feipoa wrote:

Is that the fuel used in backpackers stoves? I recall purchasing "white gas" for my stove and should still have some.

No it's not the same stuff. That's what I thought at first too, then I googled it.
Apparently "white gas" has at least three different meanings.
It also means pure gasoline - gasoline with no additives.
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PCBONEZ wrote:

No it's not the same stuff. That's what I thought at first too, then I googled it. Apparently "white gas" has at least three dif […]
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feipoa wrote:

Is that the fuel used in backpackers stoves? I recall purchasing "white gas" for my stove and should still have some.

No it's not the same stuff. That's what I thought at first too, then I googled it.
Apparently "white gas" has at least three different meanings.
It also means pure gasoline - gasoline with no additives.
.

Im using the link below as a reference when it comes to fuel names and this stuff seems to belong in group 3. I do not think there is a clear definition of "white gas", a clear gasoline like liquid used as a solvent or as fuel is where I ended up. 😁

International Fuel Names
http://fuel.papo-art.com/

PCBONEZ, some response to your comments:

I suppose I could have used old motor oil from my diesel, but it still flows too readily. I wanted something that would stick to the surface of my glazed corelle dish. Red bearing grease is a bit gummy, true, but I can visualise it well. If something disloves an extreme example like bearing grease, it would probably do well on other types of organic residues, provided it doesn't damage PCBs.

I was unable to get the oil out of my cans of compressed air. I do not have a shop compressor.

To be honest, what really started this for me was hoping to prove my old professors wrong. When they point out dumb stuff students do, it sticks in the mind for decades. When I was doing some research work with surface plasmon generation via nano-hole arrays, we could not use any type of physical contact to remove oils from our gold-on-glass chips. I remember finger prints and residues being incredibly difficult to remove to the tolerance we needed. Ultimately the piranah etch ended up being the preferred course as various washings with ethonal, IPA, acetone, and DI water still left visible residue. On the down side, the piranah etch is extremely dangerous. From some recent readings online, it does point to acetone being better at removing oils than IPA, however my simple grease test did not confirm this. Like you pointed out, this is probably due to the grease type, or maybe the concentration of acetone.

Yes, we have Mean Green in Canada. I buy it at Canadian Tyre and leave it in the garage for when I do automotive work. It works well for a quick clean up fix. I find with my engine-specific degreaser, that I don't have the paitence to wait it out. Or maybe I'm buying the wrong product. What is the longest you've let Mean Green (not Simple Green) sit on your PCB surfaces without damage? As it showed some promise with my bearing grease test, I would like to consider using it on some motherboards.

I am not surprised by your question though. It seems getting "new" chemicals or new anything into Canada takes at least a decade after the Americans get it. We only got the store-shelved pain killer Aleve and Melatonin a few years ago!

I try to stay away from skin contact with any chemical. I know of some mechanics who died after chemicals entered their blood stream through hand contact. I probably look like a sissy using latex gloves with Windex, but I don't care.

So where are you guys getting isopropanol alcohol? As mentioned, the stuff is both useful and expensive and I never have enough of it.

You can source it from industrial suppliers, potentially by the truckload if required.

Isopropanol, isopropyl, IPA, ISO (all the same) can be purchased at your pharmacy on the shelves. I get it in a jumbo pack from Costco Canada. When I used to live closer to downtown, I couldn't find IPA anywhere on the selves. I went to ask the pharmacist where it was and he said that they keep it behind the counter. He explained to me that IPA is used in a purification or cleaning process in the manufactur of some illicit drugs. He mentioned the drugs, but I no longer recall.

feipoa wrote:

Isopropanol, isopropyl, IPA, ISO (all the same) can be purchased at your pharmacy on the shelves. I get it in a jumbo pack from Costco Canada. When I used to live closer to downtown, I couldn't find IPA anywhere on the selves. I went to ask the pharmacist where it was and he said that they keep it behind the counter. He explained to me that IPA is used in a purification or cleaning process in the manufactur of some illicit drugs. He mentioned the drugs, but I no longer recall.

