--- In
Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, DJ Delorie <dj@...> wrote:
>
> Ok, the two alcohols I have are both 70% alcohol, with nothing else
> but water. They got off most but not all of the residue. The water
> pic didn't do much for the remainder. Xylene helped a little, but
> there's still residue.
>
> Time to email the manufacturer, I suppose.
>
I use a 2:1 mixture of absolute ethyl alcohol and acetone. The
acetone is probably not necessary and does evaporate over time, but
the removal speed is excellent. Just dip it, wipe with a towel or
toothbrush, and the the flux is gone. The acetone also attacks
certain plastics, but not the epoxy used for ICs or PCBs. I used
absolute ethyl alcohol because it was readily available to me.
Denatured alcohol would probably work just as well, as would 100% IPA
(isopropyl alcohol), as has been already suggested. But, the latter
is hard to find locally. That is probably because it is not as good
an antiseptic as 50% or 70% IPA, which is the usual consumer use for
it. Come to think of it, E95 might work too, but I haven't tried it.
I think keeping water out of the solvent is probably important,
unless the flux is water soluble or you use heat and a detergent. John