[time-nuts] LCD display connector

[David Martindale]

Active Electronics is another source of 99.9% pure isopropanol, and
they have walk-in stores in a bunch of major US and Canadian cities.
I use it for most electronics cleaning, but it also cleans optics
without leaving a residue (unless there's a lot of junk on the surface
to dissolve and redistribute).  Pharmacies also sell 99% isopropanol,
but it's more expensive than buying a litre from Active.  For cleaning
optics, I often prefer a 50/50 mix of isopropanol and distilled water,
since it evaporates more slowly and sometimes there is glop that
dissolves more easily in water than isopropanol.

Where I live (British Columbia, Canada), "everclear" (high-proof
drinkable ethanol) does not seem to be available at all.  As far as I
can tell it's legal, but the government-run liquor stores don't carry
it.  To get it, I'd have to go to neighbour province Alberta, or
neighbour state Washington.  Makes no sense to me.

Worse, even *denatured* ethanol is hard to find.  It's legal, but
almost unavailable.  In the USA, "alcohol stove fuel" or "marine stove
fuel" is often ethanol denatured with methanol, but in Canada it
always seems to be pure methanol - perhaps because methanol is cheaper
here.  (Not necessarily a good deal though, since methanol gives only
~60% of the heat of combustion compared to the same volume of
ethanol).  Lee Valley sells ethanol denatured with isobutyl alcohol
for use as shellac solvent, but it's relatively expensive.  All other
shellac solvent I've found in hardware stores is methanol.

(I haven't tested them, but I wouldn't really expect stuff sold as
"stove fuel" or "shellac solvent" to be clean enough for optics).

     Dave