I live on the southern shore of Fidalgo Island where the fresh salt air turns metal of most sorts into new colors. In order to minimize corrosion I have come up with the following technique. After all the soldering and close trimming is done on a project, I go back over every lead end and give it a touch of solder to cover those copper ends that are anxious to turn green. It takes less than a second on each component lead. Doing so also makes for a very smooth board. Next comes a very thorough cleaning with Q tips, tooth brush and denatured alcohol the remove all the flux. After cleaning, I give the board a thin coating of Boeshield, an anti-corrosion spray developed by Boeing Aircraft. If you use the thin red extension "straw" and very gently depress the spray button, you can get a very thin coating on the board without getting it on the components. Quickly tipping the board back and forth will cover everything before the solvent flashes off. You can also just spray some into a small cup and use Q tips to apply if you are wary of variable caps. After it dries, you can either leave it with a slightly waxy coating or wipe it down with no loss of protection.
I have 20 year old projects that look as bright and shiny as the day the were built. This stuff works well to keep tools from rusting. I also use it on boat electrical systems with great success. And no, I don't own Boeing. 72/73, N7NSD Norm _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