Meth apparently, likely others. It's also used for synthesizing Sarin nerve gas.

Yes, that sounds familiar now. I remember I replied, "I don't even know what meth is. So can I buy the ISO?"

Errius wrote:

So where are you guys getting isopropanol alcohol? As mentioned, the stuff is both useful and expensive and I never have enough of it.

Isopropyl is aka Rubbing Alcohol. Just about any pharmacy or cosmetology supply will have it. Probably some hardware stores.
The trick is to find 90% or higher as it works better. It is not uncommon but 70% is more common.
The percent shown is how much is Isopropyl. The remainder is water.
Since one of the purposes in using it is to remove water one that starts with less water is better.

I usually get it in 32oz bottles at Walley World (Walmart) because it's on the cheap side and I like their bottles. Less 'tippy'.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vi-Jon-91-Isopropyl … -fl-oz/33057974
Places like Sam's Club and Costco also have it.

Could probably be had at industrial supplies in 1 to 5 gallon containers but since this area is Walmart Crazy ( 6 within 5 miles of me ) I haven't looked.

I have spray heads where I have trimmed the pick-up tube length so I can thread them directly onto the Isopropyl bottles.
No refilling bottles. Just move the head to the new bottle.
.

Funny this thread should be around, I was just rummaging around my PostImg and found this;

Unfortunately, this still doesn't fix the transistors the previous owner burned out.

feipoa wrote:

PCBONEZ, some response to your comments:

I suppose I could have used old motor oil from my diesel, but it still flows too readily. I wanted something that would stick to the surface of my glazed corelle dish. Red bearing grease is a bit gummy, true, but I can visualise it well. If something disloves an extreme example like bearing grease, it would probably do well on other types of organic residues, provided it doesn't damage PCBs.

To be honest, what really started this for me was hoping to prove my old professors wrong. When they point out dumb stuff students do, it sticks in the mind for decades. When I was doing some research work with surface plasmon generation via nano-hole arrays, we could not use any type of physical contact to remove oils from our gold-on-glass chips. I remember finger prints and residues being incredibly difficult to remove to the tolerance we needed. Ultimately the piranah etch ended up being the preferred course as various washings with ethonal, IPA, acetone, and DI water still left visible residue. On the down side, the piranah etch is extremely dangerous. From some recent readings online, it does point to acetone being better at removing oils than IPA, however my simple grease test did not confirm this. Like you pointed out, this is probably due to the grease type, or maybe the concentration of acetone.

What I was trying to get across was that there are a huge variety of things called grease.
Even in a given product range (like "bearing grease") the products might be either silicon or petroleum based and there are a huge variety of additives to both.
So different "Bearing Grease" products could easily respond to a given solvent differently.
My QA job showed me just how different greases for the same purpose can be. (I had to look up specs, precautions and all that.)
Some kinds if mixed can cause reactions with what is being lubed, flames or even explode.

feipoa wrote:

I was unable to get the oil out of my cans of compressed air. I do not have a shop compressor.

Not surprised. Canned air is filled using high grade industrial compressors with a lot more sophisticated filtering than you would find in a home/garage type compressor.
In one of my assignments I had to maintain two 250 HP units as a collateral duty. Just the filtering/drying stage was about the size of 3 or 4 refrigerators.
.

I am afraid to try this on a 980 Ti. Should I? 😜

realnc wrote:

I am afraid to try this on a 980 Ti. Should I? 😜

Remove the fan(s) and as much of the air shrouds as possible so it can dry after and you should be fine.
Fans don't have much lubricant to start with so you don't want to wash out what they do have.
.

realnc wrote:

I am afraid to try this on a 980 Ti. Should I? 😜

Why would you NEED to do this to a 980 Ti?

I already did it to a GTX660 (but I use a plate heater to dry them, ~95°C). When pulling things from trash they often do need a good cleaning...

You pulled 980 Ti from the trash??

No, a GTX660. It was hit by something hard, cutting some traces and moving components off their place. But fixable with some soldering skills.