Cleaning Electronics

asteroidsNut

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I have heard people putting boards in the dish washer to clean them and using gunk and other cleaners to clean CRT's. What have others done? What is safe to do?

What have you used and done, and what parts in what games? Photos?

Example: Clean Power Brick? Clean Game Board? Clean Wire Harness? Clean CRT and Boards?
 
All in the dishwasher for me. Up to hundreds of boards now! Never a problem, just wait to dry. There isnt much that i wouldnt put in the dishwasher at this point, except for Plastics that could melt (like Pinball ramps - the heat cycle could melt them) and any matte metal parts (like mounting brackets) because they dont clean well and usually get a nasty white film left on em.

Here is a before:

B4.jpg


And the after:

B6.jpg


Its a no brainer.
 
I have heard people putting boards in the dish washer to clean them and using gunk and other cleaners to clean CRT's. What have others done? What is safe to do?

What have you used and done, and what parts in what games? Photos?

Example: Clean Power Brick? Clean Game Board? Clean Wire Harness? Clean CRT and Boards?

I just cleaned two monitors tonight.. a G07 and a 19v2000. Both got soaked
with 409 outside the tubes lightly scrubbed and then left to sit or 15 mins to
let the 409 work.. then I break out the hose and wash um down (not high
pressure).

Then I let them sit out in the sun a couple days on a tilt. Never had any
problems so far. I'd take a picture but its night. No more gunk/grime, gets rid
of the smokey smell, and makes it nice to work on the boards (easy to read).

Never tried a PCB in the dishwasher but I've seen may reports that it works
well.
 
I can't believe what I am reading. I would think this would ruin things. You know water + electronics = disaster. But hey, you guys seem to know what you are doing. While I'm a noob at things like this.
 
I can't believe what I am reading. I would think this would ruin things. You know water + electronics = disaster. But hey, you guys seem to know what you are doing. While I'm a noob at things like this.

for the most part, water only hurts if you have some sort of current going through stuff to short out...the water doesn't really do the damage, its when water gets between two points and shorts them out that things get fried...also, corrosion.

If you have everything discharged and dont put power back to it again before it's completely dry, then you dont have a problem.

You need to make sure you dont have any place water can hide though...like fuse holders and stuff like that.
 
I can't believe what I am reading. I would think this would ruin things. You know water + electronics = disaster. But hey, you guys seem to know what you are doing. While I'm a noob at things like this.

Well dont plug it in while your doing this:)

They usually end up sitting foir a week in my garage since I generally only
do arcade repair stuff on the weekends.. so they are pretty bone dry
by the time I start capping them.

The G07 was kinda rusty to begin with but stunk light cigs.. no more stink:)

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All in the dishwasher for me. Up to hundreds of boards now! Never a problem, just wait to dry. There isnt much that i wouldnt put in the dishwasher at this point, except for Plastics that could melt (like Pinball ramps - the heat cycle could melt them) and any matte metal parts (like mounting brackets) because they dont clean well and usually get a nasty white film left on em.

Here is a before:

B4.jpg


And the after:

B6.jpg


Its a no brainer.

I would recommend rinsing power bricks off first being they get exposed to some nasty shit like rodents. Remember you put stuff in the washer you eat off of! :eek:
 
I'm impressed, thank you for the replies. I will definitely give some of this a try. Not sure about the dish washer, since I do use it for my dishes :)
 
i have to say i trust what i read on this site i really do but man the whole thing about putting the guts of a game in dishwasher seems so crazy to me but im going to try it one of these days. i have sat there for hours with a cleaning rag and a tooth brush trying to clean my boards and ps and they never come close to looking that good. thats one reason i love this site learn new things
 
This is not a new idea, long ago it was posted in RGVAC newsgroups about putting boards in a dishwasher to clean.

For those worried... pure water is not conductive. It's salts (softened water) and metals (iron, calcium) dissolved in the water that make it conductive and short out an open circuit if the device is powered on.

The problems come when someone doesn't fully let the PCB, or Monitor dry before powering on. Also there can be some corrosion/oxidation on exposed copper, but usually on arcade parts it's there already.
 
When I first started looking around KLOV and read a couple posts on dishwashers, garden hose..etc, I about crapped myself. Then one day I thought...why not, and did the dishwasher thing. Now I love it and will never sit for hours working my butt off and getting a "so-so" clean board. Works great and so much of a time saver.
 
I remember working for a small woodshop in the early nineties putting video poker cabinets together. We were connected to a game and jukebox distributor.

The guys in the repair shop would clean their circuit boards with a product called Blue Shower. I think it was basically a degreaser and would then rinse them off under the faucet and blow them off with a compressed air hose. Back then I had the same thought. "How does water not ruin the boards?"
 
I use the dishwasher on almost anything as well. wiring harnesses circuit board coin door monitor chassis. I only put plastic stuff on the top rack!

nice and clean and heated dry

water and electronics not bad! water electronic powered on VERY bad!

anything that doesn't fix in the dishwasher I hose off then 409 it and hose in about 5 minutes then let it air dry in the sun

no troubles yet!

the key may sure its dry

if you paranoid let the items site on a fan overnight or hair dryer them!

be careful with that heat gun though!! they get way host and will wreck stuff!

Biggest hazard so far is all the bitching from the wife sticking my parts in there!
 
I'm more worried about what the filth on the boards is going to do to my dishwasher more than what the dishwasher is going to do to my boards.
 
I hate to assume, but no soap in the dishwasher right?

No soap, it leaves residues. Or at least that is what I've read. Most people just rinse it in the dishwasher, no heat, and then pull it out to dry for like a week or two. Just make sure to blow out some of water that sticks behinds components and IC sockets....wish i had a compressor....these air cans don't do the trick that well.
 
When sending boards out to major repair centers, most of them have heavy duty dishwashers and run it all through them prior to repair.

Again, i have NEVER had an incident. And i do use soap sometimes (more often than not), havent had residue issues.
 
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