Soda Blasting

[BillNEWAST]

Hi, guys here is some of my experience with SODA BLASTING my minelab PCB to remove the DAMN Paint.
What I did was take my Dads OLD sand blasting unit, 40-50 yrs old???, and disconnect the hose from the 10gal Tank.
I then took a peice of 'Scrap' Chrome Plated Brass water pipe 0.5"(12.7mm) dia. x 18"(45.2mm) and ground a V into the pickup end.
this allowed me to place the end in ANY Box of Soda I wanted to.



Then I tried Baking Soda and it didn't seem to WORK Quick enough, so I took the Box of WASHING SODA and tried it and It REALLY worked FAST.
In fact it worked SO fast I had to BE VERY Careful to Not Cut to the BARE Board or Eat up the IC's or other Componets. BUT the Board is CLEAN even if I have to replace some of the componets, which is/was my original idea anyway.



In the ABOVE Pic is a box of BORAX, DO NOT US this stuff as it Builds up on any surface it us shot onto. I don't know if this was due to the box setting in the Shop for the Winter an Absorbing Moisture from the Atmosphere or it is inhereant to the Borax. I have not tried to dry the Borax out in the Kitchen Oven. I assume that a good Temp would be 130-140deg F for an hour or so.
I found out from a lady I talked to in Cash 'n Carry Store that she used Baking Soda to make her homemade SOAP, and that was the techneque she used.
I think that if you used the Washing Soda and wanted to make it less agressive, you could grind it on a steel plate with a Steel/Glass/??? Roller and it would work better. OR Just Be Carefull.

Here is what the cct brds look like when i got done.





In this pic is of the mess after I got done.



I am going to make a SodaBlasting Cabnett out of a Cardboard Box, some Duct Tape and a Peice of Clear Plastic.

Hope this starts the answer to HOW to REMOVE That MineLab PAINT.

If anyone has made a DIY/Homemade SodaBlasting Outfit Please Post their Ideas and Pics.
Please DO NOT just POST to those LA Utube videos if their not yours! WE ALL Know how to GOOGLE STUFF.

I hope to be able to see and share OP's Own Experiences and how they made their units and the Therory on such.
Sincerley
Bill Adams

[TH Jim]

Thats really cool mate!

Just shows how a little inginuity can defeat the mass of minelab coporate machine.

Good on ya!

[satdaveuk]

Best Ive seen so far well done

[BillNEWAST]

Thanks Guys, I didn't seem to get much of a response, except you two, on this thread. I guess Everybody is Afraid to mess with their $1500>>$2500>>$3500>>or $5500 machine. Don't blame them though, as this experment cost me some resisters. Been in Electronics since 1989 and didn't know how SOFT the outside coating was on the resisters. You have to be careful on the IC's also as the Blasting process will WIPE the Num#'s off the top. I would recomend using some of the plastic electrical tape to cover the Banks of the componets and then removing it and CAREFULY removing the Majority of the paint on the IC's, then Just before getting to the last of the paint on the IC's, Stopping and doing the Final removial by hand, so you don't remove the numbers. If you look close you can see some of the chips have the numbers Ground out by a dremmal tool. Try finding another chip of the same and try to combine numbers from several chips to get a full number. I have been able to do this on 95% of all the chips on board, With help from OTHERS also.
Sincerely
Bill