My neighbor swore I should use canned air upside down on circuit boards

Last month my neighbor, who fixes old radios, told me to spray canned air upside down to freeze bad solder joints. I laughed and told him that's just going to spray liquid everywhere. Tried it on a cracked joint in my own stereo and it actually made the connection pop right out so I could see the problem. Has anyone else been given advice that sounded totally backwards but actually worked out?

2 comments

2 Comments

riley_price21d ago

Hang on, I gotta push back on this a little. Freezing a solder joint to pop it out is a neat party trick, but it's not something you should rely on for serious repairs. That sudden temperature change can shock other components nearby and cause tiny cracks you can't even see. Plus if you're not careful with that liquid spray you can accidentally bridge connections or leave moisture behind that'll cause corrosion later. I'm not saying the guy's advice is worthless, but for mission critical stuff like a car computer or your main stereo, I'd still pull out a proper desoldering tool. Sometimes a quick fix just creates a bigger problem down the road.

wright.taylor21d agoTop Commenter

Buddy of mine tried this on an old radio, cracked the board clean in half.