Best method for rust removal on a PCB???

NERDtendo

Well-known member

Donor 2011
Joined
May 14, 2010
Messages
4,672
Reaction score
357
Location
Republic, Washington
Title say it all.

I got a box of PCBs. Some of it is crap that cannot be salvaged. Two of the PCB sets may just need a good cleaning. Then there is one that isn't pretty but may be slavageable. There is some rust on some of the chip legs. Is there a safe way to remove the rust without causing permanent damage to the PCB or other components on the PCB??? CLR??? WD 40 and a toothbrush??? Regular electronic contact cleaner??? A little sandpaper and rubbing alcohol???

A little more info on the PCB....

It's a DK 2 board stack. The rust is mostly on the removeable chips but there are a few that are soldered into place that will need some attention. It is light rust (compared the the two crap PCBs that are degrading and covered in it). I haven't tested any of the boards because I wanted to give them a fighting chance at working.
 
It's a DK 2 board stack. The rust is mostly on the removeable chips but there are a few that are soldered into place that will need some attention. It is light rust (compared the the two crap PCBs that are degrading and covered in it). I haven't tested any of the boards because I wanted to give them a fighting chance at working.
There's way too much voodoo on this forum. It only makes sense to take action if corrosion is causing a problem. Sure it's possible that socketed chips aren't making good contact, but why would soldered chips require attention? The solder is what makes electrical contact. If you just want to clean the board to make it more pleasant to repair, then sure run it through a dishwasher.

Washing your car doesn't fix an engine problem. Likewise there's no reason to believe de-rusting the legs of a soldered chip would improve how it works. To repair a board you need to diagnose the problem and fix the root cause.
 
There's way too much voodoo on this forum. It only makes sense to take action if corrosion is causing a problem. Sure it's possible that socketed chips aren't making good contact, but why would soldered chips require attention? The solder is what makes electrical contact. If you just want to clean the board to make it more pleasant to repair, then sure run it through a dishwasher.

Washing your car doesn't fix an engine problem. Likewise there's no reason to believe de-rusting the legs of a soldered chip would improve how it works. To repair a board you need to diagnose the problem and fix the root cause.

Good to know. I just didn't want to make the mistake of plugging in a corroded board and having it short stuff out that could have been side-stepped with a little pre-op work.
 
Good to know. I just didn't want to make the mistake of plugging in a corroded board and having it short stuff out that could have been side-stepped with a little pre-op work.
The way to check that is with your DMM. Measure resistance on the power inputs (+5v to ground, +12v to ground, etc) to verify they're something 100+ ohms. If you see zero then you have a short that must be resolved before trying to power-up the board.
 
Back
Top Bottom