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The complete restoration of a PowerBook 180c
Posted by: MacPlus2300 on 2026-09-23 19:43:52 Hello I am macplus and welcome back to my Mac attic. Some can say I’m a Mac addict. Here is my latest find, a working, but rough PowerBook 180c Japanese model. First, I noticed the hinges were no good and needed replacement. I also found the standoffs on the bottom in need of repair. I also recapped the display and trackball as I went through, which fixed a few issues. The ribbon cable was the big problem, but luckily it is an easy fix. The drive was replaced with a blueSCSI and sandisk card. I then went on to make some “ram modifications”. But some pictures first: Here is the repair on the hinge. I roughly knocked down the plastic with side cutters and then a rotary tool with a sanding attachment. I then used loctite plastic bonder to adhere the printed support from my Bambu lab printer onto the sanded and leveled area. Around and in all the cracks did I put JB weld plastic weld epoxy, which I also used in the same way for many of the standoffs. After 2 weeks it holds incredibly strong. After it dried I took the rotary to it again to clean it up. I had some extra 85ns 512mb modules lying around so I maxed out the ram card in order to achieve a system total of 12 megabytes. The full system came together very well and proper. The bluescsi is nestled nicely in the drive caddy. Here is the interconnect board, where I have replaced the battery and made a new flexible ribbon cable with an IDE cable cut down to size, as the original solid core ribbon broke in places and gave uneven picture and ball movement, even on a recapped display. The machine looks and functions great now with the ram upgrade and new storage. I am currently dual booting KanjiTalk and 7.5.5 with Japanese Language Kit, similarly to how the original drive was setup. Next, I plan to rebuild the battery, as I have already prepared the shell for new cells.
Posted by: BajaTym on 2026-09-25 04:11:58 The ribbon cable was the big problem, but luckily it is an easy fix. Outstanding restoration. She’s gorgeous! Would you be willing to expand a little on your ribbon comment? Was it a replacement ribbon, or were you able to repair the original? Just curious and always trying to expand my restoration skills. After it dried I took the rotary to it again to clean it up. Do you happen to have any photos of the cleaned-up support?
Posted by: MacPlus2300 on 2026-09-26 09:53:53 Outstanding restoration. She’s gorgeous! Would you be willing to expand a little on your ribbon comment? Was it a replacement ribbon, or were you able to repair the original? Just curious and always trying to expand my restoration skills. Do you happen to have any photos of the cleaned-up support? The ribbon, originally is solid core. It gets brittle and shows display defects with bad connections. Basically, I use a screwdriver to separate both parts of the ribbon connectors which expose the pins. I pulled off the old ribbon, cut down an IDE ribbon to size which I think I had remove about eight lanes. I then lightly pressed down the cables that it was in place and then used a small 12 ounce hammer to gently tap everything evenly so it would all connect to the new wires. After that, it works like a charm. I do have some photos of the supports, but they are from a PowerBook 170 that I also restored. I didn’t take any pictures of this one except for the display ones that you saw.
Posted by: BajaTym on 2026-09-26 10:23:19 Thank you for the added details.
Posted by: demik on 2026-09-26 11:15:59 Nice restoration! It's cool that this rechargeable battery is still produced.
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