General > General Technical Chat
Brake cleaner is cheap and cleans PCBs really well
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SteveyG:
Brake Cleaner is one of those you need to read the label on, most are fairly mild these days but they should not affect plastics and rubber. There's too many plastic and rubber parts in modern braking systems so the formulation (aside from health/environmental reasons) has changed.

All of the ones from Eurocarparts (not a sponsor) are suitable, but don't mix it up with carb cleaner. Carb cleaner will happily eat through many plastics and polymers, especially black and white solder resist.   
Gyro:
I thought the Chlorinated ones were banned these days. :-\

Just in case people aren't aware, aside from the general toxicity at room temperature, they decompose to Phosgene gas when heated above 315'C. That's in soldering iron territory!

There have been well documented cases of people doing welding on vehicles, where residues of Chlorinated brake cleaner have been present, seriously gassing themselves, eg. https://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner--phosgene-gas.html

It would be really easy for residues of liquid brake cleaner to still be lurking under IC packages when you get the iron out to touch up a joint.

mawyatt:
That's nasty stuff, same as Mustard Gas I recall. My grandfather was gassed in WWI with Mustard, and remember reading in Europe where people still get hands burned when digging. The gas from WWI seeped into the ground and still remains!!

Thanks for the alert!!

Best,
SteveyG:

--- Quote from: Gyro on July 22, 2021, 04:15:16 pm ---I thought the Chlorinated ones were banned these days. :-\

--- End quote ---

Certainly banned from sale in the EU. I can't speak for our American friends


Also worth pointing out that most car parts vendors will sell it in 5 litre containers. I'd recommend this format as the aerosols dispense surprisingly quickly, too fast for benchtop use.

Video for those that missed it, Eric O even dropped a comment:
BrokenYugo:
I suspect you only hear about accidental phosgene (which is not mustard gas) in welding because a powerful electric arc is about the only place you'll get intense enough heat to break the solvent down to any notable degree before it boils away. IIRC the old CFCs used in board cleaning can do the same thing, but they apparently didn't.
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