12 Dec
2014
12 Dec
'14
1:32 p.m.
On Fri, 12 Dec 2014, Sean Caron wrote:
On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 4:02 PM, Tothwolf <tothwolf
at concentric.net> wrote:
For some applications you can get away with a mix of acetone/isopropyl as
a flux remover, but you have to be extremely careful what you clean with
it. Acetone will also damage the PVC insulation of most hookup wire. Crazy
as it is, the State of California forbids the use of undiluted isopropyl
alcohol as an electronics cleaner.
http://www.mgchemicals.com/downloads/appguide/appguide0607.pdf They
suggest diluting it by 25% with either water or acetone. You can't buy
190-proof (95% pure ethanol) Everclear in California either, which is my
go-to cleaner for laser optics. For optics cleaning, the 151-proof (75%)
stuff won't cut it since unlike 95%, it leaves a residue behind as it
evaporates.
On Fri, 12 Dec 2014, Charles wrote:
I thought he was joking? I hope nobody would use acetone! LOL On Dec 12, 2014, at 11:44 AM, Peter Corlett
<abuse at cabal.org.uk> wrote:
Sure...if you want to dissolve the epoxy substrate, any number of
plastic or rubber-like compounds (capacitor end seals, anyone?), or the
enamel coating on magnet wire... On Fri, Dec 12, 2014 at 10:15:28AM -0500, Sean
Caron wrote:
> I'm not sure what the formulation was in the past but denatured
> alcohol nowadays is just ethanol with maybe 5-10% methanol added.
> You definitely shouldn't be drinking it (in vivo, methanol is
> metabolized to formaldehyde via oxidative reduction - formaldehyde
> attacks the optic nerve - which is why drinking wood methanol makes
> you go blind) but other than that, I wouldn't say it's particularly
> more harmful to you, boards or components than isopropanol is. You
> wouldn't want to drink that, either!
Wikpedia references EU Regulation 162/2013, which gives the various
recipes
across the EU:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=
OJ:L:2013:049:0055:0061:EN:PDF
Taking a random sample from a few different countries, the basic
recipe seems to be 1% mixed crud to make it unpalatable, up to 10%
methanol, and the rest ethanol. The ethanol and methanol will
evaporate readily enough, but I'd be somewhat concerned about residue
left from non-volatile components of the 1%.
It's not like isopropanol is terribly expensive or difficult to get
hold of. I can order ten litres of it from Amazon ?28.66 with free
delivery. If anything, it seems to be slightly cheaper than meths.
just just acetone? it works the best anyways.