Chemical tinning of PCB´s

[danial stocks]

one thing I've noticed is that tinned boards that have been stored a while 
can actually be more trouble.. while a copper oxidises more quickly, an 
oxidized tinned board is a *bastard* to get the flux to clean through..
Cheers,
Dan
>On Sun, 21 Jan 2001, Michael Buchstaller wrote:
>
> > Now i have heard of a way to tin-plate a board by putting it into a
> > chemical solution for a while - this is told to make it easier to
> > solder (have never had problems with soldering my boards) and
> > resistant against aggressive atmospheric con- ditions (maybe normal
> > city air ?) Here in germany, Conrad sells something that is called
> > "SENO Glanzzinn", a powder that is dissolved in hot water. The board
> > is soaked in that solution and becomes shiny silver after s short time
> > (some minutes).
> >
> > Has anybody tried this or another method ? Is it worth the extra time
> > and money, or do the tinned traces become dull very soon ?
>
>   I use Kepro's ITP (Immersion Tin Plate) solution.  Works great,
>provided the copper is clean and has not been touched by your fingers.
>To be safe, I scrub newly-etched boards with steel wool and handle them
>with rubber gloves.  ITP takes about 30 seconds to tin a board, and
>doesn't discolor under heat--unless the copper was dirty.
>
>   Also, for already-populated boards, I'll clean off the corrosion and
>spray the board with Krylon.  Of course, nothing beats a soldermask. :)
>
>Crow
>
>/**/
>

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