I recently acquired a Mac SE/30 from ebay. This was a seller refurbished unit that was advertised as having been retrobrighted, upgraded with an HD and recapped.
I normally avoid buying seller refurbished items since I enjoy going through this process myself. However the unit was reasonably priced (compared to ebay's other listings) and I went through with the purchase. Also, if you buy components separately it can add up.
The unit arrived in working order and I am mostly happy with my purchase with the following notes:
a) The case is in very good condition, although it had many visible yellow spots from not applying the retrobright solution evenly. I ended up performing the process myself (by submersion) and now it looks great with no yellow spots.
b) The recapping process on the m/b seems to have been performed by a pro. I don't think I would have done a better job. There was very little corrosion (very hard to see) on all solder points and some stickiness, so I washed the mb in the dishwasher. I was a bit nervous but the mb now looks good as new and the little corrosion on all solder points was gone.
c) The hard drive in excellent condition.
d) Some plastic retainers of the rom and ram slots were broken. I believe this is common. I used hot glue to keep them in place. Is this a bad idea?
In the photos bellow you can see my retrobright process that always works for me. I use 1litter hydrogen peroxide (35%) and water. I believe the greek sun also helps a lot. The beer and coke cans are used in order to displace as much water as possible from within the case and around it.
I normally avoid buying seller refurbished items since I enjoy going through this process myself. However the unit was reasonably priced (compared to ebay's other listings) and I went through with the purchase. Also, if you buy components separately it can add up.
The unit arrived in working order and I am mostly happy with my purchase with the following notes:
a) The case is in very good condition, although it had many visible yellow spots from not applying the retrobright solution evenly. I ended up performing the process myself (by submersion) and now it looks great with no yellow spots.
b) The recapping process on the m/b seems to have been performed by a pro. I don't think I would have done a better job. There was very little corrosion (very hard to see) on all solder points and some stickiness, so I washed the mb in the dishwasher. I was a bit nervous but the mb now looks good as new and the little corrosion on all solder points was gone.
c) The hard drive in excellent condition.
d) Some plastic retainers of the rom and ram slots were broken. I believe this is common. I used hot glue to keep them in place. Is this a bad idea?
In the photos bellow you can see my retrobright process that always works for me. I use 1litter hydrogen peroxide (35%) and water. I believe the greek sun also helps a lot. The beer and coke cans are used in order to displace as much water as possible from within the case and around it.
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