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Step-by-Step Restoration of a Rare 1995 IBM ThinkPad [video]
- tomcam 3y agoDamn I wanted one of those so bad. Elegant machine.
- chpatrick 3y agoSadly I did a lot of damage to mine attempting this process.
- jgrahamc 3y agoWhat sort of damage? I’m quite a long way through restoring two of these into one and the only problem I have is the plastic between the keyboard and screen is cracked and I’m likely going to have to find a third machine. The machine itself works fine since I replaced the CMOS battery and cleaned off corrosion, but the bodywork is a total pain to deal with.
- chpatrick 3y agoI couldn't get out any of the teeny-tiny screws at the front and broke one of the hinges in the process. :( Also the battery contacts seemed too corroded to salvage.
- jgrahamc 3y agoYeah. Those screws are tiny. I was lucky in that I bought a set of screwdrivers especially for dealing with small electronics. Unfortunately I was unlucky in that my two machines only had three screws left between them! If you let me know which hinges are broken I may have a spare I can send you. The battery corrosion can be cleaned off. It takes patience and isopropyl alcohol.
- chpatrick 3y ago> Yeah. Those screws are tiny. I was lucky in that I bought a set of screwdrivers especially for dealing with small electronics. Unfortunately I was unlucky in that my two machines only had three screws left between them! Sadly one was rusty and two were already stripped. I could get one out and I tried to drill out the other ones with a tiny drill bit but it didn't work. > If you let me know which hinges are broken I may have a spare I can send you. When I say hinge sadly it's more like the lid... https://imgur.com/a/QoMCN7r https://imgur.com/a/QoMCN7r > The battery corrosion can be cleaned off. It takes patience and isopropyl alcohol. In my case the copper contacts for the battery were almost rusted through, so there wasn't much I could do. Also I replaced the CMOS and standby batteries but weirdly it still complained in boot. (I checked the polarity).
- jgrahamc 3y agoWhere did you find a replacement standby battery? I’ve found those hard to come by.
- jtwaleson 3y agoDid you get both machines to boot in the end? Looking forward to the next blog posts!
- jgrahamc 3y agoI have one complete working machine. Keeping the other boards as spares. I just need to finish stripping and spraying the cases. And, thank you, for sending them to me. I hope to have a completed machine before Christmas.
- jtwaleson 3y agoHappy to see them with an owner that has more time for them! Do you have more info on how the spraying works? I might be interested for some of my other old Thinkpads.
- chpatrick 3y agoOne thing I've wondered about (but lack the low level knowledge) is whether one could make a PCMCIA card with a modern SoC onboard that would essentially take over the 701c and use it just for the screen and the keyboard, essentially giving you a modern machine. In theory you have full access to memory in PCMCIA so it should be possible, maybe with some kind of minimal helper OS booting on the native CPU.
- justsomehnguy 3y agoIt's butterfly keyboard one, of course. Also: 1995: the keyboard doesn't fit in the 9.7" case? Use science and algorithms to fit it in. 2015+: the keyboard doesn't fit in the 13" wide case? Remove all the keys, shove PrtScr under the thumb and overall tell the user to suck it. /rant
- weare138 3y agoI've never understood why that idea didn't catch on.
- fnord77 3y agoWere these that "rare" ? I had one
- fanatic2pope 3y agoHopefully some of these machines will be left in their "used" condition. I think that just as with vintage cars, the signs of wear and tear from the way they were used when they weren't treated as being precious also has value.
- 29athrowaway 3y agoIn the case of Go boards, some people call those imperfections the "character" of the board.
- sorokod 3y agoA labor of love - outstanding work!
- nebula8804 3y agoReally great lessons in this video especially with applying decals. I've tried to learn how the factory does the manufacturing so that I could restore my various junk computers in the same way. For decals I've seen this cool looking machine that uses some sort of flexible balloon like device to first pick up the design and then "stamp" it onto the material. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZFfcA8v88U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZFfcA8v88U I wonder if there is a way to recreate this at home? The method used by the presenter is actually really clever! Also, thinkpads have this special "rubber like" feeling thats quite distinct among most laptops. You guys must know what I am talking about. It didn't really look like he recreated that. Would that even be possible?