Several decades ago, that was supposed to be the "safe" alternative for carbon tetrachloride. It was actually a pretty good, moderately aggressive solvent for many applications. (IBM's service force in particular had a reputation for using it to clean everything in sight, or out of sight, on their electromechanical machines. I'm sure other organizations abused the stuff similarly.) Beginning around the mid 1980's it was determined to be just as hazardous, and now I don't know if it can be purchased by mere mortals.
Dale
Where I worked in the 80's we used various flux removers that wouldn't be allowed today.
Big boards went into the vapor degreaser that used Freon TF (CMC-113).
For spot cleaning we used spray cans:
Miller-Stephenson MS190 (Freon CMC-113 50% and Methylene Chloride 50%)
Miller-Stephenson MS165 (Freon CMC-113 94%, Methanol 6%, Nitromethane 1%)
The stuff worked great at cleaning. Now, what was I doing again?
Big boards went into the vapor degreaser that used Freon TF (CMC-113).
For spot cleaning we used spray cans:
Miller-Stephenson MS190 (Freon CMC-113 50% and Methylene Chloride 50%)
Miller-Stephenson MS165 (Freon CMC-113 94%, Methanol 6%, Nitromethane 1%)
The stuff worked great at cleaning. Now, what was I doing again?
Isopropyl rubbing alcohol (70% or so works great). I just pour a bit in a cap and scrub the board with a toothbrush like someone else mentioned. Don't be shy with it either. Then I use a can of duster to dry it off and blow any dissolved flux out from under the chips. I even rinse boards under a tap if theres lots of gunk then use isopropyl again to get the water out. I like using Rosin RA flux so the boards really need to be cleaned well to prevent corrosion. Clean frequently don't wait till all the soldering is done.
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