Maker Pro
Maker Pro

Solder mask solvent?

N

Neil Preston

Jan 1, 1970
0
Is there any suitable method of dissolving the green solder mask found on
most PC boards?

A cc: would be appreciated: npreston at swbell dot net

Thank you....
 
P

petrus bitbyter

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neil Preston said:
Is there any suitable method of dissolving the green solder mask found on
most PC boards?

A cc: would be appreciated: npreston at swbell dot net

Thank you....
Acetone will do.

petrus
 
R

Ross Mac

Jan 1, 1970
0
Neil Preston said:
Is there any suitable method of dissolving the green solder mask found on
most PC boards?

A cc: would be appreciated: npreston at swbell dot net

Thank you....
Hi Neil,
To my knowledge, there is nothing chemical that will remove soldermask and
leave the board usable....I am assuming it is epoxy based???
If you have a number of expensive circuit boards that need it removed, your
only recourse would be to find a circuit board company with a laser drill.
They would be able to remove it cleanly. Hope that helps....Ross
 
P

petrus bitbyter

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ross Mac said:
Hi Neil,
To my knowledge, there is nothing chemical that will remove soldermask and
leave the board usable....I am assuming it is epoxy based???
If you have a number of expensive circuit boards that need it removed, your
only recourse would be to find a circuit board company with a laser drill.
They would be able to remove it cleanly. Hope that helps....Ross

Ross,

Think we're talking about different things. Never get a board in my hands
having a green soldermask that did not solve with acetone. Never saw the
acetone affecting the epoxy either. Some component plastics or printing may
be affected however.

petrus
 
R

Ross Mac

Jan 1, 1970
0
petrus bitbyter said:
Ross,

Think we're talking about different things. Never get a board in my hands
having a green soldermask that did not solve with acetone. Never saw the
acetone affecting the epoxy either. Some component plastics or printing may
be affected however.

petrus
This comes from my 30 years around the PCB biz.....Ross
 
P

petrus bitbyter

Jan 1, 1970
0
Ross Mac said:
This comes from my 30 years around the PCB biz.....Ross

Well Ross,

You should have had more PCBs in your hands then I had. I remember too well
the times I tried to clean PCBs with acetone and got the green laquer along
with the dirt I want to remove. So I did not use acetone but ethanol (or
WS11) ever since. Nevertheless, the next piece of PCB I got in my hands -
some minutes ago - did *not* let its solder mask solve in acetone. So I
think you are right and my response was based on the wrong experience. (Old
experience although <30 years.) So sorry for the mistake and thanks for your
reply.

petrus
 
R

Ross Mac

Jan 1, 1970
0
petrus bitbyter said:
Well Ross,

You should have had more PCBs in your hands then I had. I remember too well
the times I tried to clean PCBs with acetone and got the green laquer along
with the dirt I want to remove. So I did not use acetone but ethanol (or
WS11) ever since. Nevertheless, the next piece of PCB I got in my hands -
some minutes ago - did *not* let its solder mask solve in acetone. So I
think you are right and my response was based on the wrong experience. (Old
experience although <30 years.) So sorry for the mistake and thanks for your
reply.

petrus
Hi Petrus....
I have never used acetone to remove what they call soldermask on PCB's and
it might remove it somewhat. In my experience in that biz was if we
accidentally got it on the wrong area it could not be removed adequately to
make the customer happy. When the laser drills showed up, someone came up
with the idea to ablate soldermask. You just set the machine up to burn down
to the foil. The C02 laser typically won't burn through copper so it's the
perfect tool. They use these machines for drilling blind holes .004 and
smaller at extremely high speeds. First they use a yag laser to drill
through the copper, then they follow up with a C02 laser to cook the glass
down to the next layer of copper. Then they fill the impression with
electroless copper for a connection...
In any event, this message got way off topic!!!....take care, Ross
 
N

Neil Preston

Jan 1, 1970
0
Thanks for the replies, guys.

I use acetone all the time to remove flux residue after soldering. Won't
touch the soldermask they use nowadays.

I do repair of pro audio equipment and often have to repair burnt or broken
foil traces. So far the only thing I've been able to do is scrape it off or
otherwise abrade it off. But I'd prefer not to abrade the copper. And
sometimes the foils are difficult to get access to.

Keep looking!

Neil
 
Top