Good source for SE/30 in Portland, Oregon?

[caver01]

Hi everyone!
Diving in with my first post, and a bit of an introduction. I am a long-time mac user and retro enthusiast in Portland, Oregon. I am looking for a good source for an SE/30 or even just a logic board. I want to tinker, get it running for the long-haul hobby. I have only lived in Portland since 2012, so wondering if anyone out there knows a good source for scrounging for my favorite all-in-one.

I guess one thing I would ask of the community here is this: Do you just bite the bullet and drop $300-400 on one offered on eBay? I could do that, but I would rather save some $ and explore the hobby by doing the work of cleaning, re-capping, maybe retrobrite, collecting peripherals etc. since I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. SO, I am curious: how did you find/obtain yours, if not having owned it since 1990?

 

[ScutBoy]

There is a Free Geek in Portland; might be worth checking them out and see if they process/sell vintage machines. Vintage Macs are big for us at Free Geek Twin Cities

 

[Drake]

I got my first unit on ebay for $200 cad which promptly exploded during shipping so it was a freebie and now lives in a Maceffects case. My second stock looking unit I pieced together, traded recap work for a customers extra Se/30 mobo and built it up from a couple broken SE machines.
Haunt ebay and put some ads out locally, never hurts!

 

[caver01]

There is a Free Geek in Portland; might be worth checking them out and see if they process/sell vintage machines. Vintage Macs are big for us at Free Geek Twin Cities

That is an option for sure. . . but they closed their warehouse for COVID lockdown. Times are changing, so I will check them out again.

As for local ads, that is not a bad idea either. I guess I just need to keep doing what I am doing, but get better with consistency so not to miss a deal due to random bad timing.

 

[ScutBoy]

Not so much for a specific machine, but let your friends/family know you want "old computers". Tell them that whatever Mom & Dad or better Grandma and Grampa have hanging around in the attic, you are interested. Same with your co-workers. I've have more days when I'd walk into my cube and there would be some Apple/Commodore/PC something just sitting there, and later someone would stop by and say "oh yeah - I left that for you".

You'll get a lot of rough, but the diamonds you'll uncover will more than make up for it.

 

[PotatoFi]

Watch Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp, and others like crazy! I bought my SE/30 in Portland for $100 in the fall of 2019 when I was there to teach a class.