Re: Cleaning old Apple II cards?

["Matt J. McCullar" <mccullar@flash.net>]

Arcade game collectors clean motherboards all the time.  I work at a
circuit-board repair center and we often get circuit boards that are
literally caked with dirt, oil, metal chips, etc.  For many years our
cleaning method has been very simple:

1) Remove any socketed chips and store them carefully.  (This lets you read
and store the software, and also keeps the labels from washing off)
2) Remove any batteries and fuses and flyback transformers (if present)
3) Give the board a bath in the sink with warm water and a common cleaning
liquid called Simple Green.  It's a good, general-purpose cleaner.  I've
also used Fantastic and Formula 409.  Use a soft paintbrush to scrub in and
around all of the components, then rinse off the board.  It will look like
new after this.
4) Allow board to dry.  If you've got an air compressor, give it a mild shot
of air after one drying cycle to get any residual water out from underneath
components.
5) Re-insert what got removed, and you're back in business.

Simple Green, etc. won't attack any components as acetone will.