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I've been using isopropyl alcohol to soften the glue holding the old electrolytic caps to the PCB. RelCap's instructions say that propyl alcohol is safe with their caps, and I've just assumed that it wouldn't damage diodes, resistors, etc. either. Should I be worried that the alcohol might damage the components on the board? I've also used it to clean the flux off of the solder joints.Thanks,
LRC
Follow Ups:
I restore and upgrade a lot of old gear and use pure anhydrous isopropyl (99.953%) as a universal bench solvent with no problems--I apply it with a pump spray bottle to PCBS and occasionally immerse small parts. I would NOT used denatured alcohol--the term "denatured" means that it has an oil-based additive to make it unpalatable and poisonous to alcoholics desperate enough to try and drink it. It leaves an oily residue.Some time back I picked up a nice old Teac 3-head cassette deck for free because the transport mechanism didn't work at all. I checked to see that all the belts were intact and the motors were working, and they were. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I doused the entire mechanism with pure isopropyl then carefully lubricated the pivot points with a syringe. It's the best deck I've ever owned and has been playing happily for six months after this ten-minute fix.
I worked in an electronics place and one of the tests for flux residue % remaining on boards involved totally immersing boards in a tank of IPA, and a meter measured the conductivity increase (ionic change due to flux) of the bath.The problem with IPA, is that it doesn't really REMOVE flux, it just moves it around and disperses it. You need to put your boards through a big washer to remove it fully...
I've read of people totally immersing their PCBs in IPA, but I was never clear on whether or not the parts were still attached. Given that you were removing flux, I assume the parts were still on the boards?
When a solder joint is completed, solvent must be used to remove all flux residue. The two most highly recommended solvents, in the order of their effectiveness, are 99.5 percent pure ethyl alcohol and 99.5 percent pure isopropyl alcohol.
Thanks for the reply.Should I assume that because it is highly recommended, the alcohol won't damage the resistors, or diodes, etc.?
I've read through the posts on alcohol, and it is clearly the most recommended--high purity denatured, to be specific. But no one ever specifically addresses whether or not it can damage some of the parts. That implies to me that it probably doesn't, but I just wanted to be sure.
The impetus for my question occurred when I noticed last night that the alcohol was all over a nearby zener diode.
LRC
It won't hurt anything, as long as you wait for it to completely dry before turning on power.
Thanks for the replies. The components are completely disassembled (including cut power cords for IEC inlet installation), so they are a long ways from having any power put to them. I'm doing major overhauls of my amp and preamp. Like I said, the alcohol (91%) doesn't seem to be doing any damage, but I just wanted make sure before I start putting new parts on the boards. It's nice that it doesn't take the silkscreen off either. I've been using a soft toothbrush and Q-tips with it.Louis
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