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Winston Winston is offline
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Default poor man's pot track cleaner ?

Wild_Bill wrote:
I've worked on some large pieces of equipment and never needed to empty a can of any product by cleaning various
controls, switches and connectors.

While Nigel may have been exaggerating for emphasis, using 2 cans of anything doesn't suggest a consciencious effort by
an experienced technician.

What has been suggested is a spray n'pray method of the adage: if a little bit is good, lots more must be better.

Other than DeoxIt products, there have been an enormous number of washes, degreasers (non-naptha), cleaners and
lubrication/protection/preserver products from petroleum products to silicones marketed as instant gratification problem
solvers.
I've discovered pots that have been sprayed with some of the weird products over the years, and I've replaced the
controls rather than try to get all of the old crap cleaned out.


That *is* frustrating. I recall 'Tuner Cleaner' products I've used Back In The Day.
Some were quite effective. Some are pretty awful.

I haven't looked at the chemistry of DeoxIt liquids in quite a while, but I believe the 2% and 5% relate to their
proprietary product (formerly referred to as Cramolin), and that besides the solvent there are other pH specific
deoxidizers for removing tarnish/oxidation and also lubricants that remain after the application (after the solvent
flashes off).


Trichlor! Cool!
http://217.26.67.168/uploads/8/6/864...prays-disc.pdf

The solvent is likely in lower concentrations in non-aerosol products, but since I spray the aerosol into the small
bottles, some of the solvent is released anyway.

Naptha is also widely used as a tar/bug, wax and grease remover.. I used lots of it wiping down car and truck bodies
before beginning any refinishing work.. and it's fairly easy to use quarts of naptha to clean all the grime off of an
old semi tractor body.
It's a great degreaser, but not what I'd consider close to being a good choice for applying at a rate of 2 cans worth,
to a circuit board or components in electronic gear.


Virtually all products fall into that category.
Exceptions do not readily come to mind.

When I apply a few drops of something I have a good idea of how far it can spread.. but carelessly flooding controls
will wet a lot of nearby components which may not be solvent-proof.


That doesn't sound good.

Naptha isn't a safe-on-plastics solvent like some non-petroleum electrical degreaser products are.. naptha will
burn/lift uncured paint and attack some plastics.


I haven't seen that. I've used it on a wide variety of surfaces
and have not yet seen any issues. The stuff is very gentle on
plastics. Now I *have* used some powerful cleaners on plastics
which I've sorely regretted. That's why I think naphtha is so cool.

I'm not sure if naptha will soften the bond under circuit board traces,


It doesn't. I use 100% naphtha to clean flux off my boards after soldering.
It just cleans the flux off and drys very quickly.

but that wouldn't be a good thing to find out.
I've flooded populated boards with alcohols followed by hot water and forced drying with no apparent damage (actually
SOP by an instrument manufacturer I worked for), but that's about as extreme as I'd go for cleaning.. and wouldn't
consider that action to be good for the reliability of pots or other controls.


Good.

As to the common sense comment.. seen much of that in use lately?
Better referred to as uncommon sense, so folks will know what you're talking about.

And yet, people burn down their homes every day.. sometimes because they wanted to get something real clean and had some
gasoline handy, or they've just refinished a piece of furniture or a hobby project.

The ones that make me shake my head are the ones that refuse to hire a professional to refinish their floors/etc, and
burn the place to the ground.


I'll take your word for it.

--Winston