Respirator for heating bords

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Mcnew32

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2018
Messages
22
Hello, I have been processing for a little while now and came across a large amount of very high grade boards with a lot of ceramics on them. I bought a used propane stove to heat these boards to approximately 400 degrees. To melt the solder allowing me to take the CPUs off. I was wondering what respirator I should use to do this with so I am not breathing fumes from the boards.
 
The boards are now where near the open flame in the bottom of the over I assure you. The heat gun takes entirely too long and the CPUs are larger than average CPUs so it is not an easy process. With the oven I can heat multiple boards to a perfect temperature and extract the CPUs. They just give off a little Ordor and didn’t want to breath it. I’ll leave a picture of the boards so you can see why I chose to do this method and why the heat gun is not a perfected method.
 

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Use a wood chisel. I'm willing to do a lot of sketchy things, incinerating boards on purpose or on accident as a byproduct is not one of them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I am not incinerating boards... read the post I’m just hearing them to the melting temp of the solder. Is working just fine. I bought a fume respirator to cover me just in case the boards hardly produce any fume.
 
I used to use a heatgun but if you barely get the board too warm, it really stinks. "You don't want to breathe this in"

Now, I normally just use a hammer and 1 inch paint scraper, unless I'm going for specific pieces. Then I use pliers or a flat screwdriver.

You should search on how to make a sandbath, it goes a lot faster than scraping.

Here's some basic information about it,

You "should" be able to use your propane stove to make it aslong as the flame isn't hitting the boards,or it'll make fumes. (I'm guessing this is a small camping stove?) A hotplate might work also. Get a stainless steel cookie sheet and fill it an inch or so with sand and set it ontop.

After the sand is hot, place the board on top and the solder will heat up enough to loosen the components.

Afterwards, take the board and bang it against a bucket and the pieces should fall off into it.

Edit - added
 
snoman701 said:
Use a wood chisel. I'm willing to do a lot of sketchy things, incinerating boards on purpose or on accident as a byproduct is not one of them.


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I use a variable speed multitool (oscillating saw).

I bought a $39.99 one from Harbor Freight and it's been working like a champ. https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/oscillating-tools/variable-speed-oscillating-multi-tool-63113.html

Ditch the Harbor Freight blades, though, and buy the best blades you can afford. They're the key to making the job easier.

Used correctly, there is hardly any dust. What does show up, I use a portable Dirt Devil vac to suck it up.

James
 
Mcnew32 said:
I am not incinerating boards... read the post I’m just hearing them to the melting temp of the solder. Is working just fine. I bought a fume respirator to cover me just in case the boards hardly produce any fume.

I read the post.

When the smoke is created, it leaves soot deposits on everything. These deposits carry with it the exact same residue that you are trying to keep out of your lungs.

A wood chisel, flat scraper, or even oscillating multi tool as keeps you safe from all of this. The board are gassing off long before they smoke.
 
Yes. I have been doing this for a little while and have used the sand bath method as well as have a chisel set up as well. I bought a propane oven so now I have a mobile set up and just connect to the tank. I do this in open air and have a respirator for the fumes that do start coming off of the boards but after a little bit of testing and close watching the oven method works great and very fast too. 400 degrees takes about 10 minutes to heat the board to the right temp zero smoke and just a little bit of the smell from the off gas is created but with the proper respirator there isn’t any smell at all. But I do see what you are talking about because my cloths smell like the off gas when I do t for a little while.
 

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Mcnew32 said:
Yes. I have been doing this for a little while and have used the sand bath method as well as have a chisel set up as well. I bought a propane oven so now I have a mobile set up and just connect to the tank. I do this in open air and have a respirator for the fumes that do start coming off of the boards but after a little bit of testing and close watching the oven method works great and very fast too. 400 degrees takes about 10 minutes to heat the board to the right temp zero smoke and just a little bit of the smell from the off gas is created but with the proper respirator there isn’t any smell at all. But I do see what you are talking about because my cloths smell like the off gas when I do t for a little while.

"just a little bit of the smell from the off gas is created but with the proper respirator there isn’t any smell at all."

How can one measure how quickly you are killing yourself with poisonous out-gassing? Is a "little" bit O.K. because a "little bit" takes longer to poison? Just because the smoke hasn't shown up doesn't mean you're not in danger. Even with a respirator.

"But I do see what you are talking about because my cloths smell like the off gas when I do t for a little while."

Remember, your skin also aids in your body's respiration.

James
 
I appreciate the concern and I am not arguing the fact that it doesn’t take much to become a health problem. But I work in a refinery and deal with many different chemicals and products and assure you if skin has anything to do with absorbing these chemicals a lot of people are in big trouble. Af far as a respirator concerned it’s made for chemical fumes and acid fumes. Use it at the refinery all the time. And did I mention the stove was outside in open air.
 
Mcnew32 said:
I appreciate the concern and I am not arguing the fact that it doesn’t take much to become a health problem. But I work in a refinery and deal with many different chemicals and products and assure you if skin has anything to do with absorbing these chemicals a lot of people are in big trouble. Af far as a respirator concerned it’s made for chemical fumes and acid fumes. Use it at the refinery all the time. And did I mention the stove was outside in open air.

"So, while the skin can't breathe, it can take substances from the outside and bring them in, including a little oxygen."
https://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/information/health-factors/can-your-skin-help-you-breathe.htm

Perhaps "respiration" is incorrect. But, it does absorb.

I wear either a long-sleeved shirt or lab coat along with gloves that have long cuffs.

"To each his own."

Stay safe,
James :D
 
Yeah that would have been probably a good idea but as I said I work in an oil refinery and do fresh air work almost daily with all types of products and chemicals. As I do ware long sleeves there is very little additional protection from fumes besides supplied air masks. This was only a temporary use of this method just because the volume of the CPUs and boards. Again please do not take this as an argument or a lack of concern for my health but I did take every precaution to not breath these off gasses. (Besides where long sleeves). Again I respect this forum and the knowledge that everyone has here. There are years and years of experience on this forum and a lot still to be learned.
 
Why even ask the question if you are just going to get sensitive about the answers?

The chemicals used in pm refining aren't particularly dangerous in comparison to really dangerous chemicals...but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be approached with respect and care. When it comes to heating boards, you are mostly dealing with ingestion dangers based upon their carcinogenicity. Wearing a respirator and long sleeves and practicing basic hygiene is a good start....but a better start is avoiding the release of these chemicals from the beginning.


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To answer the original question of which respirator will filter out the fumes, none, there are none that will do what you want.

Make a fume hood if you intend to continue with your present method or make a sand bath which does not get the board hot enough to burn off what you are smelling but still hot enough to melt the solder. The added bonus of the sand bath is it's much faster at depopulating whole boards than heating over a stove or using a heat gun.

Or, get a fully self contained breathing apparatus like firemen wear, and several bottles of air as one only last for 30 mins. or so.
 
I have used a heat gun for years to take CPU's and other chips off of boards.
Using a strong fan that moves the fumes away from you while not cooling
the board you are removing chips from helps.

I normally turn the boards upside down and heat the area where the chip
is that I want to remove. The solder holding the pins that go through the
board heats up pretty quickly and sometimes gravity helps the chip to
simply fall out. Sometimes I have to turn the board over and help the chip
out with a flat head screw driver. I use a strong circular motion when I heat
the board and this helps the board from turning black and burning.

I sell the chips I remove to collectors so I am very careful about bending or breaking
off the pins and losing the capacitors on tops of the chips like your HP's have.
If you're going to refine them, then no need for the extra steps that I take
other than those that can help you from breathing in that awful smoke! 8)
 
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