Removing solder stop mask from pcbs

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Majestic12

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Messages
590
Location
Germany
I have to reverse engineer a controller pcb for one of the power analyzer tools at my work since there aren't any replacement parts available any more.
I desoldered all the components from the pcb but can't really see the traces. Does anybody know how to remove black or green solder stop masks from manufacturered pcbs to get to the clean copper traces again? Are there any chemicals that will remove this stuff ?
 
Generally you can scrape off the solder mask with a hot tinned iron tip. For very narrow traces you need to be careful not to over heat since that will weaken the board adhesion and could lift fine traces.

If you can't see the traces, maybe they aren't there. Multi-layer boards may have traces on inner layers.

JR
 
JohnRoberts said:
Generally you can scrape off the solder mask with a hot tinned iron tip. For very narrow traces you need to be careful not to over heat since that will weaken the board adhesion and could lift fine traces.

If you can't see the traces, maybe they aren't there. Multi-layer boards may have traces on inner layers.

JR

I can see that there are traces on the pcb when holding it against bright sunlight, but they are very narrow and hard to seperate from the copper fields.
I'm sure that the pcb is only double sided.
 
There are several pcb plants that have a service of making new pcb's on the basis of already existing ones. The good people that makes my PCB's can do this - and have very advanced equipment to help them: Like x-ray- and ultrasonis scanners for decoding inner layers on multilayer.

Unless your hourly cost is very low, you should consider an option like that...

Jakob E.
 
Jakob, can you send me some info on that company? When they are able to do this quick and easy, it's probably the better solution.
 
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