I've had success with washing boards with isopropyl alcohol then washing with water and drying. I use regular solder, nothing out of the ordinary...takes a few scrubs with IPA and the boards look clean afterwards.
On Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 8:05 AM, David Forbes <[email protected]> wrote: > Mitch, > > PC board assembly factories don't use rosin flux these days, because it > can't be cleaned without dangerous chemicals. My city is still remediating > the ground water after the solvent trichloroethylene (TCE) got into it from > the local missile factory and poisoned a bunch of people in the eighties. > > I've been using water-soluble flux for 30 years. I use Kester 2331 organic > liquid flux with Kester 331 organic core solder. It's rather active, so you > have to wash it off within a day or the board gets corroded. I wash the > boards under hot running water while scrubbing with a toothbrush, then > remove the water with compressed air. > > Another benefit of this flux is that it has super wetting action, which > makes it easy to solder 0.5mm pitch TQFP packages with a standard soldering > iron. I can even solder 0.4mm pitch parts. > > There is also 'no-clean' flux, which leaves less residue than standard > rosin core solder. That's what is used in many factories where low cost is > king, such as consumer audio electronics. It's not show quality, though. > The Kester organic flux makes clean, shiny solder joints. > > > On 3/8/16 5:55 AM, Mitch wrote: > >> I can't seem to get my boards as clean as they could be. I spray with a pc >> board cleaner, then wipe and let it dry, and deal with the residue. I >> never >> thought about washing with water. I'll give it a try. Thanks. >> > > -- > David Forbes, Tucson AZ > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "neonixie-l" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/56DEF85A.3030406%40dakotacom.net > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/CAOX%2BRHLJkP8oqAHJ75HhkB4xmvRS2zbUsbGGCwCV3M3CoBXgtA%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
