[TowerTalk] Soldering Weathered Connections

[Mark L.]

Hello Tom et all;
I use a trick at home that might help out here. It is important to 
neutralize the acid after using it as a soldering flux and rinse away the 
residue with several rinses of plain water.
I have two spray bottles (among others) on my workbench for this. One has 
distilled water with several tablespoons of baking soda dissolved in it and 
a couple of drops of dishwashing detergent (wetting agent). When you spritz 
this on, it will react and foam up wherever it finds acid, penetrating 
anywhere that capillary action will take it. Keep spraying until the foaming 
stops.
Then, you saturate a small portion of a paper towel with this and rub it 
over the joint to help loosen, neutralize, and remove any remaining pasty 
acid residue. Then follow this up with several plain water rinses from the 
other bottle.
You can take your spray bottles up the tower to the job as necessary.

If you work with batteries and happen to spill any electrolyte (sulfuric 
acid) on anything important (OOPS!), you can save your, ahhh, pants (or 
whatever object you spilled it on ) with a quick spritz from the neutralizer 
bottle. <*grin*>
Sorry, spraying this on your belly will not relieve your acid indigestion!!

The other handiest spray bottle I keep around is common rubbing alcohol (70% 
isopropyl alcohol), which makes a great cleaner, degreaser, ahhhh... fire 
starter and flying insect killer. Set this bottle's nozzle for a stream for 
pinpoint accuracy....

--...MARK_N1LO...--

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