How To Clean Soldering Flux
Cleaning flux is good for removing oxide coating but needs to be cleaned afterwards.
How to clean soldering flux. To prevent damage to the board you should re-solder your soldering iron now and then as the technique will remove solder from it. Hi migs i use a flux removing spray you should get that from most electronic suppliers i use maplin or rapid electronics here in the UK. No cleans in theory contain lower total solids so as not to need removalcleaning.
After securing and preheating the PCB and void in a vice or PCB holder you suck the solder off the board by squeezing and releasing the bulb from behind the hole. Solder flux is used to remove the metal oxide surfaces that in the joining process prohibit a bond between the metals. 1 Dip a clean toothbrush in isopropyl alcohol or acetone.
Water-soluble Deionized water and simple detergents are enough to clean water-soluble solder fluxes. Cleaning the glass and solder with a flux remover and warm soapy water is a great start. For Soldering on our production lines we using Kester Solder SN 63 Pb 37 with Flux 245 No clean in addition we using Kester Flux 959 977 2331-ZX.
Modify the soldering irons temperature to a standard work temperature of around 300 degrees Celsius. To clean water-soluble flux use Isopropyl alcohol. If there is a significant amount of flux left on the piece or dirty solder consider using a soft brush to help with scrubbing.
Usually no-clean flux cleans up nicely with isopropyl alcohol or distilled water. 2 Use the toothbrush to gently brush the solder flux on the PCB applying the alcohol or acetone. There are also several brands of chemical cleaners specifically designed to clean flux goop.
This depends greatly on what kind of solder and flux you used. Flick away excess by flipping your wrist two or three times. If I leave it for a week after soldering so the flux thickens then I just have to leave it submerged for longer and maybe lightly brush it.