Do Chicony PCBs have a flux problem?

REVENGE

24 Aug 2015, 09:50

I got a used KB-5181 with Cherry Blues the other day. Some of the switches seemed to be contaminated with large amounts of flux residue that required flushing using isopropanol In addition, the PCB was practically painted in leftover flux, which also spilled out onto the edges of the metal plate.

Did the factory not perform any post soldering cleanup at all? Does anyone else have this problem with their mechanical Chicony(s)?

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002
Topre Enthusiast

24 Aug 2015, 10:07

I have a Chicony with SMK (Monterey Blues) and last time I checked it was working fine. I've never cracked it open to check the solder job though but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I found it to be shonky.

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Chyros

24 Aug 2015, 10:10

I have a Chicony with very ugly soldering, with many solder spots spilling into other places and ugly resin stains everywhere. The traces work fine though, surprisingly.

REVENGE

24 Aug 2015, 12:45

I'm not really concerned with the quality of the joints, but rather I am curious if the flux overkill has seeped into any of hte various types of switches that they've used during production. These Blues certainly got a (un)healthy infusion of flux from the holes on the bottom of the housing.

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002
Topre Enthusiast

24 Aug 2015, 13:14

I'll pop mine open on the weekend and have a look :)

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Evilcamels

25 Aug 2015, 06:33

I just checked my KB-5181 with Monterey Blues (SMK) and there was only a single spot of flux on the entire PCB. Depending on what 002 finds with his board, I would guess that the poor quality control only exists on MX boards or may be related to production date.

REVENGE

25 Aug 2015, 12:34

Evilcamels wrote: I just checked my KB-5181 with Monterey Blues (SMK) and there was only a single spot of flux on the entire PCB. Depending on what 002 finds with his board, I would guess that the poor quality control only exists on MX boards or may be related to production date.
Fuck. I hope it's QC and not some unidentified substance that had gotten into the board.

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Muirium
µ

25 Aug 2015, 14:11

What's worse than unidentified substances? Identified substances. Go on, give it a sniff!

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