Restoring a Classic II: The Day My Ultrasonic Cleaner Met Its Match

---

This poor Classic II showed up as a full-scale biohazard. The previous owner clearly smoked. Their cats clearly smoked. Honestly, everything in that house probably smoked. I had to save it.

I tore the machine down to the last Torx screw and loaded my 30L ultrasonic cleaner with anything it wouldn’t destroy: case plastics, internal frame, logic board, and assorted metalwork.

The floppy drive was completely stripped, every metal component that could tolerate it went through the ultrasonic bath, then everything was cleaned, lubricated, and reassembled.

The CRT got a full wipe-down, the hard drive got decontaminated, the analog board went through that too. Both the logic board and analog board were recapped. Amazingly, the hard drive worked!

Keyboard and mouse? Same treatment. Full tear-down, then if it could go in the tank, it went in the tank.

By the end, 30 liters of solution had gone from crystal-clear to an opaque yellow.

Fan? You know what they say about "All the King's Horses and all the King's Men?" I replaced it with a new Noctua.

Once everything was clean, I retrobrighted the case, keyboard, and mouse, then reassembled the system, dialed in the power rails, and adjusted the CRT.

And just like that, one Classic II resurrected.

(See attached images in no particular order)

Haha! That’s a great story! Congrats!

Any recommendations on the 30L ultrasonic?

A

Atfphoto said:

Haha! That’s a great story! Congrats!

Any recommendations on the 30L ultrasonic?

A

Click to expand...

I use an inexpensive Vevor 30L one. You can get it from the usual places. It does not have a few functions nicer ones have, but works just fine.

Hello,

Sounds great! I have some small units left over from when my Dad was a practicing surgeon but nothing I can chuck some big pieces into.

Thanks!

dschnur said:

The previous owner clearly smoked. Their cats clearly smoked. Honestly, everything in that house probably smoked.

Click to expand...

this is the best opening to a restoration thread I've ever read, I think.

dschnur said:

By the end, 30 liters of solution had gone from crystal-clear to an opaque yellow.

Click to expand...

good grief. Also, ew.

Atfphoto said:

Hello,

Sounds great! I have some small units left over from when my Dad was a practicing surgeon but nothing I can chuck some big pieces into.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

ugh, imagine the infectious medical waste that went through that cleaner … just get a cheap one.

One of my favourite machines. Squeezing the best out of it is a bit like sailboat racing. Sure, you could buy a big powerboat and go a great deal faster, but that’s not the point.

dschnur said:

I use an inexpensive Vevor 30L one. You can get it from the usual places. It does not have a few functions nicer ones have, but works just fin

Click to expand...

Byrd said:

ugh, imagine the infectious medical waste that went through that cleaner … just get a cheap one.

Click to expand...

Haha! These weren’t used at his office. He bought them when he was practicing. Sorry that wasn’t clear!

I’ll definitely look at the Vevor 30L but it looks like they have a few versions.

-

Can’t imagine the amount of smoke that blew through that SE/30z Still cracking up at the visual of a cat sitting next to the owner having a cig.

That first paragraph... you should get ChatGPT to generate you an image for it.

adespoton said:

That first paragraph... you should get ChatGPT to generate you an image for it.

Click to expand...

Ai is overrated. That said, I can imagine a few interesting images...

adespoton said:

That first paragraph... you should get ChatGPT to generate you an image for it.

Click to expand...

But you know what... I had to give it a try:

My thought process exactly. Interesting that the AI obscured the trademarked logo, but otherwise came through on the directive! It even almost got the number of fingers correct.

What fluid solution do you use in your ultrasonic cleaner?

At one stage I had a IIfx that had been in the home of a chain smoker since new. I swear the tar ran off in rivulets when it got washed, and probably killed aquatic life downstream, but it seemed to have preserved the plastics beautifully.

BobDaAggie said:

What fluid solution do you use in your ultrasonic cleaner?

Click to expand...

It varies. Alconox is a good one (comes in powder form) to get rid of most of what you find on boards, cases, metal parts, etc. There are some better ones to remove solder flux, but Alconox is a decent general purpose cleaner. You do need to rinse boards with distilled water afterward, then I flush with IPA and blow it off with dry air. After that, it bakes at around 150f for a few hours and then it's ready. I live in Arizona, so the bake part is free in the summer.

beachycove said:

At one stage I had a IIfx that had been in the home of a chain smoker since new. I swear the tar ran off in rivulets when it got washed, and probably killed aquatic life downstream, but it seemed to have preserved the plastics beautifully.

Click to expand...

I'll say the plastic on this one is amongst the better plastics on all my macs. I wonder if cigarette smoke seals off and preserves this kind of plastic. Probably not. But it would be cool to find at least one thing that justifies the hell we have to go through to clean it off.