Re: Cleaning old Apple II cards?

On Jun 25, 10:42 am, PZ <skierp...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 25, 4:40 pm, "atfphotogra...@xxxxxxxxx"



<atfphotogra...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 25, 6:47 am, "Matt J. McCullar" <mccul...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Arcade game collectors clean motherboards all the time.  I work at a
circuit-board repair center and we often get circuit boards that are
literally caked with dirt, oil, metal chips, etc.  For many years our
cleaning method has been very simple:

1) Remove any socketed chips and store them carefully.  (This lets you read
and store the software, and also keeps the labels from washing off)
2) Remove any batteries and fuses and flyback transformers (if present)
3) Give the board a bath in the sink with warm water and a common cleaning
liquid called Simple Green.  It's a good, general-purpose cleaner.  I've
also used Fantastic and Formula 409.  Use a soft paintbrush to scrub in and
around all of the components, then rinse off the board.  It will look like
new after this.
4) Allow board to dry.  If you've got an air compressor, give it a mild shot
of air after one drying cycle to get any residual water out from underneath
components.
5) Re-insert what got removed, and you're back in business.

Simple Green, etc. won't attack any components as acetone will.

Interesting.

So there wasn't any problems with rusting? One of the motherboards I
recently
came across has rust in the back and I'm trying to figure a way to
either replace
the part completely or somehow get the rust off (it's a composite
connector and
the tape input/output ports on a IIe motherboard).

I was just worried about rust on parts of the board. What do you
consider a
drying cycle and how long? Just air dry and then hit it with the air
compressor after
the first one?

Best!

ATF

The rusting probably occurred from a humid environment with cyclical
temperature swings, which would cause mild condensation on  metal
components, which would certainly cause some components to rust/
corrode.  A one time washing and dry-off won't hurt a thing. The key
is to not allow moisture to remain on the part you're cleaning for a
long period of time.

I've heard good things about Simple Green that Matt mentioned, so I'm
not surprised that it works well. Removing socketed components isn't a
bad idea either, although I would remove them immediately after
washing (unless they had things like labels) just for drying
purposes.

- Paul

What would you recommend for drying? Air drying or actually using
something like a hair dryer on low to no heat? And then on a second
pass using an air compressor to make sure water gets caught anywhere?

I have a IIe unenhanced motherboard that is amazingly dirty here that
would make an excellent test candidate.

Thanks for all the help!

Best,

ATF
.

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