Shoutout to the tech who showed me a better way to clean flux residue

For years I'd just use 99% isopropyl and a brush, but a guy at a repair meet in Portland said to try a 50/50 mix of isopropyl and distilled water with a drop of dish soap. I switched six months ago and my boards look cleaner with way less scrubbing. Has anyone else found a better cleaning method that actually saves time?

3 comments

3 Comments

miller.diana4d ago

That's a solid tip. The dish soap acts as a surfactant to break the water tension, letting the mix get under the residue easier. I've used a similar trick with a tiny bit of simple green in the water mix for really stubborn gunk.

hannah_west394d ago

Honestly, @miller.diana is right about the surfactant. I've found a soft toothbrush works way better than a stiff parts brush for the scrubbing part too.

mark_green3d ago

That "really stubborn gunk" comment got me. I once had a board so crusted with old flux it looked like amber. I tried every mix in the book, even the fancy commercial sprays. What finally worked was just warm water and dish soap, but I had to let it soak for like twenty minutes first. The whole thing just slid off after that. Sometimes the simple fix just needs more time to work.