I normally try to avoid repairing Ebay machines.. But as this one is for someone a lot of us know for his Amstrad loyalties, as well as excellent YouTube content… So I let this one past my repair filter.

 

No prices for guessing the owner!

Manky. I’ve seen worse looking caps. No obvious leakage so far

Sloppy job – Chippage barley on the board.

Overall, from this side of the PCB things don’t look too bad.. Well I’ve seen worse, put it that way ;D

Ah..

Oh

Urgh – Water damage or leakage? That is the question

Judging by the black bits… and I think thats a 12v pin on the edge.. Maybe due to all the mank we had a bit of a short going on here.

Large cap has lifted, doesn’t mean it’s gone poof.. But the only way to find out what has leaked or not is to remove them. They’re 20 past their use buy date anywho.

Kapton tape is the future. Using this stuff, I can use a big old blob old solder without affecting the SMD stuff. Multi-layer boards + corrosion = You need a shit load of heat

Through hole stuff removed without damaging the tracks. (of course). Now it’s time to use some hot wind on the SMD

 Now I can see signs of leakage. Not too bad, but knackered non the less. Capacitors last 3-5 years people REFURB your kit if you want to use it.

How not to ruin things. Kapton tape used again to save damaging the plastics.

Ever wondered why your Amiga doesn’t sound right.. Well this one won’t once it’s got new caps here

More Kapton tape. If I didn’t use it here, all those little bits and bobs would be free well before the capacitor itself has become loose.

Righy ho. All caps removed.

A splash of flux and some solder wick to remove the old knackered solder.

Nice 😀

Now this is manky.. Solder pads are dull due to leakage..  Time to dig out the white wine vinegar.. I’m out of lemon juice!

That’ll do 😀

Ear you go. Now the PCB is clean you can see that the leaking capacitor has started to eat the PCB.

SMD’s installed. I used an iron rather than heat for this. Tiny bit of new solder on the pads and a bit of flux on the capacitors is all it needed.

Through holes installed. Looking nice and neat. 😀

Inspection time. Looks ok to me. Should I test it now, or be brave and install it? Ah sod it!

Bugger.. Missed a few pics. I’ve cleaned up the plastics with soap and water. And wire brushed the metal work to remove the loose rust. Then I gave it a bit of WD40 to stop the rot. Now it’s time to test.

Does it work!.. Hell yes! 😀

Traditional selection of heatsinks installed, but I forgot to install the HD/Keyboard support. 68000 heatsink had to be moved south a bit, and the one on the right removed.

Thats it. Remember kids, if you buy something on ebay that’s 20+ years old. It WILL need attention, if you can’t do it yourself you are better off paying more for something that has already been sorted.