Hi,
I have some ICs in DIP housing, whose leads are oxidized / show some tarnish (see picture below)
Since this is an almost-5€-device I like to use it (and its brothers) rather than buying some SMD variant of it. But I have doubts on the reliablity of the contact when plugged into a DIP socket.
Does anybody of you have an idea on how to clean this? Most preferable not mechanically due to high risk of damaging the leads. So far I tested it with vinegar but without success.
Thanks
Stick it into a (precision) socket?
I have cleaned some years back.
I think I tried, vinegar, Aspirin, and Tarnix; cannot remember which one worked but they did get cleaned.
If yours are very bad, a fine brass wire brush or Circuit Board Fiber Glass Pen works well.
Plug IC into a prototype PCB to stabilize the pins.
Make sure you use flux when soldering the leads.
If it's a good quality socket, the wiping action of the socket will likely clean the leads enough to make a good contact. Otherwise you could try brushing them with a flux pen and then applying some heat with a soldering iron.
Need to check how this is called in my part of the world 
But, I think, in my next attempt I will try some flux and heat as proposed by @cedarlakeinstruments .
Despite, I'll use a socket anyway, which will be a quality socket in any case.
Thanks for the tipps. I let you know when I have tested the "flux cleaning method".
Pencil eraser
I have a small block of (slightly) abrasive foam\rubber in my toolbox, about the size of a large matchbox.
Ideal for polishing leads etc without grinding them.
Lasts for years.
A pencil eraser should work.
My childhood time playing with slot cars was not wasted!
Yep. We ran Gumby down the track
My go-to for use on every IC before use. Great for tinned, silver, gold plate, copper ... Not cheap, but this stuff goes a long, long way.
Caig Labs DN5S-2N Deoxit D5 Contact Cleaner and Deoxidizer Mini: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific
Tarn-X (a shallow 'pan', just enough for the leads to 'soak').
Maybe you can get that or something similar where you are.
Pink erasers have pumice (or sim.), that's why they 'work'.
But that's a 'mechanical means' - and not particularly "ESD-safe".
Thanks for all the pencil rubber / pink erasers hint. Interesting approach 
- but mechanical. Which is a little tricky on tiny leads. And probably not ESD-safe, as @runaway_pancake has argued.
With respect to Tarn-x proposed by @LarryD and @runaway_pancake (thanks for the link). I did some googeling on it and - huuu - this stuff seems as effective as noxious. I found some EU-classification on it and red flags were waving all over various categories - so, please - those of you who have it: use it with care!
For me, I can't run into the temptation as it is simply unavailable.
The cleaner recommended by @mrburnette does not seem to have the problem of being a silent killer, and is available (in Germany). But expensive. I will consider, when my flux-attempt failed (not done yet).
By the way: it seems to be the choice for cleaning contacts in electronic music equipment (amplifiers, electric guitars, etc.) This were I found it mostly beyond amazon.
Hi,
Tom.. 
↑ Really?
@dsebastian ─ What's the IC, anyway?
DIP IC leads are quite robust - as they need to be to work in a non-zif socket. Also the leads are tinned so the surface is soft and a gentle swipe is enough to remove oxides.
Most often the problem is not oxidation, but surface contamination.
Contact cleaners, also called precision cleaners, remove dust, dirt, oil, flux residue, and other contaminants from sensitive electronics and electrical components without excessive scrubbing or wiping. These fast-drying cleaners improve conductivity by removing contaminants from the energized surfaces of electronic components, devices, and equipment.
It is a bi-directional bus-buffer P82B96. I use it together with a dual high-speed CAN transceiver (e.g. TJA1448) as "range extender" for I2C-bus. Both devices convert the physical layer from asmmetric (I2C) to more robust symmetric (CAN) signal as shown below
#include <Wire.h>can be used at no need to include a µP for simple, e.g, I2C-sensors. Or Master/Slave communication between any two Arduinos (an Uno and a Nano Every in my case) (then just stay with wire.h)
So question is what I see (#1)? Oxidation? Tarnish? Dirt? What happens if the devices simply get old? Probably a combination of oxidation and tarnish...
By the way, my attempts with flux where at "medium" success. That is, they do got cleaner, but for the price of a small mess that come along when "cooking" the leads in flux with the help of a hot air soldering station...
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