Isopropyl Alcohol for Cleaning Flux
in [Basics]
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From: Arfa Daily on 26 Jul 2010 19:46 "pimpom" <pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:i2knq7$6ls$1(a)news.albasani.net... > David Nebenzahl wrote: >> On 7/26/2010 11:49 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus: >> >>> GregS wrote: >>> >>>> 95% is a very good figure. I actually use the NON-denatured stuff. >>> >>> How about the drinking stuff? (95% "grain" alcohol). >>> >>> Here I can by a "fifth" (750ml) for less than 250ml of 70% Isopropyl. >> >> Well, that's ethanol, which should also work fine, so long as you >> don't mind the 5% water. > > I use medical or denatured alcohol as a general-purpose cleaning solution. > When I need stronger stuff, such as on cruds of old and hardened flux or > when there's simply lots of it, I use automobile paint thinner. Wiping > with a piece of cloth or cotton wool is usually enough and I rarely need > to scrub with a brush. > > The thinner can dissolve some plastics though. So some care is needed, as > is good ventilation. It looks and feels somewhat oily but dries very > quickly. A one-liter can costs about $3 US here. > Hope you never use it on a board that's got a lacquer type coating on it then ... :-\ What amazes me, and I can't understand, is why all of these 'substitute' chemicals are used by people, when the proper ones, designed for the job, are really not expensive in the first place Arfa
From: Sergey Kubushyn on 26 Jul 2010 20:52 In sci.electronics.repair Arfa Daily <arfa.daily(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: > > > "pimpom" <pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:i2knq7$6ls$1(a)news.albasani.net... >> David Nebenzahl wrote: >>> On 7/26/2010 11:49 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus: >>> >>>> GregS wrote: >>>> >>>>> 95% is a very good figure. I actually use the NON-denatured stuff. >>>> >>>> How about the drinking stuff? (95% "grain" alcohol). >>>> >>>> Here I can by a "fifth" (750ml) for less than 250ml of 70% Isopropyl. >>> >>> Well, that's ethanol, which should also work fine, so long as you >>> don't mind the 5% water. >> >> I use medical or denatured alcohol as a general-purpose cleaning solution. >> When I need stronger stuff, such as on cruds of old and hardened flux or >> when there's simply lots of it, I use automobile paint thinner. Wiping >> with a piece of cloth or cotton wool is usually enough and I rarely need >> to scrub with a brush. >> >> The thinner can dissolve some plastics though. So some care is needed, as >> is good ventilation. It looks and feels somewhat oily but dries very >> quickly. A one-liter can costs about $3 US here. >> > > Hope you never use it on a board that's got a lacquer type coating on it > then ... :-\ > > What amazes me, and I can't understand, is why all of these 'substitute' > chemicals are used by people, when the proper ones, designed for the job, > are really not expensive in the first place Another question is why do they try to clean rosin with pure alcohol that is extremely ineffective for that purpose? The ad-hoc solution that is cheap and works really well is a mix of 60% denaturated alcohol with 40% Xylene from a hardware store. Pure alcohol is a very bad solvent for rosin flux, very slow and leaving a lot of white residue. And it only makes sense to invent something homebrew if very good flux remover in aerosol cans is really unavailable. Otherwise just go grab a can at your local Fry's (or whatever) and enjoy. --- ****************************************************************** * KSI(a)home KOI8 Net < > The impossible we do immediately. * * Las Vegas NV, USA < > Miracles require 24-hour notice. * ******************************************************************
From: Jon Danniken on 27 Jul 2010 01:30 David Nebenzahl wrote: > > Why mess around with isopropyl alcohol at all, since all of it > contains *some* water? Use denatured alcohol (methanol) instead, in a > tightly-capped container to guard against absorbing moisture. Perhaps it is different where you live, but here in the US, denatured alcohol is not methanol; it is, instead, ethanol with a denaturant added. The denaturant can be methanol, or it can be any number of other chemicals, so long as it is sufficiently adulterated to prevent a person from using it for ingestion. Jon
