Massive (filthy) find in South Carolina
- Thread starter wottle
- Start date
Yeah. I have been starting with the 61xx machines. Trying to do a “reverse debt snowball” approach where I’m tacking the machines I have the most of first. So far I think I have about 8 working logic boards, cleaned and recapped. I believe I have enough working power supplies for all the machines. I’m thinking I’ll get them working, and offer them for pretty cheap. The biggest challenge is there were zero HDI-45 adapters in the lot, so I only have the one I already had. I’m looking into whether I can spearhead an effort to make a new adapter. The biggest challenge is that there is no way to get the male HDI-45 connector. I am trying to see if it would be possible to make a PCB to get the pin spacing correct, and then 3d print an enclosure. Both things are likely beyond my abilities of 3D design and PCB design (I have never done either with original designs). But if you don’t need an adapter, and are somewhere around Charlotte, NC, I will definitely be offering these up (I don’t need a half dozen 61xx machines!).
Also, despite my best efforts at cleaning the cases, these machines seem to be permanently stained, so none will likely be show pieces.
Also, despite my best efforts at cleaning the cases, these machines seem to be permanently stained, so none will likely be show pieces.
thats odd that they didnt have any HDI45 adapters, lmao. you'd expect to have at least a few with that many 6100s, given that no one really bought the audiovision monitors very much.
Yeah, there were marking on them and I assume he picked them up on a pallet in an auction. Cables often get separated from machines. I got a couple working DOS compatible cards, but again, no cables. And the Y cables are expensive and hard to get, so I ended up making some because all the connectors are readily available. But the Mac connector is DB-15, not HDI-45, so you still need that adapter.
One thing I thought odd was that the original Y cables for the DOS compatibility card also had a connector for the Mac that was DB-15. Could the DOS card be used in other machines that had video out other than HDI-45? If no, why make the Y cables require the use of an adapter.
So, I've been running into a stability problem, and I suspect it was the issue is due to the BlueSCSI v1 issue you referenced. I wish I had heard your warning and run into this issue before I ordered components to build 30 BlueSCSI v1s.
Should have listened to you and @JDW. Unfortunately, I can't justify the cost when I plan to sell these at essentially cost ($10 per machine is roughly what I paid, plus $10 in caps,a few dollars in cleaning supplies, and a few hours of work) Plan on selling them for $40-50. Adding a $40 BlueSCSI simply doesn't make sense. The new owners can buy one if they really want. So I will try to see if any of the original HDs are working and use those when possible. In the meantime, if anyone has older 68k Macs in the Charlotte area, let me know and I can make you up an older BlueSCSI.
Just a couple of updates. First, for anyone that expressed jealousy about this find, I would just like to remind you what I'm dealing with. Here was the collection of mice that was given to me in an equally dirty box:
I was able to get them all separated, and will have to spend some time disassembling and cleaning them.Most of them were the original Apple Desktop Bus Mouse, but there were a handful of the Apple Desktop Bus Mouse IIs. Also, a double buttoned ADB mouse that I need to find a ball and cover for the bottom. Also, not pictured, I did get 3 Apple Macintosh Mouses, (1 with no ball or cover for the bottom). I plan to use the insides of those to put in the 3d printed cases (compliments of @Stephen ) that are in the mail on the way. One printed in clear, and one in black...
I have my completed black 6100/66 with DOS card in all black (still waiting for my JLCPCB order of BlueSCSI v2 to arrive to hopefully have a hard drive solution. I restored the floppy drive and the CD ROM is working. I will try to come back and recap the CD 300i Plus in it, but I've got to start clearing out some of these machines because the clutter is driving me crazy.
And I have 5 other fully working, recapped 6100s waiting for me to power through cleaning the top cases (each one takes about 30 minutes of hard scrubbing and cleaning to get to a reasonable state. Many of them have some sort of yellow paint on them for numbers and I have to slowly scrape it away with a scalpel. Some of the stickers come off with heat, but many are not so easy and I have to use Goo-Gone and multiple rounds of scraping to get them off. I will likely not retrobright these as some owners prefer not to, so others can make that choice when they get to their new owners. I also will not be restoring the floppies. I hardly ever use them, so I'll leave that up to the new owners to do. Or, if they really want, I can probable fix one up on demand. I'll be assembling a couple to match the badged DOS Compatibles, which also have CD ROM drives. Unfortunately, of the 7 drives in the 61xx machines, I could only get 3 to work. So I'll have to pull some of those apart and find out what's wrong. 3 of them refuse to open, so I suspect maybe the drive motor is rusted / seized. One opens and closes, and shows on the SCSI bus, but doesn't load a disk. Might be capacitors, so I'll open one up and see how it looks.
