15 Dec
2001
15 Dec
'01
2:12 a.m.
I've never heard any warnings against "soap and water" cleaning of assembled
PC
boards so long as one takes pains to remove the "soap" (it's usually
something
much stronger, like TSP) and thoroughly drying the board before using it. If
you use solvents to dissolve the flux residue on the board, it simply spreads it
unless you have a large immersion system, so soap and water is used to remove
the residue. You then have to remove the soap residue, and, since dishwashers
don't heat the boards any more than normal operation under worst-case
conditions, you won't damage 'em with the dishwasher.
I would suppress the "DRY" cycle, though.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter C. Wallace" <pcw(a)mesanet.com>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2001 8:49 AM
Subject: Re: [PDP8-Lovers] how to clean a PDP8/A, dishwasher?
On Sat, 15 Dec 2001, Boatman on the River of Suck
wrote:
On Fri, 14 Dec 2001, Mark Crispin wrote:
Be careful about dishwashers and _old_ electronics: (pre Epoxy B) silicone
IC packages (usually gray 70s vintage) are very succeptable to damage from
moisture incursion --> corrosion. That being said, I wash (newer) circuit
cards all the time in hot water, a little detergent, and a toothbrush.
Actually a lot of the new soldering processes for the surface mount stuff
we do use a water based flux, and are water washed as the standard
processing...
Peter Wallace
I am appalled that anyone would seriously
consider putting any electronic
equipment, much less antiques, in a dishwasher.
Are you kidding? Have you been to the manufacturing line of a large
systems manufacturer (I've been to several)? They wash boards down with
water over and over again in the manufacturing process? You can't hurt
boards with water, as long as you dry them off before you turn them back
on again, and you don't use soap. All my MicroVAXen have been through the
dishwasher at least once.
Peace... Sridhar