2 May
2006
2 May
'06
6:33 p.m.
well weve all seen how dusty the insides of computers
get. I had been using a shop vac to blow out the crud,
but its awkward and doesnt pack the same umph. So I
picked up an oldie at a flea market. The motor is shot
(easily replaceable) but before bolting a new one on,
should I perform any maintenance? No obvious place to
oil it. Pops or farts when I rotate the pulley by hand
- is this a favorable sign of its condition?
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22 May
22 May
7 p.m.
should I perform any maintenance? No obvious place to
oil it. Pops or farts when I rotate the pulley by hand
- is this a favorable sign of its condition?
It's somewhat likely that the seals' noises will get less intrusive
as the compressor is operated at it's normal speed. Have you priced
new Sears stuff? It can be affordable.
To camp-on another related question, as one operates a dust blow-out
solution, it is equally useful to have something like a HEPA air-cleaner,
to keep your nose and lungs from being the dominant air-cleaners in the
room. I'm looking for a reccomendation for a good room-air cleaner.
Probably just an fan-and-filter, an ozonic type would likely ? increase ESD
problems.
John A.
7:19 p.m.
On 5/22/2006 at 10:00 PM John Allain wrote:
To camp-on another related question, as one operates a
dust blow-out
solution, it is equally useful to have something like a HEPA air-cleaner,
to keep your nose and lungs from being the dominant air-cleaners in the
room. I'm looking for a reccomendation for a good room-air cleaner.
Probably just an fan-and-filter, an ozonic type would likely ? increase
ESD
problems.
Not to mention destroy any rubber that might still be in that treasure of
yours. My wife won't let me bring any old thing into the house that's been
accumulating dust and bugs--so it gets the compressed air treatment
out-of-doors. An inexpensive respirator mask should keep the dust from
getting into *your* innards.
Cheers,
Chuck
23 May
23 May
6:35 a.m.
John Allain wrote:
To camp-on another related question, as one operates a
dust blow-out
solution, it is equally useful to have something like a HEPA air-cleaner,
to keep your nose and lungs from being the dominant air-cleaners in the
room. I'm looking for a reccomendation for a good room-air cleaner.
Probably just an fan-and-filter
Suitable vacuum cleaner? I see working Dysons on the local (UK) freecycle list
all the time as people upgrade to larger models, and they have HEPA filters.
I'm actually wondering if you could rig something so that it does the job of
the air compressor too...
cheers
Jules
7:27 a.m.
Jules Richardson wrote:
Suitable vacuum cleaner? I see working Dysons on the local (UK)
freecycle list all the time as people upgrade to larger models, and they
have HEPA filters.
I'm actually wondering if you could rig something so that it does the
job of the air compressor too...
Ummm, if the OP was talking about sucking dust out of electronic
equipment rather than blowing it out, a normal vacuum cleaner isn't a
great idea. Depending on the composition of the nozzle, they can
generate a heck of a static charge.
I'm sure the same would be true using it as a blower, too, but you'd
probably not get as close to the work with it.
Doc
7:33 a.m.
Doc Shipley wrote:
Jules Richardson wrote:
I think they were talking about blowing - I just wondered if you could reverse
the motor direction in a cleaner, or just tap off the 'other' side of the
motor or something. It's not doing the job it was designed for then, but may
well provide airflow for blasting dirt as well as filtering room air through
the HEPA filter. I certainly wasn't thinking of keeping the existing hose (too
bulky!) - chop all that off along with any other unnecessary bits and just
install a much thinner flexible pipe as appropriate.
Nowhere near as good as a compressor, but possibly good enough for the
purposes of blowing crud out of old computer stuff. Of course, as you say, the
static side of things might be a big problem though :-(
cheers
Jules
Suitable vacuum cleaner? I see working Dysons on the local (UK)
freecycle list all the time as people upgrade to larger models, and
they have HEPA filters.
I'm actually wondering if you could rig something so that it does the
job of the air compressor too...
Ummm, if the OP was talking about sucking dust out of electronic
equipment rather than blowing it out, a normal vacuum cleaner isn't a
great idea.
8:27 a.m.
On 5/23/2006 at 3:33 PM Jules Richardson wrote:
Nowhere near as good as a compressor, but possibly good
enough for the
purposes of blowing crud out of old computer stuff. Of course, as you say,
the
static side of things might be a big problem though :-(
Probably not sufficiently adequate--a good blowout gets into tight spaces
with a small stream of high-pressure very fast-moving air. A vacuum
cleaner is basically built for air volume, not pressure.
A very related question--occasionally, I'll see some dust that's been
"cemented" to PCBs and other surfaces by ambient moisture. An air
compressor is worthless in this case. I've resorted to scrubbing things
out with a soft-long-bristled brush, water and a mild detergent, followed
by rinsing and drying. Obviously, because of the water, not an ideal
situation.
In the bad old days, I'dve simply flooded the item with Freon TF, but
that's a no-no now. Same for carbon tet. What do you folks use when
something more aggressive than air is called for?
Cheers,
Chuck
9:17 a.m.
