[sdiy] cleaning flux

[Seb Francis]

Danjel van Tijn wrote:
> It has been recommended that I clean the flux before I solder in the
> pots. Is this necessary? I would really like to finish this circuit
> and quickly test it while I wait for whatever flux cleaning treatment
> to arrive.
>   

It would be better to clean the flux before soldering anything like 
pots, switches, etc. otherwise you risk the solvent getting inside them 
and washing out the lubricant.

If you end up having to do some minor re-soldering after cleaning the 
flux, it's not going to matter.  In actual fact for most audio circuits 
it's usually fine just to leave the flux in place on the whole board, 
especially with some of the modern low residue solders.  Even if I'm 
using standard rosin-core solder I'll often just leave the flux unless 
it's a critical circuit like VCO, or high frequency digital stuff.  Does 
leave the board all nice and shiney when you clean it though :)

Seb