[Opinion/Help needed] battery bombed SE/30 logic board

Hanno

New Tinkerer
May 23, 2026
2
0
1
Germany
Thanks to the awesome members of this community, I’ve gotten hooked on the idea of tinkering with a Compact Mac myself and maybe even getting it back in working order. That’s why I bought a Mac SE/30, which smells like nothing so much as a “basement.” Unfortunately, it turned out to be a “battery bomb.” Everything except the logic board works perfectly fine. Unfortunately, It looks like the chassis on top of the board and the insulating layer underneath it took the brunt of the damage, since they are significantly more corroded/eroded than the board itself.
I have very little experience with vintage electronics so far (but that's what I'm willing to change), so I’d really appreciate your opinion or help:

- Is the board even salvageable? Or is it a lost cause? Capacitors C12 and C44 have already broken off, and the real-time clock crystal on Y1 is also missing. C7 and C5/C6 appear to have leaked (if I’m interpreting the solder bridges on the surrounding chips correctly)
- There’s a “maker space” near me that apparently has a reflow oven and an infrared rework station (though I haven’t been there yet to confirm it). I was thinking of using the oven to refresh the solder joints in one go and see which ones become shiny again. But I’ve heard that this isn’t a good idea because it might make the damage worse?
- The pictures show the board before and after cleaning with isopropyl alcohol

Thank you so much in advance for your feedback and help!

P.S.: If I’ve done or written anything wrong, please let me know, as this is my first post in an online forum.
 

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robin-fo

Tinkerer
Feb 17, 2022
170
76
28
Switzerland
Hi @Hanno

This board is clearly beyond economic repair, but the components are likely in good-enough condition to create a "Reloaded" logic board, where you transfer the salvageable parts onto a recreated circuit board. You can either do this yourself if your are experienced with SMD soldering, or let somebody else do it. Expect a few hundred dollars in any case in terms of cost.
 

Hanno

New Tinkerer
May 23, 2026
2
0
1
Germany
This board is clearly beyond economic repair, but the components are likely in good-enough condition to create a "Reloaded" logic board, where you transfer the salvageable parts onto a recreated circuit board. You can either do this yourself if your are experienced with SMD soldering, or let somebody else do it. Expect a few hundred dollars in any case in terms of cost.

Thanks for your quick reply. Too bad that means bad news for my board. Is this seller for logic boards legit?

It would be even better if the board were available for purchase somewhere else with the bottom side already populated. In TheRealBolle’s repository, it at least looks like you could order it populated using a BOM file from JCLPCB, etc. (?)