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Home Forums 68kMLA Storing Vintage Macs & Capacitors — #13
Post #13 by trag
Source Forum68kMLA
CategoryHardware
Post DateWed, 12 Jan 2011 - 22:53
Original URLhttps://68kmla.org/bb/threads/storing-vintage-macs-amp-capacitors.21948/
Post
How many boards will be so far gone in 10 years they cannot be fixed? I don't think many people would pay the price plus shipping both ways for a board to be fixed.
It's been a long time since I studied chemistry, but doesn't the reaction which causes corrosion, eventually neutralize the corrosive agent? Or does it just catalyze oxidation? Or does it depend?

I ask, because if the former, then the amount of corrosion that a leaky set of capacitors can cause is limited, even if allowed to go to completion. In some cases this may damage a board beyond repair, but in other cases the board will be repairable, if someone is willing and able to trace the corroded components and bypass destroyed connections and/or replace parts which have completely lost pins. Of course, for the custom Apple chips, that latter option is not available except through cannibalism.

Someone or a small business could probably do a bit of business selling these boards refurbished with new parts.To people who can't solder to save themselves, or their macs!!

Maybe not now but in a few years when the original compact macs 128k, 512k become more rare in working condition.
We're actually discussing the repair/refurbishment of logic boards here. The specific issue is that the surface mount electrolytic capacitors leak corrosive which can damage the logic board and surrounding components.

As far as I know, the analog boards do not have any components which will cause similar damage if left unattended for years. Well, the battery, of course, but that's not soldered down.

Would not seem unreasonable to pay $100-$150 for a refurbished analog board.
Very few folks would pay that these days. There's no telling what folks in the future will be willing to pay. There's actually reason to believe that the prices on these old things will fall. We may be seeing the maximum right now. It has to do with the collectors tending to be folks who had or wanted these machines when they were younger and going for a nostalgia fix by way of collecting. As those folks satisfy their craving, or age further and loose interest, there will not necessarily be a new crop of collectors coming along to boost the value. Of course the supply is constantly decreasing too....

Doing a good job of refurbishing these boards is at least a couple of hours of custom electronics repair, plus parts, equipment, shipping, consumables, etc. It's difficult to make it an affordable service. Phreakout manages it by (in my opinion) undercharging for his time.

mp.ls