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SE30 Fire!

tact

Well-known member
I thought I could finally put the case back on my se30 I thought I finally had it fixed and completed, I had recently replaced the old cracked and arcing flyback transformer and got all 128mb of ram. Even with the case on the external screen never went grayscale I thought replacing the transformer had fixed the problem and I could finally put the screws back in the case after all these years, Boy was I wrong...
I started up my mac, got a partial chime, and then SMOKE!
I have no idea what happened but somehow the corner of the radius pivot card making contact or close enough to the back of the case caused an arc from who knows where between them and almost melted a hole right through the case and burnt the corner of the card.

IMG_20210920_0142068.jpgIMG_20210920_0141590.jpgIMG_20210920_0141471.jpgIMG_20210920_0141431.jpg

Can anyone tell me how this is possible?
I don't see any other signs of sparks/arcing or contact anywhere else on the case or boards anywhere that would indicate where this came from.
After removing the case and taking the boards out, the se30 booted up fine so thankfully its not completely fried but I'm hesitant to see if the cards still work for now I don't feel like messing with it rather disappointing night. Very upset with the damage to my original case with the signatures on it too. I'm close to giving up on it and scrapping it for parts at this point.
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
I have no idea what happened but somehow the corner of the radius pivot card making contact or close enough to the back of the case caused an arc from who knows where between them and almost melted a hole right through the case and burnt the corner of the card.

If there was an exposed power trace there that made contact with the back of the case, enough current could flow to generate quite a lot of heat, I'd imagine.

Very upset with the damage to my original case with the signatures on it too. I'm close to giving up on it and scrapping it for parts at this point.

Given how many SE/30 battery bomb victims there are out there, finding replacement cases isn't that hard; don't be disheartened :). If the SE/30 itself works, cards probably still also work too. My bet here is that all you did is shorted out the DC side of the PSU, which can be dramatic but, as you noticed, not generally fatal to anything very much.
 

tact

Well-known member
If there was an exposed power trace there that made contact with the back of the case, enough current could flow to generate quite a lot of heat, I'd imagine.
I suppose you're right, I never noticed and never heard anything mentioned about the inside of the case being completely coated with metal I guess as an emi shield, I tested the resistance of the case is like 002 ohms so ya its pretty conductive, it just looked like some pretty high current that went through to melt it like that I suspected something with the monitor being the culprit.

Given how many SE/30 battery bomb victims there are out there, finding replacement cases isn't that hard; don't be disheartened :). If the SE/30 itself works, cards probably still also work too. My bet here is that all you did is shorted out the DC side of the PSU, which can be dramatic but, as you noticed, not generally fatal to anything very much.
I suppose now I have an actual reason to get one of those mac effects clear cases but I just liked the original case with the signatures and didn't have a scratch or ding or any yellowing of the plastic. I might be able to file down that corner of the card still just enough to not touch the case but I'm just sick of spending so much money on it all it never ends. lol
 

cheesestraws

Well-known member
I never noticed and never heard anything mentioned about the inside of the case being completely coated with metal I guess as an emi shield, I tested the resistance of the case is like 002 ohms so ya its pretty conductive, it just looked like some pretty high current that went through to melt it like that I suspected something with the monitor being the culprit.

Yup. You are not the only person who has found this out the .... exciting way, don't worry :)

I might be able to file down that corner of the card still just enough to not touch the case but I'm just sick of spending so much money on it all it never ends. lol

Filing it down without damaging the board will be very hard; I'd recommend just using a piece of insulation around it, instead
 

tact

Well-known member
Yup. You are not the only person who has found this out the .... exciting way, don't worry :)
it wasn't very exciting lol I tried to clean up the burn mark its pretty deep! but the rest of the case cleaned up like a mirror I can really see the signatures now, I guess I added a signature of my own in the mold now lol !

IMG_20210920_0505234.jpg

Filing it down without damaging the board will be very hard; I'd recommend just using a piece of insulation around it, instead

I managed to file off most of the charred corner of the radius card luckily it didn't burn through the trace on the corner so it still works... for now lol I guess I'll just put some electrical tape on the end of the card... when I can find it Why is my electrical tape always missing lol
 

BadGoldEagle

Well-known member
I guess that wasn’t a GFCI outlet? I used to run my SE/30 on an unearthed plug back at my parent’s place in Paris. Kinda glad I never did that IIsi Pivot hack... The apartment did have some kind of protection though, as I remember that one of my Tape Backup 40SCs kept tripping the breaker.
 
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