Reply by February 9, 20182018-02-09
On Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 7:43:44 PM UTC-5, Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> On Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:05:11 -0600, oldschool@tubes.com wrote: > > >Will Deoxit on a circuit board cause problems? In other words, is it > >conductive if it's touching components? > > Think about it for a moment. If a switch lube were conductive, and > you sprayed it on the switch contacts, one might expect the switch > lube to short out the switch. That would make it a very bad switch > lube. Therefore, one might suspect that NOT shorting out the switch > which Deoxit is trying to lubricate might be a formulation > requirement. In other words, it better not be conductive.
Oh, so it can MAKE things that aren't supposed to conduct conduct.
Reply by February 7, 20182018-02-07
On Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:43:38 -0800, Jeff Liebermann <jeffl@cruzio.com>
wrote:

>On Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:05:11 -0600, oldschool@tubes.com wrote: > >>Will Deoxit on a circuit board cause problems? In other words, is it >>conductive if it's touching components? > >Think about it for a moment. If a switch lube were conductive, and >you sprayed it on the switch contacts, one might expect the switch >lube to short out the switch. That would make it a very bad switch >lube. Therefore, one might suspect that NOT shorting out the switch >which Deoxit is trying to lubricate might be a formulation >requirement. In other words, it better not be conductive. > >Deoxit is mosly mineral oil (saturated parrafin oil) which will >evaporate, but very slowly. You'll need some kind organic solvent to >clean off the oil residue from the PCB. If you using Cramolin Red >instead of Deoxit, there's some oleic acid in the mix as an oxide >remover, which will very slowly corrode copper and must be removed >from the PCB.
I guess I did not explain that real well. Of course it's not conductive, but what I meant is whether there could be water in it, meaning till it drys it could be conductive via the water. I know most chemicals these days cant contain solvents which are air pollution. In fact a mechanic friend told me that auto paints no longer contain laquer thinner, and some are even water based. Knowing it's mineral oil eliminates that worry. I've never seen that Cramolin Red, but I'll be sure to never buy it. Deoxit seems to be the best anyhow, so I dont buy anything else. Years ago, I used Radio Shacks contact cleaner most of the time, which usually worked ok, but that is no longer available and Deoxit is better anyhow. It's a little on the pricey side, but I find myself using less of it than I used with the sprays I used in the past. Thanks for the help.
Reply by Jeff Liebermann February 6, 20182018-02-06
On Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:05:11 -0600, oldschool@tubes.com wrote:

>Will Deoxit on a circuit board cause problems? In other words, is it >conductive if it's touching components?
Think about it for a moment. If a switch lube were conductive, and you sprayed it on the switch contacts, one might expect the switch lube to short out the switch. That would make it a very bad switch lube. Therefore, one might suspect that NOT shorting out the switch which Deoxit is trying to lubricate might be a formulation requirement. In other words, it better not be conductive. Deoxit is mosly mineral oil (saturated parrafin oil) which will evaporate, but very slowly. You'll need some kind organic solvent to clean off the oil residue from the PCB. If you using Cramolin Red instead of Deoxit, there's some oleic acid in the mix as an oxide remover, which will very slowly corrode copper and must be removed from the PCB. -- Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558
Reply by February 6, 20182018-02-06
Will Deoxit on a circuit board cause problems? In other words, is it
conductive if it's touching components? 

I had to spray some switches that had a very tiny hole in a plastic
covering, so the Deoxit got all over the board. I removed most of it
with tissue paper, but there are traces of it beneath chips and other
components, which is difficult to remove. I have also used some Q-tips
to get rid of as much as I can, but I cant get all of it.

Will it evaporate over time? I wont be plugging this device in for at
least 24 hours.

Normally it's not this messy, but in this case there was no easy way to
get it into those switches, which badly needed to be cleaned. I wish
they would not seal switches like this. The old style switches with open
ends were so much easier to clean.