IIRC, the green solder mask coating is a heat-cured polyamide
epoxy that is not likely to yield to any kind of "polite" solvent.
Ther are solvents that will take it off, but they are *very* nasty
and are likely to eat into the actual PCB laminate as well!
Check out http://www.dynaloy.com for an overview of these.
Most of us rely on the good old x-acto knife as the safest and
most convenient removal method.


> >Hi!
> >
> >Does anyone know what kind of solvent would work for
> >cleaning/dissolving
> >the green conformal coating that is used to stop oxidation on most
> >commerical PCB's.
> >
> >I often need to do small repairs on PCB's.  Currently I scrape the
> >coatings
> >off which can be difficult, and dangerous (for fear of damaging the
> >board
> >too much).
> >
> >It would be great if I could use a cotton swab to clean the board in
> >the
> >vicinity of where I will be working!  I have tried MEK (Methly Ethly
> >Keton), Xylene, Ascetone, and Laquer Thinner - none of which seem to
> >affect
> >the green coating!
> >
> >Cheers, and thanks!
> >
> >Don