Alternative Flux Cleaner for electronics

Notice that the plastic toothbrush, which held all of the solvents, is fine. The plastics used for the actual electrical parts is much more resistant. It has to have an adequate electrical insulation/heat factor, withstand acidic flux and the often, beyond duty heat resistance due to the soldering operation. Also the bottles that the household solvents are made of. They are extremely resistant to solvents as well. Acetone works for a lot of things. But for a simple cleaning operation like solder flux, you really don't need to leave anything soak. Acetone from hardware/paint store is cheaper than nail polish remover, as is denatured alcohol. Denatured alcohol mixed with water will take things like blood, and other stains out of (often plastic/pvc) carpet and other fabrics as well. For a simple solution you can reuse, try mixing denatured alcohol 50/50 with distilled water and add a few drops of a good, grease dissolving dish detergent. I keep this in a squeeze bottle and it works quite well.

Good comparison. Cutex non-acetone "with coconut oil" would be what caused the greasy texture. It could prevent corrosion, but downside is it has high conductivity. MEK is in there too which dissolved the plastic, its probably nastier than the pure acetone stuff in terms of health risks.

Thanks for the video. My bottle of MG cleaner, the same product as yours, says that the ingredients are ethanol, isopropyl and ethyl acetate. MG makes a “heavy duty” version that adds acetone. I would use that only for special cases where dissolving plastics is not a concern. One technique I use to save money on the professional remover is to first place the PCB in a shallow tray and pour just enough isopropyl alcohol (91% is good enough) to cover the top side of the board. Typically less than 1/4” of isopropyl is required. Let the board soak for a while to loosen the flux deposits. Use a toothbrush as you suggest near the end of the soak period. Then remove the board and finish the cleaning with a professional remover solution like the MG to wash away any remaining residue. The pre-soak in the relatively cheap isopropyl does most of the work, and you’ll need less of the expensive cleaner that way. Also, you can use the tray with isopropyl for multiple boards even if the isopropyl gets a bit dirty, because you will wash the PCBs clean with the professional remover anyway.

straight acetone might work, but i think some techs that used it to clean PCBs noted it tended to wash off the ink printing/marks on the board. using those chemicals with bare hands tends to dry the skin on ones hands, fingers. also, some good ventilation helps. thanks for a great comparison

Thanks for the video. A couple of things bothered me though. One is we often have to remove flux after soldering components to the board, not just bare boards. Residue may be there and may not be seen or on other sites I’ve seen evidence that the alcohol does leave residue that can somewhat bridge and make current leaks over time, even as far as a short at some later date. Also have seen tips of using a toothbrush, wetting it, and flicking it so you only are applying the absolute minimum needed to clean off the flux residue, which makes more sense to me than soaking a board.

IPA removes/dissolves most flux and doesn't harm the plastic. Cellulose paint thinner thoroughly removes flux faster than IPA but will melt certain kink of soft plastic. Acetone removes flux at thinner strength level and will melt plastic if it's left too long. It's cheaper than IPA and thinner if you want to dip the whole mobo. Of all three, Acetone tends to leave some marks. Flux in low frequency applications is harmless but in high frequency, it's lethal.

Tank you so much this really helps me I bought isopropyl alcohol for generally cleaning my fpv drone components and it works great for flux removal too! I see that as a big bonus I bought 1L so I’m happy I bought it

Thank you for taking the time to make this comparison video.

1 Part WD-40, 15 parts acetone. The Acetone cuts the flux and the WD-40 makes it difficult for it to re-stick to the PCB. You only need a small amount of WD-40 to prevent the flux from sticking. The Acetone will evaporate faster than the Wd-40, so you should work fast. You're welcome.

Thank you so much for this video. I was eagerly waiting for this input. Thank you for testing on plastic too...

I use straight acetone and it works fast, but you have to be careful of plastics. I wouldn't soak a board in it.

How is acetone on electrolytic capacitor plastic skin shell?

I worked in a PCB ASSEMBLY 20 years ago, I remember using toothbrush and dipping it in the cleaner and brushed off the flux residue until it completely removed, NOT dipping the PCB BOARD... As I can remember it was alcohol...

I would highly recommend using gloves with the 99% IPA (probably all of the others, too) if you do a lot of cleaning. It will damage the skin on your fingers and it is not easy to get them healed back up.

Hi,Could i use these for clean micro usb port pins from water or clean ic from water?

I would go broke paying $16 for flux cleaner. **toothbrush ** 99% alcohol -spray bottle... scrub thoroughly then ** windex -spray bottle scrub some more...spray alcohol again, and scrub... finally **water - spray bottle you can let it air dry, spray dry, or wipe dry. Has always worked for me, cleaning vintage stereo boards that have had flux on for decades.

I believe the non acetone cleaner has oil in it as to be easy on the nail bed.

Sorry if I missed it but may I know which flux you were using beforehand?

IPA is cheap and works with most fluxes. Depending on flux, it mahy need differenct solvents. Some are even water cleanable. I use IPA and denaturated alcohol mostly. I guess the non-acetone nail polish remover is something like butyl acetate. It can be bad for some plastics like acetone. Actually even alcohol or IPA can be bad for some plastics if very long time used like hours of soaking. The amount of effect depends a lot on what exact plastic is being tested.

Solvent resistant "printer swabs" are cheap in bulk and amazingly handy around the shop.