Jump to content

Cleaning your Boards


Marxon
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hi Midiboxers,

i asked my electronic dealer of trust for something to clean my boards.

He advised me this:

"PCC" from Kontakt Chemie.

post-4098-0-22883500-1364575939_thumb.jp

It was quiet expensive 12€/200ml

But this stuff is really amazing and very, very fertile.

Unfortunately i have cleand all my boards now so i can not show

you some "before/after" pictures :smile: I will post some later.

Best regards

Marxon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No kidding, Marxon, even in Conrad the price is 12E for 400ml, 8.68E for 200ml, I just bought one this week :-) And, in case you can't find it, in Germany it's called 'LR' (Leiterplattenreiniger) instead of 'PCC' (Printed Circuit board Cleaner). +1 to recommend!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I have found methylated spirits and an old toothbrush does the job very well, but only as long as good quality solder is employed, because cheap solder uses crappy flux, and meths won't shift it.

 

A decent protective spray should be used when the boards is finally soldered and cleaned.

 

regards

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been using the 331 flux based solder for some time now. It works great. But don't use it on insulated wires. The flux will get pulled under the rubber insulation where it will be hard to clean and slowly eat away at the wire.

If you don't clean it off completely, you will see a white area around the solder joint appear after about 6 months to 1 year of sitting around.

I clean the flux off using hot water and a special paint brush with short bristles.

I have solder from a batch that was made in 1994 that uses the 331 flux.

Edited by kpete
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 2 months later...

I use 99.9% Isopropanol. In the past I bought it from a local pharmacy (expensive 10,50 Euro per litre). In Germany I can recommend http://hoefer-shop.de. I got 5x1 litres for only 17,- Euro (incl. shipping). It's even cheaper if you order more. First time I clicked on a Google adword link. Delivery was very fast.

Edited by verpeiler
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Like many others... I fill a little bit Isopropanol in a cup and use a toothbrush. Afterwards I use destilled water and let it flow all over the board. Sometimes I use a little bit of washing-up liquid (in German Geschirrspülmittel) in warm water, trow the PCB completely in the water and use the toothbrush again. Usually two or three repetitions of this procedure is needed. Then use paper and compressed air (or just blow it) or a hair dryer (heat level low) to remove the water. Let the PCB dry for some hours before powering up!

 

But this is only possible with "washable" components! Resistors, capacitors, diodes, ICs and sockets are no problem at all. But you should avoid by all means to wash a PCB when mechanical parts like potentiometers, encoders, switches etc. are soldered as the washing will remove the lube insight those parts!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...
  • 1 month later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...