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PSA: I almost fried a vintage Atari 2600 board trying to clean it with the wrong stuff
I was in my garage last Tuesday, trying to fix a really dirty board from a 1977 model, and I grabbed a can of contact cleaner that was actually for automotive parts. The second I sprayed it, the board started smoking and I had to pull the power fast. Has anyone else messed up a board with the wrong cleaner and managed to save it?
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brooke5336mo ago
My 1983 Sears Video Arcade survived a similar bath in brake cleaner. That stuff can strip conformal coatings right off. A proper electronics cleaner and some IPA brought it back to life.
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jake_kelly246mo ago
Man, that's a scary moment seeing smoke come off a board. Used to think all cleaners were basically the same until I ruined a perfectly good Commodore 64 power supply. Learned the hard way that automotive formulas can leave conductive residues that'll short everything out. What did the board look like after it cooled down, any visible damage to the traces?
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