|
|
Post by keymod on Nov 26, 2014 5:51:12 GMT -6
I solder every day. I can instruct anyone on any type of soldering imaginable if they want. What is the best way to clean up audio-related PCBs after soldering? There seems to be so many different opinions on this. Is there anything we can simply spray on and let dry? I usually do a good job soldering but want the finished project to look cleaner and more professional. Using .032 60/40 rosin core. Tried some Isopropyl alcohol once and it left the board all hazy/smudgy. |
|
|
|
Post by svart on Nov 26, 2014 7:54:20 GMT -6
I solder every day. I can instruct anyone on any type of soldering imaginable if they want. What is the best way to clean up audio-related PCBs after soldering? There seems to be so many different opinions on this. Is there anything we can simply spray on and let dry? I usually do a good job soldering but want the finished project to look cleaner and more professional. Using .032 60/40 rosin core. Tried some Isopropyl alcohol once and it left the board all hazy/smudgy. I typically use alcohol, acetone or brake parts cleaner. I mostly use alcohol at work because the fumes aren't that big of a deal. I generally try to clean up as fast as possible before the rosin hardens. If it hardens and you can't deal with rosin on your boards, then use a hair dryer or heat gun to soften it up, then use a lot of alcohol and paper towels to blot it up quickly. That'll get most of it up. After that I'll use old toothbrushes or acid brushes with a lot of alcohol. Hold the board sideways so the dirty alcohol flows down and off the board. Don't forget to put a bunch of paper towels down to catch it. Acetone works even better (and don't worry, it won't damage the parts) but the fumes can be tough in a small room. You might think about using flux cored solder instead of rosin for most general work and leave the rosin for hard cases. I typically use rosin core, but also have "No-clean" flux cored solder for some jobs. Professional board stuffers will use what amounts to a glorified dishwasher to clean boards. They use a combination of chemicals, hot water and other detergents to get them clean. |
|
|
|
Post by keymod on Nov 26, 2014 12:58:18 GMT -6
Is there any danger in just leaving it alone? Will the flux/rosin hurt the pcb/circuit if not cleaned off?
|
|
|
|
Post by svart on Nov 26, 2014 19:07:04 GMT -6
Most of the time it's ok to leave it. If it's a high impedance trace, like certain guitar amp sections, fet gates, etc, then you'll want to clean it since rosin is capacitive. If it's acid core rosin, then it could corrode raw copper. It's pretty rare though.
|
|
|
|
Post by jayson on Dec 14, 2014 13:20:45 GMT -6
Gotta give mention to the Analog Allstars 500 series mini-Pultec. Just finished a pair of 'em and very happy so far! Very pleasant build and a wonderful sounding EQ. If you're on the fence about this one definitely give it a try! groupdiy.com/index.php?topic=46920.0Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by formatcyes on Nov 1, 2015 13:41:34 GMT -6
Great thread
|
|
|
|
Post by tskguy on Oct 31, 2017 12:42:10 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by Ward on Jan 6, 2024 17:20:42 GMT -6
|
|
|
|
Post by audiospecific on Jan 8, 2024 8:00:04 GMT -6
What is the best way to clean up audio-related PCBs after soldering? There seems to be so many different opinions on this. Is there anything we can simply spray on and let dry? I usually do a good job soldering but want the finished project to look cleaner and more professional. Using .032 60/40 rosin core. Tried some Isopropyl alcohol once and it left the board all hazy/smudgy. What I do is put it in the top rack of the dishwasher. I use cascade. This was a trick I figured out after going to work for an assembly company that assembled parts onto boards from various things from life support, MRI machines and computer boards and saw their board washer machine on the assembly line and yes, they used cascade. Ever since then, Isopropyl and cotton swab have other cleaning duties.
My main cleaning tool in the past in my TV repair days was a pink pencil eraser block. Alcohol leave too much of a residue for high impedance high voltage circuits. Some people use this stuff called flux-off which works really great, but I don't dig the fumes and its expensive.
|
|
(yes its me)
