Cleaning acid damage PCB's - with what????

[Marty Machine]

HI all,

I'm working on a bally cpu PCB, which has some mild acid damage, but hasn't eaten thru anything, mainly surface level...

What do you guys prefer to use to clean/remove/seal acid damage?

thanx in advance,
MM.

[Caveoftreasures]

I have heard some people like to use Vinegar.

Beaky is the man to ask.

[pinnies4me]

With a 50% mixture of vinegar and water clean the board thoroughly, then rinse with water and then alcohol to remove the water. You can dry it with a hair dryer. Don't get any water on the dip switches, I doubt they are water tight.

[Strangeways]

With a 50% mixture of vinegar and water clean the board thoroughly, then rinse with water and then alcohol to remove the water. You can dry it with a hair dryer. Don't get any water on the dip switches, I doubt they are water tight.

Exactly 100% right there Nick. I'm actually refurbishing six Bally -35 MPU boards with mild to bad corrosion. One of them is particularly nasty !

I've covered this process here - http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=2343.0

I have a board I used for testing that was a total wreck. The vinegar trick works very well, as I refurbished this board 10 years ago. Not a trace of corrosion has re appeared.

[Ballywannabe]

Point of correction - it ain't acid damage   Batteries puke a corrosive material that is alkaline (and highly mobile!), hence the usefulness of the 50/50 vinegar solution to neutralise.  As I am sure Nino has covered in his linked thread, mechanical removal, such as wire brush, glass fiber 'pens' and bead blasting are also useful in extreme cases.

cheers
Ian