@G8rduc awesome to hear the history on this! It sounds like a thrill of opportunity, tragic realization, and now some light at the end of the tunnel type of stuff!.
@3dVice thanks man! I actually prefer SMT components for rework, believe it or not. Tends to be less destructive to PCBs but that also means you are probably dealing with more than a simple 2 layer board. Part of that is just having the right tools for the job and some optics for us old guys.
@obitus1990 dude. Fiberglass shards SUCK. Even with gloves and trying to keep a clean workspace, they still manage to find their way into the most painful of spots. Pro tip: Fiberglass will find its way into your shorts I don't think I can bring myself to break out the orbital sander any time soon, but the dremel buffing pads really do work wonders and allow for delicate enough maneuvering. They're not cheap though.
Yesterday, I ended up using an entire pad stripping down an Amiga 2000 keyboard back-board that had loads of awful corrosion from God-knows-what fluids. The buffing pads worked wonders to remove paint and corrosion. That thing is painted and waiting for reassembly (new paint, conformal coating on the PCB). Unlike Mitsumi keyboards, each key has a mechanical assembly with four solder points in order to expose the PCB. Unfortunately thats a trap for any contaminantes that fall in between the keys. Super ick. My desoldering station got quite a workout this last weekend.
@oggie, as far as I can tell, battery damage is different on every Amiga. Sometimes it depends on the orientation of the chassis when it was put in storage. Sometimes it can drip it's evil onto other parts/cards. Sometimes it does practically no damage at all-even at the same age. Its all a freaking mystery, man. You should take some pics of the damage and post it here for us to poke at!
Thanks all!