Flux cleaner

[audiomaniac]

What is a good flux cleaner to have on your workbench when working with PCBs, such as the Speedball? Thanks

 

[Grainger49]

I use the Isopropyl alcohol wipes I get with my syringes.

 

[audiomaniac]

I use the Isopropyl alcohol wipes I get with my syringes.

That sounds simple enough. I saw some stuff on Amazon that I thought would be good, but I want to make sure it's safe to use on a board.

 

[butchbass]

I use grain alcohol purchased from the ABC store. I was trained to solder in a NASA 40 hour course  in 1972  and that is what they used. It smells good and if you are so inclined you can have a sip.

 

[audiomaniac]

I use grain alcohol purchased from the ABC store. I was trained to solder in a NASA 40 hour course  in 1972  and that is what they used. It smells good and if you are so inclined you can have a sip.

I did some training myself with all kinds of alcohol when I was younger............. :

 

[Doc B]

"Turns out that there weren't as many redundant systems in the Space Shuttle as we thought. We were just seeing double."

 

[catfishstevens]

I've always used 99.9% isopropyl alcohol, not to be confused with the grain alcohol suggested earlier.  Do NOT drink isopropyl alcohol, you'll likely end up in the ER.  Not that I haven't landed in the ER after drinking ethyl(grain) alcohol before..

I don't know about a bottle of Everclear or a mason jar of granpda's medicine but isopropyl in liberal amounts rubbed over the messy area with something like a q-tip or kim wipe is perfectly safe for your boards.  If it's a particularly bad mess or dirty board you can also get anti-static brushes on Amazon, but for something like the speedball you probably don't need that.  Isopropyl typically does the job very well and quickly evaporates.

This is what I use:
http://www.amazon.com/MG-Chemicals-Isopropyl-Alcohol-Cleaner/dp/B008UH4AI8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1432191635&sr=8-5

 

[Grainger49]

For those of us who are diabetic, and get alcohol wipes along with syringes, they work well too.  They are also great for rubbing out touch ups on your car.

 

[Doc B]

My take on this is that you really shouldn't need to clean flux off the boards we sell. I'd suggest trying a different brand of solder if you have excess flux on the board. And maybe practice on getting just enough, and not too much, solder on the pads. A smaller tip might help too.

 

[catfishstevens]

Yeah for all of the BH soldering I have done so far I don't believe I've ever needed to clean the flux.  Usually when I need to clean flux it's for a chip or something where I had to apply some flux to make it easier.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

My gripe with cleaning flux is that you have to get absolutely all of it off, otherwise it leaves a sticky residue that looks kinda nasty. 

 

[4krow]

It may be a tongue in cheek type of thing, but some of the de-soldering braid that I use leaves a real mess. In that case, I will resort to acitone.

 

[mcandmar]

I've found that too as there is some flux in the stuff.  IPA all the way for me, but as PB pointed out it can leave a sticky trail so usually i have to clean boards twice to get it 100%.

Also worth mentioning that the flux crud can be slightly conductive and cause havoc on sensitive circuits, thats a good reason alone to clean it off.  It also tends to turn black with heat inside a tube amp.