Leaky caps [Was: Re: vintage components]

[Dave McGuire]

On Dec 2, 2009, at 1:54 PM, Seth Morabito wrote:
>> Late 80's Macintosh logic boards are worth more if the  
>> electrolytic caps
>> that are leaking acetic acid are removed and the board is cleaned up.
>>
>> I didn't realize how serious a problem this is for late 80's  
>> electronics
>> in general. The museum has been removing batteries from artifacts  
>> for a
>> while now, but I don't know how we're going to deal with trace rot  
>> on all
>> the PCBs with leaking surface mount electrolytic caps.
>
> Indeed, there seems to be a mass die-off of vintage Macintoshes  
> going on
> right now judging by the buzz on 68K mac enthusiast message boards. My
> own SE/30 refused to boot about a month ago, showing the classic
> "Simasimac" zebra-stripe failure. On inspection I found that _every_
> surface mount electrolytic cap on the board was leaking. I had to  
> re-cap
> the entire board -- only 11 caps, but my smd hand soldering skills are
> just fair to middling.

   I do surface-mount soldering all the time.  I wouldn't mind  
setting up a little side business doing this type of rework for people.

             -Dave
>


-- 
Dave McGuire
Port Charlotte, FL