I’ve finally taken the jump into retrocomputing with something I’ve always wanted to own, a proper Commodore PET, or CBM 3016 to be exact!

The seller said 5 years ago when it was last turned on, that it worked perfectly fine. However I do wanna take some precautions before reawakening it. Not that something blows after all this time.

I however am still pretty new to retrocomputing and wanted to ask the experts on here, If/what I should first inspect under or over the hood before turning it on? Thanks in advance!

  • @Eheran
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    111 months ago

    The explosion should not damage anything short term. Leaving the residue will cause a lot of corrosion long term. If you get into soldering, make sure to buy proper flux. It makes such a huge difference. Also not the cheapest iron. I would recommend a TS80P. For removing parts, if you do that more than a few times, get an automatic solder sucker, cheap ones should do. Otherwise use the iron with extra solder at high heat and perhaps 3 or 4 hands.