[Elecraft] Mineral spirits OK for cleaning boards?

[Tom Hammond]

Hi Dave:

>No, absolutely not!!!  What makes you say that?  I guess I did not make my
>question sufficiently clear, although it appeared perfectly clear to me.

I probably read it wrong... I do that sometimes... actually all too often, 
it seems...

>What I wanted to know, but it seems to have gotten lost in the hyperbole,
>is this: will mineral spirits dissolve flux without leaving a residue?  I
>did not know that at the time, and so posted my query.  I did not imagine I
>would be admonished about dissolving relays so phrased my question as I
>did.  I never intended to submerge the entire board in a tank of mineral
>spirits.  All I had in mind was to brush some on the bottom.
>
>Here is my original question: Is mineral spirits OK for cleaning flux off
>the boards upon completion?

When I think if 'mineral spirits', I think of something akin to 
terpentine... something that'll probably leave a slightly oily residue on 
whatever it touches. This is something I'd certainly not ever want to use 
on PC board for any reason whatsoever.

Some of us did, I think, deviate from our intended path when we replied, 
but the general trend was the same... "If you feel the need to clean rosin 
from the PC board, use alcohol, rather than any other substance. Even if 
mineral spirits were not specifically addressed (by the replier), the 
implication was the same... "Don't use mineral spirits".

>Nothing in there about submerging boards in solvents.  That was assumed by
>the reader.

I did not read, in your note, any implication that you might submerge the 
PC board, however, just about any highly liquid solvent will want to 'run' 
into places you probably don't want it to be, and this includes plastic 
covers on relay sand any other plastic device as well. Fortunately, I don't 
believe that most hard (styrene, probably) plastics are significantly 
susceptible to the like of mineral spirits, with regard to melting, BUT if 
the cleaner got into the device itself, it could still cause problems if it 
left an oily residue.

Years ago, when I used aerosol spray 'control cleaner' products, I'd always 
test them before I used them. In most instances I wanted a cleaner which 
did NOT leave a residue of any kind, especially no oily residue. To test 
this, I'd spray a small test 'splatter' onto a piece of typing paper and 
I'd allow it to dry. I look for: 1) the speed with which it evaporated, and 
2) whether the splatter on the paper was opaque or translucent (indicating 
an oily residue).

>Nothing in there about it being an Elecraft board.  While certainly a 
>reasonable reader assumption, it is another assumption.

I'm sure you are well aware of what they say about "ASSUME"... I'll not 
beat that horse.

I mistakenly) assumed that you were referring to a desire to clean an 
Elecraft PC board... generally a safe assumption, since about 90% of the 
queries on this reflector are on topic. That assumption was certainly MY FAULT.

>You are correct in the sense that the answers I received from the list were
>of no use to me, so I did a small experiment to determine the answer and,
>by now, I do indeed have the answer.
>
>But, I did not know then, nor do I know now, what flux consists of and what
>solvents will dissolve it.  Mineral spirits does appear to do so.

Did they leave a residue?

>Some of us would greatly appreciate it, if, when a question is posed on
>here, it is simply answered, without great exclamations of pending
>disaster.  Please don't weigh the question down or greatly expand it with
>reader assumptions.

As I tend to do... I guess that's a problem when you ask everyone... some 
of us just don't know when it quit.

>Not everyone asked questions strictly about Elecraft and sometimes we use
>unorthodox procedures that, while applicable to the job at hand, may not be
>widely employed.  That doesn't mean our questions are any less valid.
>
>Including a few words about precautions is always in order.  But the
>original question ought to be addressed.

You are correct... and for my part, I failed to do that. My bad.

Thanks for the response.

73,

Tom  N0SS