Contact cleaner for PCB use?

[hikaruichijo]

Paint polish works for me to clean that contacts,very fast an easy, they shine like new, then some acohol, and WD40 prevents future oxidation.

EDIT by mods: This thread split off from the discussion here:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=58024

[stj]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

Paint polish works for me to clean that contacts,very fast an easy, they shine like new, then some acohol, and WD40 prevents future oxidation.

WD40 will get under the tracks and slowly lift them, you should NEVER use WD40 near electronics!

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

Thanks, I never had that problem untill now but I'll be more carefull an look for an alternative because I live in a place where oxidation an humidity is a big problem and it did the job well untill now.

[stj]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

switch cleaner or dialectric grease may be the answer.

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

I didn't know that thins exist, thanks a lot, I'll look for that, another trick to the arsenal.

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

WD40 will get under the tracks and slowly lift them, you should NEVER use WD40 near electronics!

Hi.
I've been triying to find that issue on my computers and other thins and it is not present, I used WD40 for years and a lot to the point of apraying it al over the boards from computers, mainlly, to a vinyl disk player from 1978 and TVs and all I can confirm is that WD40 damages some plastics and some kind of components because of their platic cober but not to the point of their failure, plastic gets a bit soft, but I wasn't able to find a lifted track, and I checked boards that were sprayed years ago.
It keep humidity away and all the conections maintain their original shiny look, and prevents and eliminates false contacs.

I'll keep an eye on what you say, but it's a guees or did you see it happen?

[stj]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

i have seen it where people spray it into chipsockets.
one other thing with WD40 - it can make some aluminium surfaces turn black.

[kc8adu]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

seen it ruin phenolic rotary switches in several hf radios.
it soaks in,swells the phenolic,and goes leaky.hv+rf=arcing!

WD40 will get under the tracks and slowly lift them, you should NEVER use WD40 near electronics!

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

Interesting, I did that, on a 775 socket and an AM2 and on a 40 pin bios chip, and untill now they are working, but I'm starting to worry a bit about what will happen on long therm, but I can say that I started to use it like this two or three years ago and still didn't see any problems, on old plastics I also saw some weird thins, maybe the composition of old plastics....but knowing where it would do more harm than good it's great, thanks.
I have to look for that dielectric grease that Stj mentioned sounds intresting and usefull.

[stj]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

people used to put it on the battery terminals of cars - so maybe you can get it at a garage.

[hikaruichijo]

Re: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts

I know what are you talking about altought I've never used it, guess what I use for that matters, but is a good idea maybe it will prevent oxidation on the contacs mentioned by Per Hansson. I'll look for it.

[Per Hansson]

Re: Contact cleaner for PCB use?

I split off these posts from the thread: Hard drives with oxidized HDA contacts.

[Cableaddict]

Re: Contact cleaner for PCB use?

I'm a huge fan of Cramolin.

The red stuff destroys oxidation like nothing else. - However, one must be careful as it's also mildly corrosive, and (as I found out the hard / expensive way) electrically conductive!

So, you need to clean it off very carefully after use. (flux cleaner works fine)
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