cleaning qbus enclosures

On Thu, 2 Aug 2001, Dave McGuire wrote: Guys, check out a board stuffing house or someplace that has a PCB assembly line sometime. Now that the EPA has regulated volatile organic compound-based fluxes and solvents (like alcohol), most places use a water-based flux. A couple of years ago a place I worked at changed over to a lemon juice-based flux. It worked just as well as the propan-2-ol stuff and smelled better. But, it was conductive. So, we went out and bought a Frigidaire dishwasher and put it at the end of the line, just after the wave solder pot. After the boards came out of the pot, they went into the cooling racks, then right into the dishwasher for a hot cycle, no soap. And when we had a company dinner (it was a small company), I'd get stuck cleaning out the wire ends and odd resistors and capacitors that didn't solder out of the bottom before we put the dishes in. Never had a problem. The only things you need to look out for are electromechanical items that are not washable- some switches, speakers, potentiometers, and such. Those things tend to trap or absorb water. Richard Schauer rws(a)enteract.com