Cleaning Dirty PC

Just in case you didn't know - the solvents they used to clean flux off PCBs with were banned because they destroy the ozone layer.

Now they're made with water soluble flux and the PCBs are washed in water to remove it.

Sometimes if a PCB is dirty enough, I use water & washing up liquid, it just takes a bit of common sense and making sure to dry it out fully before putting back into service, obviously you don't want to dunk fans or anything with intricate moving parts that will be a bastard to dry out after.

I had an employee who did "Spring cleaning" by turning on his evap cooler, opening windows throughout the house, then walking thru with his compressor hose, blowing dust off of the furniture ;-) ...Jim Thompson

"Ian Field" wrote in news:A9xrr.349263$ snipped-for-privacy@fx23.am:

At TEK Indianapolis and Orlando service centers,I used to pressure-spray degreaser(Kelite)-water mix on TEK instruments needing cleaning,then a water rinse,followed by 3 days in a drying oven that had a negative pressure inside.(pulls water out of crevices) Naturally,I avoided spraying power transformers,they retained water. I could take an old,greasy,filthy dirty scope and make it look brand new. I did wonders with the old 422 scopes,even new paint jobs and new rubber feet.

For 2235/36 DMM boards,I ran them through an auto dishwasher with Calgonite,then into the drying oven. It would usually cure PCB leakage problems the 2235/36 High-Z DMMs frequently.

I even had a customer bring me their scopes for cleaning,after their shop had a fire.

We still use rosin flux and organic cleaning solvents. The chlorocarbons (freons) were banned, but there is other stuff around.

Well, I have been known to turn the whole house fan on high, get out my gasoline blower, stihl, and go to it. Cat hairs blowing all over. A little stinky.

Greg

What a wuzz. Every few months I use a vacuum cleaner to remove the dust from my computers. I don't even bother to turn them off. I really need to figure out the source of the insane amount of dust in my office though :-)

Skin flakes?

Hole in the vacuum cleaner filter bag?

I'm not old and not flaky :-)

You are correct (please accept my apologies), I checked my facts with a renowned scientific authority and I was way off the mark!

Same as high altitude where mountan climbers can't have a cup of tea because water boils at too low temperature to make the infusion.

The video shows an "insane amount of dust", you probably have "normal" amounts....unless you ARE one of those guys in the video. Dave

I've been told that the majority of the dust found inside during the *Winter* is shed skin (animal dander counts - it is skin). The combination of dry air and closed environment is the reason.

Don't overlook the contribution of fart dust!

Wow! I've never heard of a dusty fart. OTOH, a... ...well never mind.

From a flaming asshole, with a poor fuel/oxygen mix?

Dusty farts are from when you are so old, you compete with Egyptian mummies for desiccation level, and your farts are indicators of impending full body "hardening of the arteries".

Or exhaust particulates as M.A.T. suggested.

Or any time that dimmie speaks. :(