Overzealous use of solder rosin, or spill?

[SlowCoder]

So I was pulling apart a 2600 I recently got. Here is what I discovered:

 

 

You can see where I used alcohol to test removal of the substance with a Q-Tip on the bottom right.

 

The substance is not sticky (as you might expect Coke to be), and when I removed some of it with alcohol I think I got a whiff of rosin. On the other side of the board the stuff appears to be evenly sprinkled. It is not on the chips or the cart slot. Nor is there any trace inside the console case or the shield.

 

So, either something was spilled on it while it was in another case, or while someone was working with the board ...

or it's just about the worst case of overzealous application of rosin at the factory.

 

What do you think?

 

By the way, it does work.

 

Edit: I just tried to remove it with electronics cleaner to see the reaction. The substance didn't budge, but as stated above, readily cleans with alcohol. Thought that might be helpful in determining what it is.

Edited July 9, 2011 by SlowCoder

[+5-11under]

Flux.

 

Hopefully.

[Ranthulfr]

Maybe the whole board got dipped during the manufacturing process?

[Jr. Pac]

Mine has that stuff too. Wierd. Probably error in the factory, mine was never transferred to another case.

[Benzman66]

A lot of the sixer boards are that way. I see it all the time, so it wasn't a spill.

[Benzman66]

Maybe the whole board got dipped during the manufacturing process?

 

^Agreed!

[SlowCoder]

Well, that makes me feel much better. I really wasn't looking forward to having to clean it all off.

 

How damaging would it be to soak the entire board in alcohol to clean it off? I'd be using 91% alcohol.

[jamesk]

I had a light sixer I repaired like that. I thought it was Jolt Cola. I just wiped most of it off with alcohol.

[Benzman66]

Well, that makes me feel much better. I really wasn't looking forward to having to clean it all off.

 

How damaging would it be to soak the entire board in alcohol to clean it off? I'd be using 91% alcohol.

 

I probably wouldn't chance it, and that is why probably the factory didn't either. You could end up shorting out some things as many still hold a charge even with no power being fed.

Edited July 10, 2011 by Benzman66

[caver]

I actually wouldn't be too worried about the alcohol damaging things... I'd be more worried that the gunk is designed to help protect things, and removing it would remove that one more thing protecting the board...

 

Then again, anything like that that's 20 or 30 years old might actually be one of those things that is actually causing a problem rather then preventing it at this point....

 

It's your call, but unless you think it's going to be a problem I'd leave it for 2 reasons:

1. I'm lazy

2. There must be some reason it was done that way.

 

If you do decide to give it a bath, alcohol and plastics have issues, so you probably don't want to submerge the board to the point of submerging the chips, but even if you do it'll probably be fine as long as you make 1,000 percent sure it's dried well before you attempt to use it again. I'm also unsure when the board will start absorbing the liquid (I was going to say if, but google pointed me to when), and weather that will be a problem...

 

In summary, if you really want to clean it, you're probably better off scrubbing it rather then letting it soak, though I'd probably leave it. But if you do soak it, it'll probably be ok, as long as you don't let it soak too long...

 

Chris

[Ranthulfr]

There was an article in Atari Age magazine vol.1 no.6 about how game consoles were manufactured. I ran across it yesterday. The section called Soldering In Seconds is especially interesting:

http://www.atariage.com/magazines/magazine_page.html?MagazineID=6&CurrentPage=2

 

The boards went through a "wave soldering machine".

[Pioneer4x4]

I used to work at Rockwell where we had a wave soldering process. That looks like a board that has not been cleaned after. The way we used to clean them was an open top cooler that had freon vapors in it and we dipped baskets of completed circuit boards in and sprayed with liquid freon to rinse. All the freon fumes would collect down in the cabinet and return to liquid. It was amazing how well it removed the slimy flux, and how well they looked after.