Homebrew PCBs

--- 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