Finally, I finished the cleaning a the restoration of the Quadra 650 with the 586 Reply DOS card. It turned out much better than the 6100 I cleaned, and I think it's because the majority of the body is metal, which seems to clean much better, even the nasty rust stain on the one side is almost gone. DOS cards works well, machine runs smoothly and the PSU seem strong. And, side benefit of this machine is that I can use the DOS card without the need for the awful HDI-45 to DB-15 adapter. Anyway, here is a picture of it next to a similar starting condition Centris 650.
If anyone in the Charlotte, NC area is looking for one or more PowerMac 6100s, please let me know. Also, I have some dead SCSI drives ad a few dead power supplies that I'm going to take to recycling, so if anyone wants those, please let me know.
I was able to get them all separated, and will have to spend some time disassembling and cleaning them.Most of them were the original Apple Desktop Bus Mouse, but there were a handful of the Apple Desktop Bus Mouse IIs. Also, a double buttoned ADB mouse that I need to find a ball and cover for the bottom. Also, not pictured, I did get 3 Apple Macintosh Mouses, (1 with no ball or cover for the bottom). I plan to use the insides of those to put in the 3d printed cases (compliments of @Stephen ) that are in the mail on the way. One printed in clear, and one in black...
I have my completed black 6100/66 with DOS card in all black (still waiting for my JLCPCB order of BlueSCSI v2 to arrive to hopefully have a hard drive solution. I restored the floppy drive and the CD ROM is working. I will try to come back and recap the CD 300i Plus in it, but I've got to start clearing out some of these machines because the clutter is driving me crazy.
And I have 5 other fully working, recapped 6100s waiting for me to power through cleaning the top cases (each one takes about 30 minutes of hard scrubbing and cleaning to get to a reasonable state. Many of them have some sort of yellow paint on them for numbers and I have to slowly scrape it away with a scalpel. Some of the stickers come off with heat, but many are not so easy and I have to use Goo-Gone and multiple rounds of scraping to get them off. I will likely not retrobright these as some owners prefer not to, so others can make that choice when they get to their new owners. I also will not be restoring the floppies. I hardly ever use them, so I'll leave that up to the new owners to do. Or, if they really want, I can probable fix one up on demand. I'll be assembling a couple to match the badged DOS Compatibles, which also have CD ROM drives. Unfortunately, of the 7 drives in the 61xx machines, I could only get 3 to work. So I'll have to pull some of those apart and find out what's wrong. 3 of them refuse to open, so I suspect maybe the drive motor is rusted / seized. One opens and closes, and shows on the SCSI bus, but doesn't load a disk. Might be capacitors, so I'll open one up and see how it looks.
Finally, I finished the cleaning a the restoration of the Quadra 650 with the 586 Reply DOS card. It turned out much better than the 6100 I cleaned, and I think it's because the majority of the body is metal, which seems to clean much better, even the nasty rust stain on the one side is almost gone. DOS cards works well, machine runs smoothly and the PSU seem strong. And, side benefit of this machine is that I can use the DOS card without the need for the awful HDI-45 to DB-15 adapter. Anyway, here is a picture of it next to a similar starting condition Centris 650.
If anyone in the Charlotte, NC area is looking for one or more PowerMac 6100s, please let me know. Also, I have some dead SCSI drives ad a few dead power supplies that I'm going to take to recycling, so if anyone wants those, please let me know.
That is definitely a Rat King of mice!
Dead SCSI drives. If the same/similar models, have you tried swapping controller cards on the drives? You can also try the Bake or Freeze method to try to get stuck heads loose.
That does work, btw. Resurrected a 230 that was acting like the heads had crashed by swapping another drive's board to it. Also did the same with a 52MB drive that wouldn't spin up. Got it functioning properly and ready for a few more years of use.