Re: Best way to clean up old cards?

["Michael J. Mahon" <mjmahon@aol.com>]

rmbracalente wrote:
> I've recently been buying some old Apple II cards from eBay.  Some of
> them have been showing up with a bit of oxidation on some of the chips,
> traces & soldier joints.  What's the best way to clean these up?  I was
> thikning about hitting the trouble spots with some tuner cleaner (do
> they even still ~sell~ tuner cleaner?  I mean, who has a mechanical
> tuner on their tv anymore?) or CRC, but I didn't know if there was a
> product better targeted to this problem or not.

I'd probably use contact cleaner, as well.  It's still available,
though not usually called "tuner" cleaner any more.  ;-)

BTW, if you are just trying to restore appearance, that should be OK.
But if you want to actually _use_ the cards, I'd hesitate to use any
contact cleaner wholesale, as opposed to spot cleanings.

If the chips are soldered, then there is no electrical value at all
in cleaning the leads, and if they are socketed, then the risk of
damage to the sockets outweighs the esthetic benefits.  The part of
the chip lead that contacts the socket is not visible in any case,
and the lead-to-socket interface is best cleaned by lifting each
chip (carefully, with a gentle prying at both ends) and reseating
it.  This does nothing to improve the esthetics, but it does wonders
for oxidized contacts.

-michael

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