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Classic II Wash/recapping

naryasece

Well-known member
Hi all,

I am finally working to recap/restore my Classic II that has been out of commission for the last 8 years, using it as practice to refurbish the rest of my collection. The Classic II had weak sound and stopped booting a number of years ago but I have some newbie questions for the refurbishment process.

I purchased replacement capacitors as per uniserver's diagrams, got the case cracked open and proceeded with an initial wash as prep before surgery.

My steps were:

  1. Wash with water
  2. spray 91% isopropyl alcohol,
  3. swirly motions in a tub of water
  4. spray again with alcohol
  5. delicately clean around capacitors with a q-tip
  6. rinse with water
  7. fan dry for about 6 hours
The good news, the computer booted right up when the mother board was dry (as best I could tell). I hope I did the wash correctly, but my questions are:

  1. The water at my place is soft from what I can tell, I figured tap water would be fine given some motherboards go through the dishwasher. Am I correct to assume this? Should I have avoided the tap water or used distilled water instead?
  2. Should I skip water altogether and stick with just the isopropyl alcohol?
  3. The motherboard has gunk between the pins of the chips (See attachment), should I be worried about this?
  4. I think I noticed some green corrosion on a copper lead (or two), should try to clean it with vinegar/salt (like a US penny) or get some copper cleaner?
  5. Anything else I can do to protect the leads/pins on the motherboard?
Thanks in advance!

Edit: hopefully got the image attached this time :)

Attachment:

002.JPG

 
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360alaska

Well-known member
I've recapped about 8 of these guys so far and I ALWAYS place them in the dishwasher even if the board works.

 

naryasece

Well-known member
Ah nice. I'm not opposed to putting it in the dishwasher (if I had one), just wanted to make sure I wasn't worsening any corrosion :) But sounds like corrosion will not be an issue if it has worked so often in the past for you. Thanks!

 

360alaska

Well-known member
Nah, Fallow these steps:

1. Remove/desolder all of the electrolytic caps

2. Remove the roms noting position

3. Place the board on the bottom tray of your dishwasher with the ports facing up

4. Add dishwasher soap and select high temp wash

5. When the cycle completes, take the board out and blow out the water from each of the ports

6. Place the board on an appropriately sized piece of cardboard and place in your oven for 1-2 hours at 200f.

7. If the board is dry, install the roms and go ahead and slide the board back into your classic and see if it boots. (The board will boot without any of those electrolytic caps but you wont have any sound)

8. If it boots pull it back out and install new caps... If it does not boot then you'll need to figure out why before installing new caps...

Good Luck,

Josh

 
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