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Post by Blackdawg on Nov 4, 2019 2:15:55 GMT -6
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Post by svart on Nov 4, 2019 12:52:19 GMT -6
I use acetone and a chip brush or stiff pig/horse hair brush. I don't know that anyone uses ultrasonic cleaning. I know my production facility uses water soluble flux and does an alkaline water wash.
I'm assuming you're using consumer level solder, perhaps with rosin based flux since you say it stays sticky. I'd get a pan of acetone or alcohol and brush liberally.
you could switch to no-clean flux, which ironically still needs to be cleaned, but it's a lot easier to clean off although it doesn't work nearly as well when soldering.
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Post by Blackdawg on Nov 4, 2019 14:32:44 GMT -6
I use acetone and a chip brush or stiff pig/horse hair brush. I don't know that anyone uses ultrasonic cleaning. I know my production facility uses water soluble flux and does an alkaline water wash. I'm assuming you're using consumer level solder, perhaps with rosin based flux since you say it stays sticky. I'd get a pan of acetone or alcohol and brush liberally. you could switch to no-clean flux, which ironically still needs to be cleaned, but it's a lot easier to clean off although it doesn't work nearly as well when soldering. Yeah I hate no clean flux. Solders like shit. Im finding several facilities use various forms of cleaning. Ultrasonic just was on option I found. I wonder if just a washer would be fine. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2019 11:02:30 GMT -6
Beginner question, but you guys are talking about scrubbing the backs of PCBs after the kit is finished?
I always use a toothbrush to get the little solder specks or whatever, but I've never thoroughly cleaned them and I feel like now I have work to do. How necessary is it, if you don't care about how it looks? And why? I dig learning about this stuff.
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Post by Blackdawg on Nov 5, 2019 11:05:20 GMT -6
Beginner question, but you guys are talking about scrubbing the backs of PCBs after the kit is finished? I always use a toothbrush to get the little solder specks or whatever, but I've never thoroughly cleaned them and I feel like now I have work to do. How necessary is it, if you don't care about how it looks? it can speed up corrosion and because its sticky attract a lot of dust which can add heat to things. Is it required? eh. Probably not for a semi long term plan. |
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Post by bluegrassdan on Nov 5, 2019 19:31:20 GMT -6
Lacquer thinner is faster and easier than acetone, and way faster than alcohol. I soak it good, brush it good, rinse it good with water. Use a Q-tip with lacquer thinner for little stuff.
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Post by keymod on Nov 6, 2019 11:51:03 GMT -6
No risk to any components with any of these techniques?
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Post by svart on Nov 6, 2019 12:10:28 GMT -6
Lacquer thinner is faster and easier than acetone, and way faster than alcohol. I soak it good, brush it good, rinse it good with water. Use a Q-tip with lacquer thinner for little stuff. Strange. I found acetone to work best by far. Must be different rosins or something. |
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Post by svart on Nov 6, 2019 12:11:48 GMT -6
No risk to any components with any of these techniques? Not with spirits. Water washing is risky for some things like switches but the datasheets usually say whether the part is aqueous washable or not. |
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Post by bluegrassdan on Nov 6, 2019 13:25:55 GMT -6
I wouldn’t wash with water switches, pots, or anything like that. But it works fine for most passive components.
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Post by Blackdawg on Nov 6, 2019 16:50:43 GMT -6
If you wash anything with water use distilled water.
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elcct
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Post by elcct on Nov 8, 2019 15:56:41 GMT -6
I read that you can get poisoned by Isopropyl Alcohol by inhaling vapors or merely touching it and then often I see people carelessly use it without gloves or other protection. I need to clean some boards but I can't find information what is safe to do.
Another thing I can't find is I have a synthesizer that has a battery soldered in, but that battery leaked all over. I am not sure if it is safe to desolder it - is the substance going to emit dangerous vapours when I apply heat? (Battery is NiMH)
After that I plan to use white vinegar on it and then clean with isopropyl alcohol.
Thank you for any help.
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Post by svart on Nov 8, 2019 16:24:24 GMT -6
I read that you can get poisoned by Isopropyl Alcohol by inhaling vapors or merely touching it and then often I see people carelessly use it without gloves or other protection. I need to clean some boards but I can't find information what is safe to do. Another thing I can't find is I have a synthesizer that has a battery soldered in, but that battery leaked all over. I am not sure if it is safe to desolder it - is the substance going to emit dangerous vapours when I apply heat? (Battery is NiMH) After that I plan to use white vinegar on it and then clean with isopropyl alcohol. Thank you for any help. I've never heard of that.. But I guess if you soak yourself in it, some of it will soak into your blood or if you breathe in a *lot* of vapors you might get drunk.. But I think this is very overblown since you'll gag at the vapors before you could breathe enough to cause harm. Alcohol vapors sting the eyes and nose very sharply. Do not eat the battery then wash your hands afterwards and you'll be fine. Use baking soda on the leaked battery material and any acid will be neutralized. The alcohol is fine afterwards. |
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Post by matt@IAA on Nov 8, 2019 18:06:07 GMT -6
The alcohol is fine afterwards means beer, for what it’s worth.
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Post by keymod on Nov 10, 2019 7:15:27 GMT -6
I do find that a clean-as-you-go approach seems to work best for me. Solder all resistors, then clean. Move on to diodes, then clean. Etc..
