SE/30 dumpster find

[MacMan]

Something caught my eye near some bins today and on closer inspection I discovered that the bit of "platinum" coloured plastic that I had spotted from a distance was in fact a very neglected looking SE/30. I promptly rescued it and a few minutes ago, (after opening the case and checking everything was dry), I powered it on. It seems to work fine and has 8MB RAM and a 40MB hard drive. The extra bonus is that there is an ethernet card in it with RJ-45, thin coax and AUI connectors!

There is quite a bit of rust on the steel frame inside and on the external connectors and the floppy drive mechanism looks corroded. I think this must have been sitting outdoors in the damp for some time. Hopefully a bit of a clean up will do it wonders as the machine on the whole is in good working order. The CRT is burnt in but still gives a bright and sharp picture. Also, this SE/30 produces a good sound volume from it's speaker unlike my other SE/30 that had suffered capacitor leakage and has almost lost it's sound. Maybe I will use both of them to put together a fully working SE/30 system, depending on whether I find any problems with this new one.

And yes, pictures:


(front)


(back)

 

[Dan 7.1]

oh wow. that plastic is in excellent condition considering. is that crud in the handle area just crud or actual plastic discoloration?

 

[MacMan]

Just crud, the Mac was sitting near an extraction unit that seemed to have covered everything with dust and those pictures were taken in the street shortly after finding the Mac. There is no case yellowing to speak of. I'm going to clean it up tomorrow and try rubbing the rust off the ports at the back.

 

[Dan 7.1]

well thats just brilliant, man. Grats on the find!

 

[Quadraman]

Why can't I go dumpster diving and come up with an SE/30?

 

[madmann]

man me too i never get that lucky }

i used an se/30 with a gpib interface for all the daq for my masters work

what a machine!!

 

[Christopher]

Just crud, the Mac was sitting near an extraction unit that seemed to have covered everything with dust and those pictures were taken in the street shortly after finding the Mac. There is no case yellowing to speak of. I'm going to clean it up tomorrow and try rubbing the rust off the ports at the back.

Get some Steal Wool from the hardware store. Works wonders on rusty metal. Just be sure to never get it near open flame. Smolders and burns for a while.

 

[Scott Baret]

Wow...congrats! She looks perfect!!!

 

[Bunsen]

The Force is strong with this one.

 

[equill]

Quite a find. February 1990, going by the serial number, and assembled in Cork specifically for the German market, too, it seems.

No matter which case the MLB ends up in, you may find that a longer-lasting cleanup means for the rusted port casings includes more than steel wool alone, which produces a nice shiny surface ready to resume rusting promptly. One of the proprietary juices used in motor-body rust-conversion—containing phosphoric and chromic acids and a plastic such as PVA to bind the resulting iron-phosphate-chromate film—is useful. I have used one called Kill-Rust. Dilute 1 part of rust-converter with 2-4 parts of water, and roll the converter onto the metal with a cotton bud after removing loose rust with steel wool. Don't be deterred if there is some slight fizzing. That is the remainder of the original zinc or nickel plated onto the metal as a sacrificial layer, but now long past its usefulness. Using diluted rust-converter minimizes the colour changes from blue to brown or black after use of concentrated converter, but still protects the metal's surface. When the film has dried you can coat the metal surface with a clear acrylic spray.

Rust-converters are corrosive to skin, even in diluted form, so use gloves during the work, and keep the converter off the MLB proper.

de

 

[MacMan]

Well I've been cleaning up the SE/30 today and it is looking good. The drive mechanism was ceased but I have loosened it off with some WD40. I used steel wool to remove the majority of rust but I will also follow equill's suggestion of using a rust converter to finish the job.

The motherboard on this Mac is pristine and has no capacitor leakage at all. As already mentioned, my other SE/30 has leaking capacitors and has almost lost its sound, so this new one may become the favourite. I haven't yet tested the ethernet card but it will be undoubtedly very useful!

I'll try to get some "finished article" pictures up later today.

 

[MacMan]

Photo of the SE/30 switched on, after cleaning: http://www.flickr.com/photos/23826245@N00/2365993407/

I haven't sorted out a place to put it yet and I need to dig out a suitable keyboard and mouse for it from my extensive stocks. It certainly looks a lot happier now that it isn't covered with crud and it has a loving home!

 

[Patrickool93]

If you haven't already, make a copy of those ethernet card drivers! The HD may be unreliable, and who knows how hard it is to find new driver.

Good Find!

 

[MacMan]

If you haven't already, make a copy of those ethernet card drivers! The HD may be unreliable, and who knows how hard it is to find new driver.Good Find!

I have made a full backup of the hard drive on a Zip disk. I had a look for the drivers and there doesn't seem to be any specific ones, just Apple network drivers. The card must be an Apple one as it works fine with the current setup - I have just now been using it for Appletalk and connecting to the internet.

 

[Temetka]

Man that SE/30 looks really nice all cleaned up.

It makes me envious. My SEFD is clean, but not that clean.

 

[~tl]

If you haven't already, make a copy of those ethernet card drivers! The HD may be unreliable, and who knows how hard it is to find new driver.Good Find!

I have made a full backup of the hard drive on a Zip disk. I had a look for the drivers and there doesn't seem to be any specific ones, just Apple network drivers. The card must be an Apple one as it works fine with the current setup - I have just now been using it for Appletalk and connecting to the internet.

A lot of other network cards work fine with the Apple drivers too... so it could be a number of brands. Only one way to find out [}] ]'>

 

[skeletor]

Something caught my eye near some bins today and on closer inspection I discovered that the bit of "platinum" coloured plastic that I had spotted from a distance was in fact a very neglected looking SE/30. I promptly rescued it and a few minutes ago, (after opening the case and checking everything was dry), I powered it on. It seems to work fine and has 8MB RAM and a 40MB hard drive. The extra bonus is that there is an ethernet card in it with RJ-45, thin coax and AUI connectors!
There is quite a bit of rust on the steel frame inside and on the external connectors and the floppy drive mechanism looks corroded. I think this must have been sitting outdoors in the damp for some time. Hopefully a bit of a clean up will do it wonders as the machine on the whole is in good working order. The CRT is burnt in but still gives a bright and sharp picture. Also, this SE/30 produces a good sound volume from it's speaker unlike my other SE/30 that had suffered capacitor leakage and has almost lost it's sound. Maybe I will use both of them to put together a fully working SE/30 system, depending on whether I find any problems with this new one.

And yes, pictures:


(front)


(back)

great find....reminds me of my SE/30, which I found on trash day, sitting sadly on the grass, near the trash can...rescued it, minutes, before the city trash truck, would have swoop it up, for the local landfill...

anyhow, mine was clean inside...and the tube did have severe burn in, but I ended up using another se/30, for parts, and crt tube, and installed a

500 mb hd, with 7.5.5. the rest of the donor SE/30, was used for

parts, the the case (yellowed) ended up as a fish tank..

go figure...the trash day S/30, had a clean case, hardly el-zippo yellowing.

where, my former SE/30, suffered from the dreaded yellowing..

heck, any time you can find one, or a SE with superdrive, in the trash,

(etc) is a gooood day.....as the years go by, compact macs, are getting harder to come by.......

 

[joshc]

These are most beautiful machines when not yellowed...alas, I only wish all were like it. Great find.