11 Feb
2003
11 Feb
'03
5:57 p.m.
Peter Turnbull wrote:
Don't use contact cleaner. Proper contact cleaner
contains oil. It's
not nearly as bad as WD40, but you don't really want the board covered
in a flm of oil.
I can vouch for that - someone sent me a 386 motherboard he'd
"cleaned" with
Amberlube (IIRC). Now the board attracts dust like there's no tomorrow. It
*needs* rinsing in IPA followed by deionised water, but I haven't got any.
If that's too much like hard work, or you have a
lot of boards to
clean, consider using the dishwasher. That's what's used commercially
(at least, for small-scale stuff). However, DON'T let it do the
drying cycle (too hot for some things) and don't use the dishwasher
if the board contains anything that might suffer: transformers,
relays (unless hermetically sealed), paper labels that must be
preserved, anything with extremely fine wires (core mats), etc. I've
been told some very old ICs (grey type) don't like being immersed in
hot water. I've never had a problem with that, but YMMV. Some old
types of compressed paper boards (Paxolin) may not like the
dishwasher either. Same rules apply about drying.
Ick... IIRC Electrolube produce
a foam cleaner that (they claim) can rip
grease and grime off a PCB without causing any damage to components.
Fluxclene is also quite good, but it stinks to high heaven. Alcohol based,
IIRC, with a slight citrus scent... For $DEITY's sake, use it in a
well-ventilated area - outside if possible. I used a can of it for 20secs in
a large kitchen and ended up with a headache that lasted 40 minutes... Oops.
Never did that again...
Later.
--
Phil.
philpem(a)dsl.pipex.com
http://www.philpem.dsl.pipex.com/