Chuck Guzis wrote:
A very related question--occasionally, I'll see
some dust that's been
"cemented" to PCBs and other surfaces by ambient moisture. An air
compressor is worthless in this case. I've resorted to scrubbing things
out with a soft-long-bristled brush, water and a mild detergent, followed
by rinsing and drying. Obviously, because of the water, not an ideal
situation.
I find the water / detergent approach works fine, providing the boards are
dried well afterwards. Usually I use a hairdryer to get the bulk of the water
out from beneath ICs and then leave to sit in the hot water tank cupboard for
a week or so. Never had a problem with this, but it doubtless depends on the
quality of the water used.
I've ever tried baking boards in the oven afterwards to dry them - I'm wary of
the heat level doing something that it shouldn't. I believe others have done
that with no problems, though.
Downside to the water/detergent approach is that it'll damage any paper labels
on the boards, and can also harm inked IC data on those ceramic ICs with the
square gold covers in the centre.
cheers
Jules
11:12 a.m.
Chuck wrote....
>I've resorted to scrubbing things
> out with a soft-long-bristled brush, water and a mild detergent, followed
> by rinsing and drying. Obviously, because of the water, not an ideal
> situation.
And Jules replied...
I find the water / detergent approach works fine,
providing the boards are
dried well afterwards.
Here's the issue - water is good for cleaning boards. The problem is it
isn't good for drying on boards. Several problems:
1) Some water remains, and oxidizes things that shouldn't be when it dries
(even if it's distilled).
2) Even if you dry the board well, oven bake it, whatever... the water will
leave behind mineral deposits (unless it's distilled).
So... here is how you solve the problem.
1) Clean the board using distilled water.
2) Pour denatured alcohol liberally over the board. Denatured alcohol will
force the remaining water off the board, and force the water out of nooks
and crevices, windings, etc.
3) Then dry well - if using an oven, be careful about where you set the open
bottle of denatured alcohol :)
Jay West
11:30 a.m.
1) Clean the board using distilled water.
2) Pour denatured alcohol liberally over the board. Denatured
alcohol will force the remaining water off the board, and force
the water out of nooks and crevices, windings, etc.
(Or non-denatured, for that matter; while it'll be more expensive,
it'll not have the deliberate impurities. Everclear, anyone?)
Anhydrous ethanol would be best for grabbing onto leftover water, but
it's hard to get rid of that last 5(?) percent of water.
How about acetone? A lot of the stuff involved is probably soluble in
acetone, but I suspect it's not soluble enough for a quick rinse to do
enough damage to matter - though, to be sure, I'd try it on a few
non-precious boards first. Anyone tried it? Back when I used a chem
lab, we washed glassware with plain tap water and an acetone rinse, so
it disposes of stray water, even carrying low levels of impurities,
tolerably well.
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11:32 a.m.
In the bad old days, I'dve simply flooded the item
with Freon TF, but
that's a no-no now. Same for carbon tet. What do you folks use when
something more aggressive than air is called for?
Propan-2-ol (isopropanol, isopropyl alcohol). You can get spray cans of
it in the UK. Spray it on the board (oe whatever), then brush.
It's safe on most things (I seem to remember it's a bad idea on some
optical plastics, though). Certainly OK on PCBs, IC packages, etc.
-tony
1:12 p.m.
On 5/23/2006 at 7:32 PM ard at p850ug1.demon.co.uk wrote:
Propan-2-ol (isopropanol, isopropyl alcohol). You can
get spray cans of
it in the UK. Spray it on the board (oe whatever), then brush.
I can purchase gallon cans of methanol (wood alcohol) here without breaking
the bank. Will that also work? (BTW, this is the stuff that I use to
clean up flux deposits).
Acetone can do so many bad things to plastics that I'd just as soon not try
it as a drying agent--though we used to use it on glassware.
How about some of the more unconventional solvents, such as DMSO?
Cheers,
Chuck
8:16 a.m.
At 09:27 AM 5/23/2006, you wrote:
Ummm, if the OP was talking about sucking dust out of
electronic equipment rather than blowing it out, a normal vacuum cleaner isn't a great
idea. Depending on the composition of the nozzle, they can generate a heck of a static
charge.
Suck or blow, I don't think that matters... you're saying the
composition of the tube makes a difference? I seem to remember
generating enough charge to make a PC reboot by blowing the
mobo with canned air while it was running.
- John
8:36 a.m.
I suspect the rebooting was caused by the leviataion of a contact of teh momentary loss of
contact as dust was forsed between a set of contacts some where most
likely on the Motherboard. Alas for the gold old days when you could fer Freon TF for a
few dollars a can, by the case :)
The other Bob
On Tue, 23 May 2006 10:16:20 -0500, John Foust wrote:
At 09:27 AM 5/23/2006, you wrote:
> Ummm, if the OP was talking about sucking dust out of electronic equipment rather
than blowing it out, a normal vacuum cleaner isn't a great idea. Depending
on
the composition of the nozzle, they can generate a heck of a static charge.
Suck or blow, I don't think that matters...
you're saying the
composition of the tube makes a difference? I seem to remember
generating enough charge to make a PC reboot by blowing the
mobo with canned air while it was running.
- John
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allain＠panix.com -
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