I have a couple of arcade games at my house. They are all old, at least 13 years. Now the PCBs have dust on them, in one case quite bad. I would like to get rid of this dust before it causes any costly problems.
I’m guessing that water is right out. The only thing I have done so far is take a paper towel and brush some of the dust off. The only other thing I can think of is using compressed air.
Are there other ways of cleaning the boards and chips without damaging them?
OK… When you say “compressed air” are you thinking “an air nozzle hooked up to a compressor” or “the cans of ‘air’ designed and sold for blowing dust off electronic equipment”?
I would stay away from the former, because the high pressure output could be damaging if you got the nozzle too close and the air could be mixed with water (or even oil).
The latter would probably be the cheapest (safe) option. Obviously, you’ll want to do it outside because 13 years of dust will make a fantastic plume.
They also make vacuums designed for sensitive electronics, they ain’t cheap..
You can try an aerosol can of flux cleaner which is what the industry uses after the board is populated and soldered. The catch is that there’s some parts that can still be damaged by flux cleaner but usually, these are pretty obvious (speakers, paper labels, moving and greased parts, etc. ).
Alternatively, you can spray isopropyl alcohol for a similar effect. Try to find 99%.
You want to use canned air. Any office supply or computer store will stock it. If you can’t move these outside, you may want to have a vacuum cleaner handy.
Don’t use the vacuum on the boards themselves though - vacuum cleaners can build up static charges that aren’t very good for electronics.
Can someone help me out with what PCBs are?
I’m all confused; I expected a thread about PolyChlorinated Biphenyls.
Printed Circuit Boards.
I was talking about the compressed air in a can. I figured that was my best bet, but I wanted to make sure before I destroy a game that will cost a ton to have restored.