How to clean PIN?

Seems like some PINs got dusty or some other kind of particles. Dont like to see it on data PIN (not power).

Im not sure what to use for. Some people said alcohol but i find it pretty agressive in term its no oil or other heavy dirt/chemicals (such as thermal paste). Think it could even destroy the thin gold layer or cause corrosion. I think i simply may use a clean cotton stick (used in cosmetics) and will make it wet with a bit of distilled water. Guess that works fine, but could it cause corrosion or other issue? I try to remove the water as fast as possible, its just some wet cotton. Guess it just takes a min or so for the water to be gone into the air. Alc would be faster but its pretty agressive and usualy only used for heavy dirt. Im not even sure where to get clean Alc, is that even possible? Must be rare stuff. Conductivity of alc is still possible unless 100% alc (i dont know where to get, im not a junky nor a paramedic). Dist water is few conductivity but close to none in a thin layer. Ah anyway... dunno what to take.

Mineral Oil?

nope, use a good rubbing alcohol pad or close to as pure rubbing alcohol as you can find (90% will be fine)on a lint free cloth to clean any electrical connections weather they be industrial gold,lead,tin,copper,silver in some cases aluminum.

i went to school for electronics and manufactured prototype boards for years
common practice for cleaning connections is a pink eraser for heavy cleaning followed by rubbing alcohol to clean the contamination,we even use heavier abrasive pens on the industrial gold if it dont look shinny enough for our customers,the gold plating is heaver then you might think and alcohol wont take any off so dont worry about that=)

Alcohol is not agressive enough to damage a metal surface like that. Folks have been using alcohol to clean electronics for a LONG time. Me? Since 1977. Trained electrinic tech.

Get 90%, not some baby smelling additive one.

I would be tempted to use an electrical parts cleaner in aerosol form. Usually comes with a very small straw where you can pinpoint the flow and I believe its acetone based so it evaporates fully/quickly and leaves no residue.

Yea, pole, it's good. Ever seen acetone eat a circuit board protective varnish? I have.

Acetone is also a cancer causing chemical. Can you even buy cans like that any more? Point me to a few please.

Stoopid Internets..... double post.

Yeah you can buy acetone still, it is generally in the paint remover section at the hardware store. I used it when I was doing dice cooling.

Conumdrum said:

Yea, pole, it's good. Ever seen acetone eat a circuit board protective varnish? I have.

Acetone is also a cancer causing chemical. Can you even buy cans like that any more? Point me to a few please.

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Perhaps it is not acetone, but this is what I'm talking about.
Been using it even longer.

So, Alc 90+ only valid cleaning substance? Its no heavy dirt at all, just something like dust.

Conumdrum said:

Alcohol is not agressive enough to damage a metal surface like that.

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But even our fingers can be agressive enough to damage a metal surface, because fingers got a weak salt acid and thats enough to cause corrosion on many surfaces... especially steel or iron.

Gold is still safe because highly resistant to acid and solvent (alc is a kind of solvent) but the layer might be very thin (i dont know, i lack information) and as soon as the layer is removed, its the same rule like iron or steel.

alcohol will be fine trust us the gold they use on pcb finders is (Ni/Au) 5-12 micron thickness hard gold and you could probably leave a droplet of rubbing alcohol on it for over a year will little to no effect on the plating.

Only 1/100 to 1/200 mm? Could probably rub it away with my fingernails.

Whats below the gold layer and would it be damaging to use water?

usually nickle plating under the gold i wouldn't use water as it could leave residue and oxidation and possible pit the gold(tho not likely if properly dried)

Pit the gold? Thats impossible, both metals are non corrosive through water (can be washed out from the river in extemely thin flakes, even down to 1 micron) unless acid or strong solvent used. Nickel and gold can even whitestand weak acid, else our coins would be destroyed already. Some got gold inside theyr mouth... and it will last theyr entire life... full of water and acid.

