Using aceton to clean acid from a circuit

[Gil]

Hi.

I have that Kawai synth which has the Nicd battery leaked over a PCB.

I was advised to pour some acetone on it and "wash" it and that acetone cannot do any harm to the components on the circut. It doesn't sound like a safe thing to do, oto me, as I know acetone can dissolve plastic.

What do you think ?

[Peter Snowberg]

Acetone will eat many plastics, but not epoxy so it's quite safe IF the board does not contain jacks, relays, or any component with meltable plastic.

I would use 99% isopropyl alcohol. You can often get this behind the counter at the pharmacy. Thank you tapers for that secret. Makes great head cleaner too.

There are three basic types of solvents; polar, semi-polar, and non-polar. Acetone is non-polar, and such solvents work poorly if at all for minerals. Water is polar and works great for some minerals. Isopropyl alcohol is semi-polar and works semi well on some minerals, but most importantly it work on polar and non-polar molecules at the same time.

Every mass manufactured board gets water washed during construction. As long as you don't flood relays and you can dry everything very well, water is the best first wash, followed by an alcohol wash, and then acetone for oily residue.

I don't think acetone will much for you on nicad residue, but I don't know.

-Peter

[bwanasonic]

[quote="Peter Snowberg"
Every mass manufactured board gets water washed during construction. As long as you don't flood relays and you can dry everything very well, water is the best first wash, followed by an alcohol wash, and then acetone for oily residue. [/quote]

If water is safe, you might want to use a bit of baking soda and water in a paste, gently using a toothbrush to scrub away the nasty stuff. Then rinse and dry.

Kerry M

[Peter Snowberg]

That's a good suggestion to use an abrasive and toothbrush. I would try something less alkaline if you can find it, but if you scrub and rinse quickly baking soda is some great stuff.

-Peter