Re: Corrosion...

Remy,

I always run my boards through the dishwasher to clean them up well when
I'm restoring a game.

I've run HV boards, processor boards, everything, through it with no problems.

Before you guys start to flame me thinking that this is not good for the
boards, let me just say that I worked in an electronic device manufacturing
facility and have consulted many others, and that is how it is done in the
industry. Those boards went through a washing process before they went into
the game, and putting them through again is not going to hurt IF:

         1) don't let parts sit in the washer wet for very long. Steel does
rust.....
         2) shake (or use a hair dryer set on NO HEAT) the water off
         3) hang up or let the boards sit in the sun to dry immediately
after shaking/blowing water off

I usually let the boards sit in the sun for a few hours, and bring them
inside and hang them up for about three days in an air-conditioned room.

Before putting them back in the game, shake the board vigorously and see if
any water streaks out from underneath components like ICs and transformers
and such.

I have never had a board fail during manufacture or at home from a bath. In
fact, I even put whole computers (minus hard drive) in the dishwasher for a
quick, thorough, easy clean. I let them sit for a few days and no problems.

The real trick is to make sure the boards are completely dry before you
plug them in and apply power.

         - Matt

P.S. - Another real good reason to do this is that previous solder repairs
show up visible after a good washing. The residue from the soldering
process usually turns color and you can spot repairs to keep an eye on.
When my Tempest was acting up, a board washing exposed previous repairs and
sure enough, one of the repairs was a poor solder job. After resoldering
many connections, the problem was gone.

At 08:31 AM 6/1/00 -0700, you wrote:
> I'm cleaning it off, and I'm wondering 2 things right now:
>
>1) How do I know when the corrosion has been neutralized? Right now,
>the board still looks fairly crusty/vertigree.
>
>2) How long does a board usually need to dry, before it's plugged in
>again? Mostly I'm thinking of the connectors themselves, the board
>seems fairly dry.
>
> As a sidenote, was I correct is assuming that for the most part, the
>components are water resistant (bad time to ask, huh =) ) as far as
>rinsing the board down?
> Thanks for any help/answers, later.
>
> Remy LeBeau
>
> The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
>
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Received on Thu Jun 1 17:53:42 2000