Cartridge with black residue... how to clean?

Mauricio

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Feb 16, 2018
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Hey folks,

I recently purchased a Metal Slug cart that had some black residue on the case, and unfortunately some of that same residue is on the top board. The game works fine, though I think I need to clean the contacts. See the attached photo. So two questions for y'all...

I don't actually know what the residue is. It is hard to describe, but fairly stiff and moves only slightly with a fingernail. Sort of rubbery and sticky. What is a safe way to clean this? Alcohol? Goo Gone?

I bought this on eBay. The residue was somewhat obscured (barely visible) in the photos, but is completely obvious in person, especially through the translucent case. The seller did not disclose this. Should I leave neutral or negative feedback for something like this? Again the cart does work, but this seems like something you should mention in a listing.

Thanks!
 

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NeoSneth

Ned's Ninja Academy Dropout
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clean with 70% Isopropyl alcohol.
Let dry.

50% white Vinegar on extreme cases of corrosion only...
 

bigapple3am

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I would reach out to the seller with your concerns before you leave negative or neutral feedback. You might be able to get a partial refund, or come to some other agreement that makes everybody happy. I'm glad the game works, and hopefully the gunk comes right off with some alcohol!
 

GohanX

Horrible Goose
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Oh no, my arcade cartridge that set in smoky filthy arcades for decades has a blemish, I demand my money back!

Fuckin' noobs.
 

wyo

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Oh no, my arcade cartridge that set in smoky filthy arcades for decades has a blemish, I demand my money back!

Fuckin' noobs.

Did he even notice he bought Metal Slug but received Metal Slug X? :keke:

As for the dirt, quit being a faget and wash it off with some warm water and dish soap.
 

Heinz

Parteizeit
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Wow this guy would be funny if he bought from Yaton :lolz:
 

Mauricio

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Thanks to the folks who left actual helpful comments. As for the others, ask yourself if you would have liked that kind of feedback when you were new to this.

I have done some minor PCB cleaning before, but I have not seen anything like this before, and it does not look like any kind of normal wear and tear. The alcohol works somewhat, but requires a lot of force to remove... and slowly; it doesn't just wipe off.
 

Heinz

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Thanks to the folks who left actual helpful comments. As for the others, ask yourself if you would have liked that kind of feedback when you were new to this.

I have done some minor PCB cleaning before, but I have not seen anything like this before, and it does not look like any kind of normal wear and tear. The alcohol works somewhat, but requires a lot of force to remove... and slowly; it doesn't just wipe off.

Oh I guess advice on how to harden up isn't useful to your delicate disposition then. You do know what kind of place this is right?
 

theMot

Reformed collector of junk
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It's just burnt cum. You'll get over it.
 

Mauricio

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A quick update... the gunk did eventually clean off of the cartridge and PCB. It seemed to react better to water than alcohol. I didn't want to use water at first since water + electronics don't mix... but then I have also heard of folks washing PCBs in a dishwasher and baking them. Anyway, it sort of works: the audio and graphics are sometimes flaky, and shifting the cartridge affects it, so I guess the contacts need some work.

I have contacted the seller, and I'll see what he has to say. From my perspective, at first it looked I was sold a damaged cartridge, as I couldn't tell whether I was looking at corrosion, broken traces, etc. (not just dust, or some grime on the case). So I would have expected the listing to mention that.
 

c0nn0r

If I could have, My time back, I'd keep it in ma'
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When I first started grabbing MVS carts from ebay I noticed that many of them had what I thought was spilled coke on the PCBs. All the games worked, but the sticky dark sludge bothered me. Thinking it was coke, I was worried it would be corrosive. As it turns out, it was not coke, but rather left-over flux from the soldering process. eg. something natural from the factory. While it may look like ass, it is in fact, not ass. The good news is that the games work, and the MVS shell make it so I don't have to see it.

Don't worry about it.
 

Mauricio

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As it turns out, it was not coke, but rather left-over flux from the soldering process. eg. something natural from the factory. While it may look like ass, it is in fact, not ass. The good news is that the games work, and the MVS shell make it so I don't have to see it.

Interesting, and certainly better than having cola on it! The odd thing here is that the (plastic) case had some of the same stuff on it, though it looks like most of it got through the vents on to the board. The rest of the cart was fine. See the image here.
 

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Tanooki

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Looks to be the dirty bastard had roaches and perhaps got aggressive with the bug spray and it got on the cart along with the bugs and then dribbled into the shell. Best hope nothing else survived and crawled out of that skank mess.
 

Neodogg

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I can tell you what the white residue is on your mum's face...
 

Mauricio

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Looks to be the dirty bastard had roaches and perhaps got aggressive with the bug spray and it got on the cart along with the bugs and then dribbled into the shell.

Yep, that seems plausible! When I was washing it with water, it was coming off brown, not actually black like it appears dried, so that could be bug spray.

I have a pic of the cleaned result... see attached. There is still some of it under the P1 IC, but I am not going to desolder just to clean that up. One side-effect of doing this is that a few traces near the Altera IC were "stripped," i.e. they appear gold instead of green. I guess that is something you generally want to avoid doing?
 

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Neo Alec

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That's definitely not flux.

Those traces may need to be patched. Check continuity with a multimeter.

I would clean the cart edge connector with Deoxit D5.
 

Mauricio

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That's definitely not flux.

Those traces may need to be patched. Check continuity with a multimeter.

I would clean the cart edge connector with Deoxit D5.

Continuity is good and the cart runs OK... at least for now. It looks like the traces are cut (going bright to dark) but I think that is a tiny bit of the gunk on top.

Is Dexoit much better than the WD-40 Contact Cleaner? (not normal WD-40 of course, the "specialist" branded cleaner)
 

Neo Alec

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Continuity is good and the cart runs OK... at least for now. It looks like the traces are cut (going bright to dark) but I think that is a tiny bit of the gunk on top.

Is Dexoit much better than the WD-40 Contact Cleaner? (not normal WD-40 of course, the "specialist" branded cleaner)
I haven't used it, but it's probably fine.

If it's now cleaned and working, I wouldn't bother returning it.
 

Heinz

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FYI you can wash PCB's with detergent and tap water (non hard) then place them in a warmed (but off!) oven at 150C for around 2-3 hours.
 
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