On Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:28:04 -0400 "Dan Dubosky"
wrote:

Good point, Mike. There may have been something on the cell phone board
that was not on my experimental board. I did however scrub the cell phone
board twice with Radio Shack Electronics Cleaner and I think that there is
still some effects left from the submersion.

It sounds like you've been careful and thorough, but your board might
benefit from additional scrubbings in some other solvents, since not
everything is soluble in Radio Shack Electronics Cleaner.

In general, I clean things by starting with clean water, since it is
the most universal solvent. If it is really dirty, I may start with
soap and water and a toothbrush. Then I follow up with clean water,
then distilled water, and finally alcohol, and I don't worry about the
fact that it isn't 100% alcohol.

The purpose of the alcohol is to carry off as much of the water as
possible, so that it can't dry in place and leave any residue. A side
benefit is that the water that's in the alcohol will be extremely
pure. Of course the residue will be minimized by the sequence of
rinses above, but you can't always control what comes off the board.

If possible, use compressed air to blow the board off, thus minimizing
remaining fluid which will leave a residue when it drys in place.

And finally, you probably can't do any of this if your board includes
assemblies that water, etc, can get into but not easily back out. This
includes things like switches, pots, and transformers.

And then, of course, you have to thoroughly dry the board.

I have a friend who tells of starting his cleaning process by running
his boards thru the wash cycle of his kitchen dishwasher, with soap.

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Jim Adney
Madison, WI 53711 USA
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