What chemicals/solvents do you keep in your lab? And what for?

[george graves]

Ditto.

One the things that drives me crazy is the 100's of videos on "how to etch a PCB?  Here's how!  Let me show you!"

They all go like this....

"You take this chemical, or that one, and bingo - you have a pcb!  Oh, and make sure you depose of the chemical in a environmentally friendly way..."

Yet they never say how.   

I have a container full of used etchant.....and I would love to know the responsible way to dump it.

Anyone?  Buller?  Buller?

[nanofrog]

Ditto.

One the things that drives me crazy is the 100's of videos on "how to etch a PCB?  Here's how!  Let me show you!"

They all go like this....

"You take this chemical, or that one, and bingo - you have a pcb!  Oh, and make sure you depose of the chemical in a environmentally friendly way..."

Yet they never say how.   

I have a container full of used etchant.....and I would love to know the responsible way to dump it.

Anyone?  Buller?  Buller?

Give your local fire department a call, and see if they take it.

[Bored@Work]

Ditto.

One the things that drives me crazy is the 100's of videos on "how to etch a PCB?  Here's how!  Let me show you!"

They all go like this....

"You take this chemical, or that one, and bingo - you have a pcb!  Oh, and make sure you depose of the chemical in a environmentally friendly way..."

Yet they never say how.   

I have a container full of used etchant.....and I would love to know the responsible way to dump it.

Anyone?  Buller?  Buller?

Well, you could simply have listened to us old farts who keep telling people that these days it isn't worth it, when you can just order PCBs for small change ...

Now you have to call your local waste disposal company/organization/agency and ask them for the local procedure to dispose it. Probably for a fee, if someone determines the volume is on an industrial scale.

[N2IXK]

Many municipalities or counties in the US have "hazardous waste collection days" once or twice a year where residents can bring in items for proper disposal. That's where I dump stuff like waste oil, paint, solvents, dead fluorescent bulbs, etc.  No charge as long as you have proof of county residence, and sign a piece of paper stating that you are not disposing of waste from a business.

Have turned in a few "exotic" items over the years, like spent etchants, mercury, PCB-filled capacitors, and beryllium oxide scrap with no problems.

[con-f-use]

I have a container full of used etchant.....and I would love to know the responsible way to dump it.

If your etchant is HCl and peroxid it might be useful to know that you can fell out the copper chloride.

[george graves]

I just heard about this:  http://www.amazon.com/Berkebile-Oil-B101-Instant-Cutter/dp/B000CII6JM

It's almost as if some crazy mad scientist created a cleaning compound.

Acetone
toluene
xylene
methyl alcohol (that's just alcohol right?)
ethylbenzene

All that in a spray bottle with a straw.  Eeek!

[Kjelt]

It's almost as if some crazy mad scientist created a cleaning compound.

Acetone
toluene
xylene
methyl alcohol (that's just alcohol right?)
ethylbenzene

All that in a spray bottle with a straw.  Eeek!

If you knew what is in a lot of very good working stuff like WD40, or stickerremover or industrial degreasers you would probably eek too.
Methyl alcohol aka methanol CH3OH is definitely not alcohol aka ethanol CH3CH2OH. But since it is cheap and works a lot the same (degreasing aspects and evaporation) it is used in a lot of the same applications. Just dont drink it or you go blind.

[rdl]

What is there to "eeek!" about? Those are some of the most commonly used solvents in the world.

All solvents don't dissolve things equally. That is why it's a blend. For example, there are substances that dissolve almost instantly in acetone that toluene won't touch. That actually looks like a decent all around use blend.

I just heard about this:  http://www.amazon.com/Berkebile-Oil-B101-Instant-Cutter/dp/B000CII6JM

It's almost as if some crazy mad scientist created a cleaning compound.

Acetone
toluene
xylene
methyl alcohol (that's just alcohol right?)
ethylbenzene

All that in a spray bottle with a straw.  Eeek!

[BradC]

IPA, Acetone, Ethanol, Methanol, MEK, Toluene, Xylene, Dichloromethane, Chloroform, Nitric Acid, Phosphoric Acid, Hydrochloric acid, Sulfuric acid, Oxalic acid, PCB cleaner (Don't even know what in it but it's nasty), R134a, R22, Propane, Iso-Butane, Tri-Sodium Phosphate, Calcium Chloride, Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Chloride, Argon, Nitrogen.

I think that's about it. With that assortment there's not much inorganic stuff you can't make, fudge or clean.

