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Alcohol is basically useless for typical flux. It just makes a mess. Acetone removes it in five seconds. If you don't like the smell, use it outdoors.
OK, well I've only been doing this for about 45 years and I can tell you acetone works better than anything else. And I have wasted my time using the other junk (when my company made us switch) which is why never use them anymore. I went out and bought cans of brake cleaner for me and my techs so we could clean boards.Maybe you had a bad experience with alcohol as a flux cleaner but that's your problem, not mine.Your statement; "Alcohol is basically useless for typical flux" is just plain wrong, sorry.
. And the same probably goes for many harsh toxic solvents.
Yes, and the rubbing alcohol available for consumer purchase is about 30% water. If you use that to try to strip flux, it will leave your board covered with water.Isopropyl alcohol (IPA), as you know is also called rubbing alcohol. People rub it generously on their skin.
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Neither Mr RB nor Bountyhunter have said which alcohol they use/used, and most important, neither has said how much water that alcohol contains. Perhaps the difference in their experiences is related simply to which alcohol was used and the water content of that alcohol. Note: There are many formulations for "denatured alcohol." Some have considerably increased solvent potency compared to pure (>99%) ethanol alone.
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There are several grades of denatured alcohol, but in general the denaturants used are similar. As an example, the formulation for completely denatured alcohol, according to British regulations must be:[2]
Completely denatured alcohol must be made in accordance with the following formulation: with every 90 parts by volume of alcohol mix 9.5 parts by volume of wood naphtha [ed: wood naphtha = methanol = methyl alcohol] or a substitute and 0.5 parts by volume of crude pyridine, and to the resulting mixture add mineral naphtha (petroleum oil) in the proportion of 3.75 litres to every 1000 litres of the mixture and synthetic organic dyestuff (methyl violet) in the proportion of 1.5 grams to every 1000 litres of the mixture.