68krazy
Well-known member
Hello everyone,
A year ago, I picked up an SE/30. It's still a work in progress, but I've gotten far enough along with it that I think it merits a post.
Here is the SE/30 as received. I found it on Craigslist and had to drive a couple hours for it — figured the drive was worth it because the machine was functional and the yellowing on it minimal. It belonged to an older gentleman who had a lot of old compacts, but was getting rid of them because he was retiring and moving to another state. He included a mouse and a IIGS keyboard:
After the drive home, I took the SE/30 apart, inspected the insides, played with it for a few hours. It was completely original, with a 40mb Quantum drive and 8mb of RAM. Inside was very clean with very little dust, no yellowing of the glue on the flyback or the white plastic cover that goes behind the analog board. The CRT is also very bright and clear, which leads me to believe I lucked out and got a low hours unit.
All was not well, however. A few hours into playing with it, the system froze and then stopped recognizing SCSI devices. I decided a recap of the motherboard was necessary. Here it is after a thorough wash, new tantalums and a new Tadiran:
After this picture was taken, I also replaced UE8 with a brand new TI 74LS66 as a preventative measure.
The system worked well after the new motherboard caps. I played with it for a month or two, but then it got put away for almost a year. I moved away for school, had a brutal first quarter there. Not a whole lot of time to play with the SE/30 (or anything, really). This week, I finally had time to finish the recap. The first order of business was to take the thing completely apart and give everything a wipedown.
I then recapped the power supply. This SE/30 has the Sony CR-44. The original filter capacitor on it is of an odd size, rating, and lead spacing. Replacing it took a bit of bodging. I had to order a filter cap with a slightly different rating and a completely different lead spacing. Here is the spot where the old filter cap sat, with the PCB drilled out to take the new filter cap:
Original capacitor, left: weird leads, 400v 620uf. Replacement capacitor, right: 10mm leads, 420v, 680uf.
The bodge worked well:
After that, the rest of the capacitor replacement was straightforward. Here it is with all new 105c caps (mostly Nichicon, a few Panasonic):
Analog board was very straightforward. Here it is before:
Here it is after, with all new 105c caps and a brand new Noctua. In this picture, the fan was mounted too far forward. I realized my error and fixed it later when putting the machine back together.
Here it is, all put back together after the recap. It came with the splash screen already installed. I thought it was cheesy at first, but it grew on me and I have decided to leave it.
And here is the desktop. I didn't name the computer "Big Bob," it came that way. I think it's kind of funny and I've decided to leave it.
There are a few things left to do. The IIGS keyboard is glorious (fully mechanical), but very dirty and yellowed. I will take it apart to clean soon, and am thinking about retrobriting it. The original Quantum HDD is still kicking, but I don't trust it and I will probably replace it with a SCSI2SD soon. The floppy drive also needs servicing. I want to take it apart, regrease it, and replace the plastic gear that is notorious for breaking on these.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions are very welcome
A year ago, I picked up an SE/30. It's still a work in progress, but I've gotten far enough along with it that I think it merits a post.
Here is the SE/30 as received. I found it on Craigslist and had to drive a couple hours for it — figured the drive was worth it because the machine was functional and the yellowing on it minimal. It belonged to an older gentleman who had a lot of old compacts, but was getting rid of them because he was retiring and moving to another state. He included a mouse and a IIGS keyboard:
After the drive home, I took the SE/30 apart, inspected the insides, played with it for a few hours. It was completely original, with a 40mb Quantum drive and 8mb of RAM. Inside was very clean with very little dust, no yellowing of the glue on the flyback or the white plastic cover that goes behind the analog board. The CRT is also very bright and clear, which leads me to believe I lucked out and got a low hours unit.
All was not well, however. A few hours into playing with it, the system froze and then stopped recognizing SCSI devices. I decided a recap of the motherboard was necessary. Here it is after a thorough wash, new tantalums and a new Tadiran:
After this picture was taken, I also replaced UE8 with a brand new TI 74LS66 as a preventative measure.
The system worked well after the new motherboard caps. I played with it for a month or two, but then it got put away for almost a year. I moved away for school, had a brutal first quarter there. Not a whole lot of time to play with the SE/30 (or anything, really). This week, I finally had time to finish the recap. The first order of business was to take the thing completely apart and give everything a wipedown.
I then recapped the power supply. This SE/30 has the Sony CR-44. The original filter capacitor on it is of an odd size, rating, and lead spacing. Replacing it took a bit of bodging. I had to order a filter cap with a slightly different rating and a completely different lead spacing. Here is the spot where the old filter cap sat, with the PCB drilled out to take the new filter cap:
Original capacitor, left: weird leads, 400v 620uf. Replacement capacitor, right: 10mm leads, 420v, 680uf.
The bodge worked well:
After that, the rest of the capacitor replacement was straightforward. Here it is with all new 105c caps (mostly Nichicon, a few Panasonic):
Analog board was very straightforward. Here it is before:
Here it is after, with all new 105c caps and a brand new Noctua. In this picture, the fan was mounted too far forward. I realized my error and fixed it later when putting the machine back together.
Here it is, all put back together after the recap. It came with the splash screen already installed. I thought it was cheesy at first, but it grew on me and I have decided to leave it.
And here is the desktop. I didn't name the computer "Big Bob," it came that way. I think it's kind of funny and I've decided to leave it.
There are a few things left to do. The IIGS keyboard is glorious (fully mechanical), but very dirty and yellowed. I will take it apart to clean soon, and am thinking about retrobriting it. The original Quantum HDD is still kicking, but I don't trust it and I will probably replace it with a SCSI2SD soon. The floppy drive also needs servicing. I want to take it apart, regrease it, and replace the plastic gear that is notorious for breaking on these.
Thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions are very welcome
Last edited by a moderator: