Author Topic: Leaving flux on the pcboard  (Read 5911 times)

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Offline tooki

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Re: Leaving flux on the pcboard
« Reply #25 on: April 25, 2017, 05:13:02 pm »
Interesting. I knew of bittering agents, but was not aware that any were sometimes used as one of the denaturant components in ethanol.
When we were kids we were told they put methanol so we would go blind if we tried it.

It would be possible for me to get pure ethanol from specialized producers of such chemicals, but have to go through ordering as a business, and I really don't see why I would go through the hustle when IPA and acetone is easily available.
The only reason I can think of, though it is a real one, is that ethanol has a far milder smell than IPA.

Methanol is one of the things used as a denaturant.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Leaving flux on the pcboard
« Reply #26 on: April 26, 2017, 12:55:38 am »
I'm not sure if they still use methanol but I'm pretty sure they used to. If I deliberately put poison into something in order to prevent people from drinking it I'd be thrown in prison for murder but apparently it's ok if the government does it.

For removing flux I usually use acetone, except you need to be mindful of what parts are installed at that point, I don't wash pots and such in it. The problem I've had with the sprays is that they tend to spread the flux into a thin sticky film all over the board.
 

Offline mmagin

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Re: Leaving flux on the pcboard
« Reply #27 on: April 26, 2017, 01:25:20 am »
Personally I've gone for soldering everything water washable with a water soluble flux, then wash with hot water and detergent. Final rinse with distilled water, dry in a food dehydrator. Then solder the rest with a no-clean flux. 

I'll still use a standard rosin flux on non-critical stuff, big stuff, or old stuff with tarnished surfaces.

If I'm doing a repair I'll clean up the excess flux with a swab and isopropanol, but it's not really practical to get it perfectly clean without using solvents that risk other parts, so I don't really bother unless its something really sensitive.
 


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