Fwd: Factory Rodent Urine, was Re: Sun SPARCstation LX boot from CDROM?

[Tom Hunter]

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tom Hunter <ccth6600 at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Sep 1, 2020 at 2:17 PM
Subject: Re: Factory Rodent Urine, was Re: Sun SPARCstation LX boot from
CDROM?
To: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com>


Thanks Chuck,

Unfortunately it is well past cleaning.
The lead/tin alloy has corroded into a hard oxide with very high melting
temperature.
Lead oxide melts at 800+ degrees C and tin oxide at 1300+ degrees C.
This is well past the 300 degrees C a soldering iron produces.
Most importantly the copper pads below and some of the tracks are gone
completely.
About 70% of the board is pristine. Only the section which has been exposed
to the liquid is corroded.
I can't say for sure that it is rodent urine, but when I tried to reflow
the corroded solder joints it faintly smelled like my firewood where rats
nested one winter.
Of course there is no chance for a rat or even the tiniest mouse to get
into a fully assembled Sun/Sony CDROM with the affected PCB side facing
down and somehow urinate upwards towards the PCB.
As the drive was never before disassembled it could only have happened
during manufacturing.
20 years ago when I put the drive and other SPARX LX gear into my display
cabinet I could have easily found a replacement. Now it won't be easy.
The sad thing about it is that everything was pristine when I put it in my
cabinet.

Cheers
Tom Hunter

On Tue, Sep 1, 2020 at 1:41 PM Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote:

> On 8/31/20 7:25 PM, Tom Hunter wrote:
> > Not funny if your prized treasures fall victim to it.
> >
>
> I found that oven cleaner can loosen layers of the stuff without too
> much damage to the electronics underneath.   Soap and water won't cut it.
>
> --Chuck
>
>