Maxell strikes again

[tanaquil]

I shared recently that I was having trouble opening up my Classic (thanks for all the help/advice on removing corroded screws) and suspected a battery disaster. It took weeks of experimentation and Home Depot visits, but I finally got the case open today (more by sheer force than with any finesse). 

Oh gee, look what I found rattling around inside. >.<

https://flic.kr/p/FP8qJK

https://flic.kr/p/GGddTC

The computer is a near-total loss:

https://flic.kr/p/GjowWY

https://flic.kr/p/Gjox91

https://flic.kr/p/GGddsN

https://flic.kr/p/GjoxNY

(I love how the interior rust/corrosion glows a malevolent green in that last one.)

I'm not even sure the pictures communicate how awful the inside looks. The corrosion was literally everywhere.

I'm sorry, little computer. You were my first mac and saw me through years of grad school. You deserved a better end.

Many thanks to Aoresteen for sending me the remains of his classic, as the case and chassis of mine are shot beyond repair. (The front bezel might be salvageable, but probably only for a parts machine, as I thoroughly hacked round the edges of the poor thing trying to get the case apart.) It's definitely going to take the parts of two or three macs to re-fashion one good Classic out of the lot. I picked up a clean Classic mobo on ebay as well. Cross fingers for when I get everything back together.

I was able to save many of the inside parts of mine (I think... no visible damage at least?) - the hard drive, floppy drive, and even the RAM expansion board. Analog board and CRT are probably ok, though it's hard to be sure.

I wish I could remember whether I started this classic up back when I started testing all my old machines last year. I really should have removed the battery on this one sooner (I had so many that needed battery surgery...). Then again, the corrosion is so bad that I think it's possible this one blew up years ago.

I'm going to start another thread to ask a few questions I have about rehabbing the remains, but in the meantime, go pull those batteries, everyone.

I guess I can't call myself a true Mac collector if I haven't lost at least one machine to the Great Satan Maxell?

 

[CC_333]

Thankfully, I've never actually lost any Macs to these dreaded Maxell batteries, though my first SE/30 from 2005 had one, and it had leaked (out of sheer happenstance, I just so happened to open it up before any corrosion had set in (the battery holder, as one might expect, was a loss though)), so that logic board continues to function to this day.

So does that mean that I'm not a true collector? :lol:

c

 

[bibilit]

Never seen a Classic so bad after a battery explosion.

I will suggest replacing the caps from the new board and from the Analog board at the same time.

 

[techknight]

its pretty much garbage from this point. 

Might be able to clean up the bucket, and sand the metal base/Paint it. But the logic board is a loss. 

 

[tanaquil]

Haha, yeah, the logic board is good for nothing but soldering practice. And the metal frame is beyond help - if you look closely, one end is almost completely rusted away and bent/twisted. 

The bucket can probably be cleaned up enough to serve as a covering/container for machines in progress, but it will never look pretty again. The screw hole I drilled through is totally destroyed.

What do you use to paint over metal that you are trying to repair? (The better chassis I have has corrosion spots but is still intact enough to be functional.)