Although I do need to try Acetone or lacquer cleaner, as I find isopropyl always leaves a haze.
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Post by Blackdawg on Nov 10, 2019 11:39:24 GMT -6
I do find that a clean-as-you-go approach seems to work best for me. Solder all resistors, then clean. Move on to diodes, then clean. Etc.. Although I do need to try Acetone or lacquer cleaner, as I find isopropyl always leaves a haze. I use a rag to wipe it all down good as best as one can on a circuit board and it helps a lot. But cleaning after every step doubles the work time Id think |
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elcct
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Post by elcct on Nov 10, 2019 12:24:33 GMT -6
I saw people using e.q. a q tip to apply alcohol and rub it in the PCB, but isn't that going to smear things all over? Surely whatever is on the board will not disappear - probably just breakdown into something else that is no longer bad?
That would make sense to use rag to sweep everything away.
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Post by Blackdawg on Nov 10, 2019 15:49:35 GMT -6
I saw people using e.q. a q tip to apply alcohol and rub it in the PCB, but isn't that going to smear things all over? Surely whatever is on the board will not disappear - probably just breakdown into something else that is no longer bad? That would make sense to use rag to sweep everything away. yeah it just smears around typically. I use a tub aware and pour alcohol in it. Then sometimes let the PCB soak a minute, grab a bristle brush/toothbrush and start scrubbing. I find if you scrub down into the tub aware to direct everything the same direction it helps. Then use a rag to wipe it all off. Inspect. Repeat as necessary. Usually takes 2 cycles. Why I think using a cleaner machine would be nice. Especially when I have 10 small boards of the same thing to clean...like op amps. |
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Post by johneppstein on Nov 12, 2019 22:02:26 GMT -6
I read that you can get poisoned by Isopropyl Alcohol by inhaling vapors or merely touching it and then often I see people carelessly use it without gloves or other protection. I need to clean some boards but I can't find information what is safe to do. Another thing I can't find is I have a synthesizer that has a battery soldered in, but that battery leaked all over. I am not sure if it is safe to desolder it - is the substance going to emit dangerous vapours when I apply heat? (Battery is NiMH) After that I plan to use white vinegar on it and then clean with isopropyl alcohol. Thank you for any help. Isopropyl alcohol is standard medical rubbing alcohol. (Usually 70%, although drugstores also sell 90%, which is about as pure as most common alcohols get because anything purer will suck water out of the air.) You're really not likely to get poisoned by contact with the skin, although you DEFINITELY should not drink it.
The really toxic stuff is methanol/methyl alcohol, AKA "wood alcohol".
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Post by johneppstein on Nov 12, 2019 22:39:01 GMT -6
Lacquer thinner is faster and easier than acetone, and way faster than alcohol. I soak it good, brush it good, rinse it good with water. Use a Q-tip with lacquer thinner for little stuff. Strange. I found acetone to work best by far. Must be different rosins or something. Acetone attacks many plastics.
Unless you're talking about early '70s Japanese organs, of course. Those just attack your ears.
(ducks behind a large bass cab ....)
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Post by svart on Nov 13, 2019 8:05:47 GMT -6
Strange. I found acetone to work best by far. Must be different rosins or something. Acetone attacks many plastics.
Unless you're talking about early '70s Japanese organs, of course. Those just attack your ears.
(ducks behind a large bass cab ....)
I'm aware. Lots of plastics in electronics are designed to handle many solvents, but some still aren't. For SMD, there are very few parts that aren't solvent safe. For through-hole, I generally only solder from the bottom, so I only wash the bottom and I never have issues with acetone. But in general it's a learning curve of what you can do and what works well. I did wipe the print off of some caps once and couldn't tell what value they were later. |
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Post by johneppstein on Nov 13, 2019 14:16:14 GMT -6
Acetone attacks many plastics.
Unless you're talking about early '70s Japanese organs, of course. Those just attack your ears.
(ducks behind a large bass cab ....)
I'm aware. Lots of plastics in electronics are designed to handle many solvents, but some still aren't. For SMD, there are very few parts that aren't solvent safe. For through-hole, I generally only solder from the bottom, so I only wash the bottom and I never have issues with acetone. But in general it's a learning curve of what you can do and what works well. I did wipe the print off of some caps once and couldn't tell what value they were later. There are industrial flux removers that work well and are safe for electronics, but they tend to be a little costly and are becoming increasingly hard to find. |
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Post by Blackdawg on Jan 17, 2020 1:00:03 GMT -6
I just wanted to report back on this.
I haven't purchased a tank cleaner, but still might.
I did however get some new Solder. I bought a 1lb roll of Kessler Solder, 63/37 mix. And it cleans up much better than the stuff I was using. I also use a soft tooth brush and then use some Cue tips to dry/wipe/scrub. So far this has worked much better for me.
Still tempted to get the tank as it would be great when making batches of smaller items.
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Post by winetree on Jan 17, 2020 13:36:06 GMT -6
I use 99% Isopropyl alcohol, you can order it at the drug store,
a tooth brush, dip and scrub P.S.B., and wiped clean with a microfine towel, leaves no lint.
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Post by Blackdawg on Jan 17, 2020 16:23:59 GMT -6
I use 99% Isopropyl alcohol, you can order it at the drug store, a tooth brush, dip and scrub P.S.B., and wiped clean with a microfine towel, leaves no lint. I need to get some microfibers.. |
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