Some uses :
- Toluene / Methanol / Acetone mix makes great Carby cleaner (most of what is in Nulon carby cleaner) / paint remover / super degreaser
- Nitric acid is great for cleaning glassware, removing rust and re-passivating stainless steel, cleaning aluminium prior to anodising
- Phosphoric acid is great for cleaning the milk hardware on the coffee machine. It attacks milk proteins nicely. Then again, TSP does too.
- Sulfuric acid is great for pickling copper prior to brazing/soldering and Anodizing Aluminium
- Sodium Hydroxide is great for degreasing steel, removing Anodizing on Aluminium and clearing blocked drains
- R134a or Iso-Butane make great non-flammable / flammable freezer spray respectively
- Chloroform is great for solvent welding plastic or forensically degreasing metals
- Acetone/MEK mix (Plumbers priming fluid) makes an excellent plastic cleaner/activator prior to using any adhesives. Also works as an excellent degreaser for metals prior to adhesives (or TIG welding for that matter)
- Hydrochloric acid is great for adjusting Ph in the pool (so does Sulfuric but Hydrochloric is cheaper). HCl is also good for picking steel.
- Xylene is great for re-activating dried out permanent markers
- PCB cleaner is obvious, but IPA is great for rinsing off the horrific PCB cleaner
- Oxalic acid is great for cleaning bore stains and iron bacteria out of the geothermal A/C heat exchanger and pump
- Calcium Chloride is brilliant for dehydrating moist electronics. Better than rice

Better living through chemistry.

[mcgyver2822]

I am looking for a potting compound solvent to remove a encapsulated board.  The compound is semi-clear and rubber like.  What will remove it??

[nanofrog]

I am looking for a potting compound solvent to remove a encapsulated board.  The compound is semi-clear and rubber like.  What will remove it??

Not much to go on...
Perhaps posting some photos, and telling us what you've tried already would help (hopefully will offer us some clues). 

[roffvald]

I keep deionized water for cleaning etc. IPA, for the same.. Acetone for glueing plexiglass(and to clean up superglue/epoxy spills), Methyl Alcohol, also for cleaning, WD-40 for stuff that's supposed to move but doesn't, Lithium grease spray(also for stuff that wont move) contact cleaner, and freezing spray + canned air.

[BradC]

I am looking for a potting compound solvent to remove a encapsulated board.  The compound is semi-clear and rubber like.  What will remove it??

This is a gross handwaving statement, but it's generally pretty accurate : Most compounds that will remove potting generally remove markings off components, bungs out of electrolytics and numerous other important bits.

It would help a great deal to narrow down the compound to at least a family (polyester, urethane, silicone... and so on). Cutting off a chunk and trying different solvents on it is my go-to method for polymers. There is also a flame-test whereby you burn a bit of the compound and observe colour/odour to help narrow down the family. I've never had to resort to a flame test, so I don't know anymore than I've read.

The only stuff I've de-potted over the years has been done mechanically with dental picks and tiny blades, but identifying a polymer family is essential when trying to glue or weld it.

[Cerebus]

Surprised not to see limonene mentioned in this thread. Great for removing recalcitrant sticky labels or glue left behind by them. It evaporates very slowly (flash point 48?C, boiling point 178?C) so you can leave it on to soak in, unlike acetone, MEK et.al. It's also a great degreaser and you can use it to solvent weld many plastics including acrylic and polystyrene. Also good domestically for getting bits of baked on grease out of the nooks and crannies of the stove and cooking vessels. Relatively safe compared to many other solvents, lower flammability, lower toxicity.

Also it smells great, just like oranges. Which isn't surprising as commercial D-limonene is made by steam distilling waste orange peel left over from juice extraction. Sometimes sold as 'orange oil' or 'citrus turpentine'.

[KL27x]

On my bench, I keep four things and use them roughly in this order, by volume
1. denatured alcohol    cleaning
2. mineral oil               cleaning/protecting ferrous metals and tools and protecting wood bench top, and also for sharpening/filling metals.

3. boiled linseed oil      once in a while use for protecting wood
4. acetone                   when alcohol doesn't work, I try this
I have easy access to water at my bench

Another thing I keep handy is a big jar of sawdust.

Surprised not to see limonene mentioned in this thread. Great for removing recalcitrant sticky labels or glue left behind by them.

For this kind of thing, I scrape/rip the label off if the item is scratch-resistant. Then I put it over a collection tray and sprinkle it with sawdust. Then wet with alcohol and rub this over the remaining adhesive and paper. I'm not sure of just why this works so well, but it's absolutely amazing. You'd think rubbing with a paper towel would be in the same ballpark, since it's also made of dead trees ( ), but it's totally not the same thing.  Sawdust and alcohol is also amazing for removing silicone sealant from your hands.

"You take this chemical, or that one, and bingo - you have a pcb!  Oh, and make sure you depose of the chemical in a environmentally friendly way..."

Yet they never say how. 

I etch with cupric. The main end product after evaporation is dried cupric chloride crystals. I just collect them. Copper is rather pricey scrap. If you have enough, I imagine it would be something the local dump would accept. If you have a real lot of it, I imagine it would be worth money.