What chemicals/solvents do you keep in your lab? And what for?

[george graves]

Haven't see a discussion on this in detail.  Thought I would bring it up.

Myself, I keep....

Distilled water:  Mostly for my solder sponge.  I swear it's easier on a iron tip them my heavy tap water.  I would do de-ioniosed water, but I can't find it easily.

IPA (isopropyl alcohol):  Cleans up most fluxes, and a tough stain on the work bench.  I don't worry about venting it when working with it much, seems mostly harmless.  Unless I'm cleaning a bunch of boards, then I open a window and point a fan.

Acetone(on a shelf): Mostly for toner transfer home PC etching.  In a pinch.

"409"(hanging on a wire shelf):  to clean the work bench, it's about as strong of a cleaner as you want to go for general use.

3-in-1 oil(in a box) : lubricate tools.  A drop is too much, often a tiny dot is more than enough.

[BravoV]

Almost similar as yours except different brands on the contact cleaners, worth mentioning are Kerosene and Gasoline for cleaning/degreaser when Acetone is too strong.

Kerosene sometimes used to stop rusting by drowning metal items or parts that I want to keep for very long time but prone to rust or getting tarnished like copper since I live in a humid location.

[ablacon64]

I keep IPA, acetone, amyl acetate (better than IPA for cleaning tacky flux on ultrasonic cleaner and does not discolor plastics like acetone, but smells like a lot of bananas stored in your lab, very nice! kkkkkk) and thinner (number 0200) inside a syringe (3 or 4 drops can really clean any flux residue in a second and avoids the bad smell).

Also have 2 brands of contact cleaners (one is stronger but flammable, the other is not flammable, made for use on running equipment) but I use just for parts I can't reach with a brush (and boards that don't fit inside the ultrasonic cleaner container).

I used to use methyl acetate instead of amyl acetate (does the same job without the banana smell) but it's harder to find.

[N2IXK]

In addition to a whole shelf full of commercial contact cleaners, lubes, parts cleaners, adhesives, etc., I keep a handful of "raw chemicals" around:

IPA--general cleaning and solder flux removal.

Acetone--degreasing, paint removal, thinning adhesives.

Methanol--cleaning optics.

Xylene--removing stickers and adhesive residue.

Toluene--same as above, when xylene won't work.

Dichloromethane--solvent welding plastics, softening epoxy potting compounds.

Methyl salicylate--restoring/cleaning rubber drive rollers, etc.

[CaptnYellowShirt]

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/beginners/everyone's-favorite-solvent/

[T3sl4co1l]

Just acetone at the moment.

[con-f-use]

Same as you plus HCl and H2O2.

[ju1ce]

Oil for tools, IPA and acetone for cleaning. Cyanoacrylate and epoxy for gluing. Sodium persulfate for the occasional etching job.

[free_electron]

distilled water
acetone
100% IPA
70% IPA
MEK (Methyl ethylene ketone) to remove conformal coatings
Chemtronix Flux-off
Chemwipes for LCD screens (don;t know what's in em. premoistened towelettes)
optics cleaning solution to clean microscope lenses
acrylic solvent to 'glue' acryl material
hand sanitizer (ethyl alcohol/glycol/aloe vera)

ABC type fire extinguisher

you can't buy DI water. you need to make it.

to stay de-ionized it needs to be continuously in motion over the DI resin honeycomb.
A DI system is a tank with a honeycomb structure made from a specific kind of ion exchanging resin (actually a mix of positive and negative ion exchange resin). the water is sprayed in a t the top and runs down the honeycomb in a waterfall. this de-ionises the water.
After a time the resin needs regeneration by flushing it with some other chemicals.

there are other methods but the resin-hoeycomb or resin-bed produces the purest DI water. we use that system in the waferfabs.

DI water in a bottle becomes re-ionised after a few hours if it is stagnant.

[Conrad Hoffman]

IPA
xylene
WD-40
Break-Free oil
Dow 340 thermal grease
Aavid phase change thermal wax
Teflon grease
Molycote grease for plastics
ISO32 hydraulic fluid for oilite bearings
DeOxit D5
Aquabond thermal adhesive
epoxy, regular clear
epoxy, 5-minute
epoxy, JB weld
Nye damping grease 779
Vaseline
Loctite 243, mild
Loctite 271, not mild
Kester rosin flux
nail polish (for sealing pots)
water for sponge
Armor-All
Windex
various other specialty lubes

No doubt only a partial list as my memory isn't that great.

edited- can't spell!

[T3sl4co1l]

Same as you plus HCl and H2O2.

Oooh, I wouldn't keep that inside, the HCl that is.

Tim

[fretless]

Same as you plus HCl and H2O2.

Oooh, I wouldn't keep that inside, the HCl that is.

Tim

Why not? Its okay if you keep it in a glass bottle within a plastic bag. The original plastic bottle that it comes in, in my case, tends to become very brittle after a longer period of time.

[krivx]

you can't buy DI water. you need to make it.

to stay de-ionized it needs to be continuously in motion over the DI resin honeycomb.
A DI system is a tank with a honeycomb structure made from a specific kind of ion exchanging resin (actually a mix of positive and negative ion exchange resin). the water is sprayed in a t the top and runs down the honeycomb in a waterfall. this de-ionises the water.
After a time the resin needs regeneration by flushing it with some other chemicals.

there are other methods but the resin-hoeycomb or resin-bed produces the purest DI water. we use that system in the waferfabs.