But if iron, steel or copper is below the surface, its weak to everything but steel/iron is not good for electronics anyway (simply cheap) and copper is usualy protected by a zinc coating or other anti corrosive coatings.

i think your confused about the "gold" they use on circuit boards not even close to the same gold that is used in a mouth,jewelry or just about any other product.granted oxidation is especially retarded on industrial gold, it is still possible not saying likely if your properly drying it but its not usually a good i dea to use water on electronics in general.
oxidation and pitting can happen to just about any soft metal and considering the thickness of the gold is less then half the thickness of a hair i would just use the 1 cents worth or rubbing alcohol and pass on the water. here is a pic of what industrial gold looks like when it starts to pit.
ether way just clean the thing already its not rocket science

I see, its cheap junk they use. Not real gold.

The whole purpose of using gold is to prevent oxidation, but in that term its not fully able to protect against because just way to cheap, to less thickness and to bad quality.
I already had in mind why i see some sort of "scratching" and lack of "industry-gold" layer on some pins, exactly at the point where the PINs had contact with the cable. So, even about 10 insertion is enough to wipe away that layer.. thats how i feelt by looking at.

But do the maths, how much of additional cost would it be to use a 18K layer combined with silver and 0.5 mm thick at the PIN only? Just wonder if its truly worth it to save up by using industry gold.

oxidation and pitting can happen to just about any soft metal

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It can not happen to 18K gold, never heard of. I can smash it into thin flakes and leave it inside water for a year... nothing happens. Well, gold isnt a useless metal its just to expensive. However, its sensitive to mechanical pitting, however i got no clue what it got to do with water, it does not cause mechanical pitting.

Guess the stuff you mean is "industry trash compound".

i wouldn't say its cheep junk its formulated for the specific use its intended for,
if it was 24 carrot gold it would be so soft it would rub off the first time it was rubbed on from another component.
but yes its much less valuable then regular gold and you couldn't just melt it off and sell it to some gold vender.

But rubbing is generaly inferior technics for connection. It would be better to use some sort of pushing (pincer) mechanism in order to attach a cable. Kinda comparable to the CPU PIN but much larger and without agressive spikes.

Good example is expensive audio copper cables for the boxes (that connection can not be done in a digital way, so its sensitive to quality issues, and there can be insane power pumped through that cable ). Theyr are attached by using a pincer mechanism, not by "rubbing a cable inside", because it does provide more sensitive frequency transfer they say. The pincer can be made of 24k soft gold and cable by 100% copper, no problem dealing with in such a mechanism.

Fact is when i attach a HDD about 5-10 times, i already see black leftovers from that action, and some kind of dust... its not good for connection. The cables themself dont use the whole surface from the PIN, making it sensitive to bad connection.

But on a audio copper cable and pincher, there is not truly any leftovers, not even after 20 removals. The stuff is so soft than it can basically attach smoothly to the whole surface offered.



Anyway, i may use some clean alc because apparently there is the risk of corrosion by doing it in any other way.

So, Ivy, you decide what to use yet or are you still deciding?

Ivy said:

I see, its cheap junk they use. Not real gold.

The whole purpose of using gold is to prevent oxidation, but in that term its not fully able to protect against because just way to cheap, to less thickness and to bad quality.
I already had in mind why i see some sort of "scratching" and lack of "industry-gold" layer on some pins, exactly at the point where the PINs had contact with the cable. So, even about 10 insertion is enough to wipe away that layer.. thats how i feelt by looking at.

But do the maths, how much of additional cost would it be to use a 18K layer combined with silver and 0.5 mm thick at the PIN only? Just wonder if its truly worth it to save up by using industry gold.





It can not happen to 18K gold, never heard of. I can smash it into thin flakes and leave it inside water for a year... nothing happens. Well, gold isnt a useless metal its just to expensive. However, its sensitive to mechanical pitting, however i got no clue what it got to do with water, it does not cause mechanical pitting.

Guess the stuff you mean is "industry trash compound".

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you have never seen 18K gold tarnish? that's a form of oxidation.

here a bit more official guide to cleaning contacts applies to gold,copper,nickle ect.