Black goo on solder points - how to remove?

[ledshok]

My son's Logitech G332 gaming headset had its cable chewed through by our cat so I thought I'd have a crack at replacing the cable.

When I look at the PCB that the cable is soldered to, the solder points seem to be covered in some sort of black goo:



Any idea what it is and (most importantly) how I could remove it so I can solder a new cable in?

Thanks

[ImABeginner]

snot epoxy. Acetone does an OK job, but will also strip other plastic.

[ledshok]

snot epoxy. Acetone does an OK job, but will also strip other plastic.

Thanks for that!

This may be a dumb question, but if (aside from the epoxy) the acetone only touches the PCB and solder points - wouldn't that be okay?

[jpanhalt]

Is the goo hard or somewhat soft like hot melt glue?

If it is flexible like hot melt, try isopropyl alcohol.  I have best results with  91%, but 70% may also work. Wick a little on, and hot melt releases. It does not noticeably dissolve hot melt, so there is no residue to clean up. 

As for the PCB and other components, they are not affected by isopropyl alcohol and most likely not affected by acetone.  Acetone is more aggressive and will affect plastics like ABS and styrene.

[ledshok]

There is some 'give' to it if I push a flathead screwdriver into it.

If I only have access to 100%, would that be okay?

[ledshok]

Wow, it's working really well!



Thanks heaps for your help!

[S. Petrukhin]

This is a common chinese B704 sealant. You can just tear it off gently with tweezers.

And it is enough to heat the epoxy resin with a heat gun to a temperature of 90-120 degrees Celsius and it will crumble like clay.

[perieanuo]

hi,
viewing the price for epoxi, you can just cut the wires 2cm next to pcb and solder the new cable, put shrink tubes instead. you have all the space in the world to do it
regards, pierre

[jpanhalt]

There is some 'give' to it if I push a flathead screwdriver into it.

If I only have access to 100%, would that be okay?

If you are talking about isopropyl alcohol (IPA), yes, 100% is better.  Some people have problems getting 98% or more IPA.  It seems to have just the right polarity (hydrophobic) and viscosity to seep between the hotmelt and whatever the hot melt is on.  91% is the lowest concentration I tested.