DI water in a bottle becomes re-ionised after a few hours if it is stagnant.

This is true, and maintaining a DI system can be expensive. These kind of systems can run 4 figures a year in consumables http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milli-Q

[IanB]

Distilled water:  Mostly for my solder sponge.  I swear it's easier on a iron tip them my heavy tap water.  I would do de-ioniosed water, but I can't find it easily.

I use distilled water on my solder sponge too.

There is no practical difference between distilled water and de-ionized water. Both are pure water with dissolved solids removed. The difference is only how they are made: one by distillation (uses lots of energy), the other by passing through ion exchange resins (uses nasty chemicals). The product in either case is chemically pure water.

you can't buy DI water. you need to make it.

Huh? 

to stay de-ionized it needs to be continuously in motion over the DI resin honeycomb.

...

DI water in a bottle becomes re-ionised after a few hours if it is stagnant.

This is nothing but the chemistry equivalent of audiophoolery.

[ampdoctor]

Unless I missed it, I'm surprised I haven't seen lighter fluid (naphthalene) mentioned yet. Stuff has a million and 1 uses! I always keep some around the shop and the house.

[M4trix]

Ah, concentrated HCL 33% is nasty if not kept in a proper container. It can eat and corrode everything around. I once kept 1L HCL 33% in a plastic bottle of Pepsi in my bathroom thinking, heck it's safe. After couple of days a nasty odor filled the whole place. I was shocked when I saw that the bottle has shrunk and the fumes ate the fugue between the bathroom tiles. The worst thing is the bottle became brittle and almost shattered when I picked it up.  I learned my lesson the hard way. 

Edit: few grammar mistakes.     

[krivx]

There is no practical difference between distilled water and de-ionized water. Both are pure water with dissolved solids removed. The difference is only how they are made: one by distillation (uses lots of energy), the other by passing through ion exchange resins (uses nasty chemicals). The product in either case is chemically pure water.

The difference is in the achievable levels of purity. Whether or not measuring the resistivity of your water is important for your application is a different matter.

[IanB]

Unless I missed it, I'm surprised I haven't seen lighter fluid (naphthalene) mentioned yet. Stuff has a million and 1 uses! I always keep some around the shop and the house.

Naphthalene is mothballs. Lighter fluid is a reasonably pure form of gasoline without the nasty additives that come from the gas pump. It's a pretty good solvent and cleaner for oily stuff. (The confusion with naphthalene comes from the similarly named naphtha, which is a petroleum distillate fraction. A similar name, but a very different substance.)

Products like Goof Off and Oops! have similar properties.

[ampdoctor]

Naphthalene is mothballs. Lighter fluid is a reasonably pure form of gasoline without the nasty additives that come from the gas pump. It's a pretty good solvent and cleaner for oily stuff. (The confusion with naphthalene comes from the similarly named naphtha, which is a petroleum distillate fraction. A similar name, but a very different substance.)

Products like Goof Off and Oops! have similar properties.

Thanks for the correction. I really need to get out of the habit of thinking naptha and typing naphthalene.

[N2IXK]

Most mothballs are paradichlorobenzene these days. Same stuff used in urinal cakes.    

Naphthalene was considered a hazard due to high flammability and potential cancer risk and was phased out for this use in the US.

Speaking of moth repellents, if you can find old fashioned camphor blocks, they are nice to keep in toolbox drawers to prevent rust on precision tools.

[con-f-use]

Oooh, I wouldn't keep that inside, the HCl that is.

I have it in a double layered container with a    relief valve and keep it in my work fridge along with the H2O2 some sorts of glue, solder paste, batteries and so on.  It's at 5°C so it doesn't gas out and become less potent. Varying amounts have been in there for many years with no sign of corrosion anywhere near. But I agree it's nasty to clean up if you fail to store it properly.

[Rerouter]

Chemist bought isopropyl, in my job its quite hard to not puncture or cut at-least the first layer of your skin once a month so even though the purity is lower and there are additives, it is safe to use on my hands, (so many 90+ % ones say it should not have direct skin contact in the msds which makes me think the remaining few % is a few nasties))

[BravoV]

...de-ionized water

This is nothing but the chemistry equivalent of audiophoolery.

Interesting, yep, I knew you're a pro chemist, its just never had a through thought about this matter, thanks & noted. 

An Aquaphoolery ? 

[SeanB]

DI water can be stored indefinitely provided it is stored in a sealed non reactive container, like a sealed glass ampoule used for injection water. Keeping it in a container which is open, or is permeable to oxygen ( which is most plastics) or which will leach out ions into the water will contaminate it in short order. Thus it is hard to keep in the lab, as even a glass bottle will have a seal that either leaks air or which allows gas to diffuse through it. You only need a small amount of leakage to contaminate, as it only needs contaminated in the PPB level to make it conductive.

HV labs use triple distilled DI water to make high voltage resistors, typically a meter or more long. The water inside the acrylic tube typically will need changing every few months along with cleaning the graphite contact to remove the layer on it. Contaminants from the carbon and the acrylic reacting make the water more conductive and then you get arcing inside the cylinder.

[BravoV]

So de-ionized water is just another name for "higher" purity water like from distillation process ?

I supposed there is "standard" maybe say at certain ppb contaminants limit, you can call it a DI water ?

I'm not to challenge/argue here, just pure curiosity from a chemist noob perspective.