Re: Cleaning old Apple II cards?

[mwillegal <mike@willegal.net>]

In general, if it works, leave it alone, though corrosion should
probably be addressed - I can't make any recommendations about the
corrosion part of this problem.

The safest approach would be a gentle dusting with a soft paintbrush
with no solvent at all.  This is the first cleanup step used by
vintage model train collectors.

If you want to be more aggressive you can try any number of things
that don't leave behind residue.  My solvent of choice for such
applications happens to be  97% isopropyl alcohol.  It is also known
as rubbing alcohol and is not the same as acetone.  Acetone is far too
aggressive for this application.  Isopropyl alcohol evaporates quickly
leaving little to no residue, though it can strip some kinds of paint,
if left on too long.

I once ran a scrap Apple II mother board through a dishwasher with
ordinary dishwashing detergent as an experiment.  It still worked
after giving it several extra days to thoroughly dry before firing it
up.  I can't really remember how clean it looked afterward, though.

Regards,
Mike Willegal
www.willegal.net

On Jun 20, 8:16 pm, "atfphotogra...@gmail.com"
<atfphotogra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> My question of the week.. HAH!
>
> So I went and looked about on Google and such and found a fellow
> giving tutorials on cleaning cards. He was using denatured alcohol
> (acetone?), a toothbrush and a dry air can. Toothbrush into the
> denatured alcohol, clean the card in a spot and then quickly blow off
> the alcohol.
>
> Anyone have comments? Several of my cards are pretty dirty with dust
> as well as some corrosion caused by a bad battery above some circuits.
>
> Thanks!
>
> ATF