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| MEK to Remove Solder Mask from PCB |
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| AJ3G:
All: I have some 1.5” Square Boards PCB’s which I want to strip all the solder mask off. I have heard MEK can do this, but how well is unknown. Has anyone tried using this solvent for stripping solder makes. If the results were horrid, I would like to know. Rich |
| graybeard:
MEK attacks almost anything organic. I would worry about it attacking the binder in the PCB. I have used it to clean deposits in antique motorcycle engines, but never on a PCB. |
| magic:
It may or may not. FR4 is some sort of epoxy resin and usually quite chemically resistant. I came across papers about dissolving waste PCBs the other day. They used aggressive organic solvents like DMF and NMP at elevated temperatures to do the job. |
| mikeselectricstuff:
I think anything that will dissolve resist will also dissolve the resin in the substrate, though a lot more slowly due to the increased thickness, so may be viable if it's a 1-off job for reverse-engineering etc. A PCB left for a couple of weeks in methylene chloride/dichloromethane will end up as a pile of copper and glassfibre matting. |
| magic:
Did you try this exact experiment or are you extrapolating from something else? I have never done that, but I have tried soaking ICs in DCM for a week to dissolve them and it did nothing. Those epoxies used in electronics are very resistant. Unlike some others, which fall even to acetic acid. |
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