Inundated with liquid damage from a local university. Size of ultrasonic for mobos?

[Dan_J]

Hey Guys, I recently expanded my marketing and i'm in the process of renovating and moving in to my first store front. I'm situated between 3 universities and my marketing has taken effect there. I get 10 or more liquid damaged units per week. I've heard a lot of positive about using an ultrasonic cleaner instead of manual methods. What size ultrasonic or what machine should i consider investing in? I know a lot of guys here are lucky enough to have one of these in their work environments and i'd like to have the same. Having never seen one in person, i'm not really sure what is required in size (how many litres) to accommodate up to a full size laptop motherboard (17 inch).

I really appreciate any input, and i'd also like to hear some stories of how an ultrasonic machine may have been worth your while, or not.

Thanks,

Dan

 

[jft135]

I consider all non-booting units with liquid damage to be data recovery jobs. There is just too much uncertainty. Now if it is just stickiness, you can do a good job with a denatured alcohol bath. Even then it is usually cheaper, easier and a better end result to just get a new keyboard and spot clean everything else. I wouldn't invest in any special equipment

 

[Larry Sabo]

I bought this unit for cleaning MBs after liquid spills and for cleaning BGA stencils and GPU/NB/SB ICs.

The price was good but it's on the small size for MBs. I've only used it a couple of times on smaller MBs and didn't have much success resurrecting the board, probably because of component damaged suffered at the time of the spill.

 

[Dan_J]

Thanks Larry, Hello from Hamilton Ontario. I know what you mean, a lot of the units that arrive here are often "we tried to power it on after and it wouldn't start." When I hear that I cringe every time as it greatly reduces the chances of a cost effective repair. I find that the MacBook systems we receive have a higher success rate. Probably due to the keyboard having a decent seal. Thanks again for your comments. In the process of opening the first store, I want to make sure that every dollar is well spent and provides the best opportunity for ROI.

Dan

 

[Larry Sabo]

Thanks Larry, Hello from Hamilton Ontario.

Hi Dan, from an old HIT grad (Electronics Engineering Technology). They were merged into Mohawk CAAT after I graduated, back in 1961, so you perhaps have never heard of them.

Apologies for chatting in your thread. Let's hear from others about their choices and uses of UCs.

 

[Dan_J]

*update*

So, I bought the machine and had some time to spend testing it on units that otherwise would have been beyond repair. I had 1 wine spilled dell, 1 martini spilled dell (ironically had one of those back cover stickers that said life is a lot more interesting with an umbrella in your drink) 2 MacBook pros with liquid damage and one HP with hot chocolate.

Both macbooks powered on after the UC, they however required the replacement of 2 minor power ic.

The wine spilled dell did indeed power on but did not stay on after cleaning, likely requires some rework/replacement. Will report on this when completed.

The Martini unit works flawlessly.

The HP works but requires additional cleaning.

Pretty impressed, if anything it saves a great deal of time doing them this way instead of manually.

 

[Altster]

I've been repairing office equipment for years and years. I started out on mechanical manual typewriters and moved all the way up to computers. Along the way I've had my share of drinks / liquids spilled in equipment.

Most times if it was a keyboard or any circuit board with some sort of sugar in it I would flush the equipment with HOT water and then set it up on its side to allow for draining to occur. After a bit of liquid run-off I'd generally blow it out with our air compressor. And on some occasions after to blow out I'd still set it on edge and leave it for a day or so.

I've used alcohol for cleaning but have never really had good results with it when cleaning and type of sticky substance.


Oh and back when I / we worked on the older electric typewriters we would "literally wash" the units with hot chemical cleaners which would then be rinsed off (sometimes with hot water) using other liquid chemicals. Then after a dip in something like mineral spirits, we'd dip 'em in some sort of very light oil and let them drain for days.

 

[garyorner]

I am posting on this instead of posting a new thread as it has to do with what I am looking at. I have been looking at the CREST machines. The 1.5 gallon machine would do most apple boards and phones and tablets. But you lose out on PC and consoles. So I was looking at some 5 gallon machines. But what over kill lol. Again everyone I know that has them swear by them.

No matter what we do we can not get under the chips with a tooth brush.

So I am looking at a budget of 1200.00 US but I may have to up that a bit. Like anything else the tools you buy should help you. So I am looking to get a good one.

If anyone has opinions please post them

 

[Krynn72]

1.5 Gallons is pretty big. We were getting away with a 3/4 gallon Sharpertek one for awhile. The bigger boards you just need to do half a time is all. We then got the 1 gallon version of the same model and it has fit every single MBP and MBA board I've had, and most pc boards. Consoles have just ridiculous boards, so you'd have to go crazy big to get one to fit the whole thing. I'd say just get the 1.5 gal and just rotate the board halfway through. It will only take an extra 4-6 minutes, so who cares? Plus then you don't need to use as much of the expensive cleaning solution every time you refill.