/80a/80b. Here is a quote from one of the Gottlieb repair sites "Let's start with the basics. System 80 had only one driver board. That was the good part. No worries about different revisions. Pop in any board from any system 80, 80A, or 80B game." As for the cost, I'm sure it would range in the $100-$150 range, depending on where you source the parts. I remember Fred selling them from around $129, so possibly somewhere in that price range when completed.

Here is an old link on pinside about the quality of Freds boards
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/anyone-running-new-swemmer-boards-in-their-gottlieb

That's great! We now have interest in 4 boards (2 for me and 2 for Mike). 8 more to go and then we can place the order. These boards are well worth it for the light show (IMHO).

Waiting on Fred for more details and will post here when he responds.

Ok, so Fred states that the parts will be from different manufacturers. He does not know the exact figure costs as he ordered them in bulk. The costs that he was paying was exceeding his margin and he did not want to raise his board prices, hence he stopped making them. He advised there can be cost savings if we procure parts from the proper places and that is my belief as well, especially when ordering in bulk. I'm sure completed board prices will be around the prices I mentioned earlier.

Fred states that the BOM is very similar to the original boards. For your 80/80a/80b game, just look at the parts list for the driver board and add about $30 for LEDs, transistors, and SMCs (surface mount components). Surface mount soldering skills are recommended. 8 more boards to go before placing the actual order, so anyone interested in purchasing one, please chime in.

Allan

Fred states that the BOM is very similar to the original boards. For your 80/80a/80b game, just look at the parts list in the manual for the driver board and add about $30 for LEDs, transistors, and SMCs (surface mount components). Surface mount soldering skills are recommended. 8 more boards to go before placing the actual order, so anyone interested in purchasing one, please chime in.

Allan

Great news everyone! Fred has produced a limited number of completed Gottlieb driver boards for sale. Keep an eye out on ebay for these, as they sell really fast and most likely won't be available again. Good luck!!