From: pimpom on 27 Jul 2010 03:28 Arfa Daily wrote: > "pimpom" <pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message > news:i2knq7$6ls$1(a)news.albasani.net... >> David Nebenzahl wrote: >>> On 7/26/2010 11:49 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus: >>> >>>> GregS wrote: >>>> >>>>> 95% is a very good figure. I actually use the NON-denatured >>>>> stuff. >>>> >>>> How about the drinking stuff? (95% "grain" alcohol). >>>> >>>> Here I can by a "fifth" (750ml) for less than 250ml of 70% >>>> Isopropyl. >>> >>> Well, that's ethanol, which should also work fine, so long as >>> you >>> don't mind the 5% water. >> >> I use medical or denatured alcohol as a general-purpose >> cleaning >> solution. When I need stronger stuff, such as on cruds of old >> and >> hardened flux or when there's simply lots of it, I use >> automobile >> paint thinner. Wiping with a piece of cloth or cotton wool is >> usually enough and I rarely need to scrub with a brush. >> >> The thinner can dissolve some plastics though. So some care is >> needed, as is good ventilation. It looks and feels somewhat >> oily but >> dries very quickly. A one-liter can costs about $3 US here. >> > > Hope you never use it on a board that's got a lacquer type > coating on > it then ... :-\ I do take care to use it only where it won't do damage. The "some plastics" was just an example. > > What amazes me, and I can't understand, is why all of these > 'substitute' chemicals are used by people, when the proper > ones, > designed for the job, are really not expensive in the first > place > Some people use the substitutes because they don't know better. Others have good reasons: The "proper" ones are not easily available in many parts of the world, including mine. And the thinner serves other useful purposes too. It's a good general-purpose solvent.
From: Arfa Daily on 27 Jul 2010 04:10
"Sergey Kubushyn" <ksi(a)koi8.net> wrote in message news:i2lakl$du0$1(a)speranza.aioe.org... > In sci.electronics.repair Arfa Daily <arfa.daily(a)ntlworld.com> wrote: >> >> >> "pimpom" <pimpom(a)invalid.invalid> wrote in message >> news:i2knq7$6ls$1(a)news.albasani.net... >>> David Nebenzahl wrote: >>>> On 7/26/2010 11:49 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus: >>>> >>>>> GregS wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> 95% is a very good figure. I actually use the NON-denatured stuff. >>>>> >>>>> How about the drinking stuff? (95% "grain" alcohol). >>>>> >>>>> Here I can by a "fifth" (750ml) for less than 250ml of 70% Isopropyl. >>>> >>>> Well, that's ethanol, which should also work fine, so long as you >>>> don't mind the 5% water. >>> >>> I use medical or denatured alcohol as a general-purpose cleaning >>> solution. >>> When I need stronger stuff, such as on cruds of old and hardened flux or >>> when there's simply lots of it, I use automobile paint thinner. Wiping >>> with a piece of cloth or cotton wool is usually enough and I rarely need >>> to scrub with a brush. >>> >>> The thinner can dissolve some plastics though. So some care is needed, >>> as >>> is good ventilation. It looks and feels somewhat oily but dries very >>> quickly. A one-liter can costs about $3 US here. >>> >> >> Hope you never use it on a board that's got a lacquer type coating on it >> then ... :-\ >> >> What amazes me, and I can't understand, is why all of these 'substitute' >> chemicals are used by people, when the proper ones, designed for the job, >> are really not expensive in the first place > > Another question is why do they try to clean rosin with pure alcohol that > is > extremely ineffective for that purpose? > > The ad-hoc solution that is cheap and works really well is a mix of 60% > denaturated alcohol with 40% Xylene from a hardware store. Pure alcohol is > a > very bad solvent for rosin flux, very slow and leaving a lot of white > residue. > > And it only makes sense to invent something homebrew if very good flux > remover in aerosol cans is really unavailable. Otherwise just go grab a > can > at your local Fry's (or whatever) and enjoy. > > --- > ****************************************************************** > * KSI(a)home KOI8 Net < > The impossible we do immediately. * > * Las Vegas NV, USA < > Miracles require 24-hour notice. * > ****************************************************************** Yes, the fact that it's not very good for some types of flux - rosin as you say - was one of my original points. Alcohol is fine for cleaning general crud and sticky things and greasy things, and I keep a can of Electrolube 99.7% electronics grade IPA for just those purposes, but I also keep a can of proper defluxer for, well .... defluxing .... Arfa |