In article , "pimpom" wrote:
David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 7/26/2010 11:49 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus:

GregS wrote:

95% is a very good figure. I actually use the NON-denatured
stuff.

How about the drinking stuff? (95% "grain" alcohol).

Here I can by a "fifth" (750ml) for less than 250ml of 70%
Isopropyl.

Well, that's ethanol, which should also work fine, so long as
you
don't mind the 5% water.

I use medical or denatured alcohol as a general-purpose cleaning
solution. When I need stronger stuff, such as on cruds of old and
hardened flux or when there's simply lots of it, I use automobile
paint thinner. Wiping with a piece of cloth or cotton wool is
usually enough and I rarely need to scrub with a brush.

The thinner can dissolve some plastics though. So some care is
needed, as is good ventilation. It looks and feels somewhat oily
but dries very quickly. A one-liter can costs about $3 US here.


I got some spray heavy duty flux remover with freon like component,
methelyne chloride, ethanol, and another component.
Its useless for regular cleaning. It dries too fast. I never had the
need to use other than alcohol for flux remover. When I
worked in a factory "DEC" in 1969, they had like washtubs with
spigots, and turn on the spigot out poured "TRI",
trichloroethane. It worked well. I still have a can around saying safety solvent.
Sometimes we would try to fix their modules, for some forgotten reason,
to fix a computer problem.

I also remember fellow in our section, working on something new, computer
"terminal monitors". There was some kind of problem, and he was taking some
boards into the mens room to wash them off. i guess they worked after that.That
was an interesting section with monitors, modems, and UARTS, and the PDP 8i
About 7 people.

I remember they used to sell cans about the size of paint sprays filled
with trichloroethane , sold as fire extinguishers.

greg