screwed up repair of select key (Loctite)??

asinsh · Post by **asinsh** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:26 pm

OK, I'm a complete dolt. I took apart a nice replay remote (one of the original ones) to fix the select key and did something crushingly stupid...I carefully painted the Loctite conductive liquid all over the button contacts on the pc board itself rather than painting the rubber bottom of the buttons. Not surprisingly, the remote no longer works at all...I guess the Loctite is doing it's job perfectly in shorting all the contacts LOL.

Anyway, my question is this: is there any way for me to save the remote? For example, should I try taking a cue tip, dipping it in alcohol and trying to clean the contacts? Or is this Loctite stuff industrial grade and impossible to completely clean off?

(I wasn't sure where this post belonged on this forum...sorry if I've put it in the worng place.)

Thanks in advance...

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:42 pm

Does the Loctite container give any suggestions for cleaning up? They might even have that info on their website.

It's doubtful that alcohol will remove it, but you can try... what have you got to lose at this point? You could probably try to gently scrape it away with a really small jewelers screwdriver, but that could damge the traces on the PCB.

Good luck!

johnsfine · Post by **johnsfine** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 1:53 pm

Anyplace it is on top of traces it isn't doing any harm anyway. It's between traces where it does harm. So if you can tell where the traces were and can scratch carefully and accurately, you can fix it. Without seeing it, I have no idea how unreasonable that might be. I also have no clue what solvent might clean it nor what solvent would be save on other things on the PCB.

asinsh · Post by **asinsh** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:57 pm

Thanks, guys. I'll try scraping it off between the contacts and see what happens.

Post by **The Robman** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 3:09 pm

If you're gonna scrape it, try doing it with your finger nails rather than a screwdriver or anything like that. I've heard that the Loctite stuff can get quite brittle over time and will flake off, so it might not be that hard to scrape it off with your finger nails.

However, I would recommend that you try to find a solution that will thin it and remove it first though. White spirit, or "White Out" remover, might do the job. Just be sure to test the solution first to see if it will damage the PCB (ie, remove the green protective layer and maybe remove the traces).