cleaning 'mouldy' ic sockets

[medical-nerd]

Hiya

I've a box of over 50 gold plated wirewrap IC sockets - the cardboard box has become 'mouldy' and the IC sockets have now slightly dirty pins and have the same smell as the mouldy cardboard.

Are these retrievable?? How should I clean them? Do I need to obtain an ultrasonic cleaner???
Its a shame to waste them as most are 40 pin and I definately want to use them in a wirewrap Z80 board.

Cheers

Steve

[ConKbot]

A soak in ipa should be a start. 3% hydrogen peroxide could be an option too as long as it won't eat/oxidize the plastic. The gold plating should be fine with the peroxide, obviously. An ultrasonic would be a good choice, and useful for other things, but not strictly necessary.

[Evil Lurker]

Not for sure what they have over across the pond but in the USA Dow Scrubbing Bubbles foaming shower cleaner and a toothbrush does an absolutely fantastic job of cleaning PCBs. Unlike IPA it has no solvent properties, is capable of removing surface oxidation from metals, and rinses clean. You can always add IPA after rinsing to speed the drying process, by first using low percentage IPA to get rid of any minerals found in tap water followed by high percentage IPA to remove the remaining water. 

[helius]

It is worth pointing out that no amount of scrubbing with toothbrushes etc is going to get inside a machined IC socket with its tiny bronze fingers. Ultrasonic cleaning would be a great idea, but pressure washing with a surfactant might also work. Particular chemicals that attack mold are boric acid, and trisodium phosphate.

The problems seem to be in two parts. 1 is how to remove the deposits of mold, which are very tenacious and not very soluble in anything. this must be mechanical. 2 is how to leave the gold contacts clean of any residue so they will be functional electrically. you are probably going to use strong degreasers for that, although you need to protect the plastic parts of the sockets. try to find out what they are made of (Liquid Crystal Polymer, Polyphenylene Sulfide, glass-filled Nylon or PBT, or Polycyclohexylene-dimethylene terephthalate are likely candidates) and make sure your chemicals are compatible.

[Evil Lurker]

It is worth pointing out that no amount of scrubbing with toothbrushes etc is going to get inside a machined IC socket with its tiny bronze fingers. Ultrasonic cleaning would be a great idea, but pressure washing with a surfactant might also work. Particular chemicals that attack mold are boric acid, and trisodium phosphate.

The problems seem to be in two parts. 1 is how to remove the deposits of mold, which are very tenacious and not very soluble in anything. this must be mechanical. 2 is how to leave the gold contacts clean of any residue so they will be functional electrically. you are probably going to use strong degreasers for that, although you need to protect the plastic parts of the sockets. try to find out what they are made of (Liquid Crystal Polymer, Polyphenylene Sulfide, glass-filled Nylon or PBT, or Polycyclohexylene-dimethylene terephthalate are likely candidates) and make sure your chemicals are compatible.

Ever sprayed shower cleaner on mold? That is one the things it is actually designed to get rid of. The active ingredient is a quaternary ammonium compound, aka a phase transfer catalyst. Getting rid of organic films along with killing mold and bacteria is where it shines. The last thing you want is a caustic degreaser because if you fail to completely remove it you are leaving yourself wide open to corrosion.

[katzohki]

I've cleaned PCBs that had "biological contaminants" from med labs before. Isopropyl Alcohol 90% will do the trick for pretty much all things, with a bit of elbow grease. If you're curious we used a product called "Sporicidin" to disinfect stuff, the wipes are great. There were some items that required scraping with Xacto knives and a few things that had to be re-anodized...

[Negative-Bias]

I've used ultrasonic cleaners with great success on many old/new components:hope this helps.