Two PCB cleaning machines look equivalent on a brochure and separate on your floor, because a brochure compares brands while your line compares envelopes, chemistry and utilities. Compare PCB cleaning machine specifications line by line — the same twelve datasheet fields on both sheets — before you compare anything else.
The sheet further down is read from the published datasheets of four CHUANGQI machines: the CQ-C9610 inline platform, the CQ-C743 batch washer, the CQ-C740 electric stencil cleaner and the CQ-C756 fixture and pallet washer. Every figure is a nominal datasheet value, and none of them was measured on a customer board. Each platform ships against a four-stage factory inspection that includes a spray-pressure calibration, a drying-temperature uniformity check, a 72-hour continuous run and an ionic cleanliness verification on sample boards.
Key takeaways
- Two machines can look equivalent on a brochure and still not be comparable.
- Normalize twelve datasheet fields before you compare anything else.
- The CQ-C9610 platform takes a 580 × 450 × 80 mm workpiece and runs 0–1500 mm/min.
- Filtration rating and rinse-water resistivity get read as pass marks; they are not.
- A datasheet fixes the envelope, not whether your flux comes off.
Twelve Datasheet Fields Decide Whether Two Machines Are Comparable
Scope first. This comparison covers basket and inline washers for soldered assemblies, and it quotes CHUANGQI’s own published product-page specifications as the example column. It is a method for normalizing two sheets, not a cleaning result: whether a specific board comes out clean still depends on the flux class, the component spacing and the rinse the process can hold.
Why it matters. Two quotations are often two different levels of detail. One supplier writes a chamber volume, the other writes a conveyor speed. Neither answer settles whether the machine reaches flux sitting under a low-clearance part, and a shortlist built on mismatched fields cannot be rescued later by a better price.
What to do first. Rebuild both machines on one sheet, field by field, before any visit or trial. The twelve rows below are the ones that change a buying decision rather than decorate a datasheet.
| Datasheet field | What it actually decides | Published example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Maximum workpiece envelope | The largest board, carrier or fixture the machine accepts in one pass | CQ-C9610: 580 mm × 450 mm × 80 mm |
| 2. Process stage count | Whether wash, rinse and dry happen inside the same machine | CQ-C9610 and CQ-C743 carry all three stages — wash, DI rinse, hot-air dry — in one enclosure |
| 3. Throughput basis | Whether the supplier is quoting a conveyor speed or a cycle time | CQ-C9610 conveyor: 0–1500 mm/min; CQ-C740: wash, rinse and dry at 2–8 min each |
| 4. Spray pressure at the nozzle | Whether the jet can reach under a low-clearance component | CQ-C743: 30–40 psi |
| 5. Filtration rating | What the bath is allowed to send back onto the board | CQ-C743: 0.45 µm on the chemistry recovery loop and on the DI drain |
| 6. Rinse-water resistivity | The quality of the water arriving at the rinse stage | CQ-C743 and CQ-C9610: above 15 MΩ |
| 7. Rinse-water flow rate | How fast the rinse is fed, and therefore how much of the assembly it covers | CQ-C9610: 10–16 L/min of DI water, inflow 1.0 m³/h |
| 8. Tank or basket volume and load | How much work goes in per cycle and how heavy that work may be | CQ-C740: 42 L × 2 tanks, 35 L × 2 charge; CQ-C756 basket Ø1000 mm, 100 kg load |
| 9. Drying temperature ceiling | What the dry stage can reach at the board surface | CQ-C743: up to 99 °C |
| 10. Installed power | What the electrical supply has to carry at peak | CQ-C9610: approx. 130 kW; CQ-C743: approx. 28 kW; CQ-C756: 27 kW |
| 11. Site utilities | Which air, water and exhaust services the machine assumes already exist | CQ-C743: compressed air 0.45–0.7 MPa; CQ-C740: water supply 0.2–0.3 MPa; CQ-C756: 125 mm exhaust duct |
| 12. Footprint, weight and access | Whether the machine fits the floor and can be serviced in place | CQ-C9610: L6560 × W1760 × H1660 mm, approx. 2600 kg |
Source: CHUANGQI published product-page specifications, 2026-10. All values are nominal datasheet figures; none was measured on a customer build, and the table itself carries no cleaning pass mark.
An empty row is a question, not a saving. When one supplier cannot state its rinse-water resistivity or its exhaust duct size, the honest reading is that the number has not been fixed yet — and a number that has not been fixed cannot be compared.
Two Fields Buyers Most Often Read Wrong: Filtration Rating and Rinse-Water Resistivity
Both fields look like pass marks and behave like boundary conditions. Neither one describes what leaves the board.
| Field | How it gets read | What it actually bounds |
|---|---|---|
| Filtration rating 0.45 µm on CQ-C743 | “Finer filtration means a cleaner board” | The size of particle the bath is not allowed to return to the jet. It says nothing about what the wash stage removed in the first place. |
| Rinse-water resistivity above 15 MΩ on CQ-C743 and CQ-C9610 | “Higher resistivity means a cleaner board” | The quality of the water delivered to the rinse stage. Water that arrives clean but never reaches a gap still leaves the residue in place. |
Source: CHUANGQI published product-page specifications, 2026-10.
Filtration and resistivity are decisions about what the machine is allowed to circulate. The cleaning result is decided by whether the jet reaches the soil and whether the rinse displaces it — which is why the same pair of numbers can sit on two machines that behave differently on the same board.
Where a Datasheet Comparison Stops Being Useful
Not suitable for deciding whether your own flux comes off. A field-by-field sheet settles whether two machines are comparable and whether either one swallows your envelope; it does not settle residue removal, because residue depends on the flux class, the component spacing, the reflow profile and the rinse chemistry that the supplier never sees.
Two further limits apply. The method assumes both sheets describe machines at the same level of finishing — comparing a fully specified platform against a concept quotation produces a table that flatters the wrong side. And it cannot replace a trial on your own panels: a datasheet fixes the machine envelope, not the outcome on your product.
Only a trial on your own panels settles that question, and CHUANGQI runs one at no charge with no purchase obligation: it returns a before-and-after video, a cleaning report and a machine recommendation sized to the boards actually sent. If your shortlist is between an inline platform and a batch washer, the inline versus batch comparison narrows the field-set question first, and how clean is clean enough settles what the acceptance target actually is.
Frequently asked questions
Can I compare two PCB cleaning machines from datasheets alone?
You can settle comparability, not cleaning performance. A datasheet answers whether a machine accepts your board, whether it carries wash, rinse and dry in one pass, what utilities it needs and what it draws. It does not answer whether your flux comes off, because that depends on variables the sheet never describes. Use the sheet to shortlist, then use a trial to decide.
What is the most important number on a cleaning machine datasheet?
There is no single most important number, but the workpiece envelope is the one that disqualifies fastest. If the largest board your line produces does not fit, every other field is irrelevant. Once the envelope passes, the process stage count and the throughput basis usually decide the shortlist.
Does a finer filtration rating mean a cleaner board?
No. Filtration rating bounds what the bath may return to the jet, so it protects the board from re-deposited contamination. It does not measure what the wash stage removed. A machine with coarser filtration and a properly sized jet can clean a given board better than a machine with finer filtration and a jet that never reaches the soil.
How do I compare a basket washer with an inline washer fairly?
Compare them on the same twelve fields and accept the two structural differences that no table can remove. A basket washer is quoted in litres and kilograms per cycle; an inline washer is quoted in conveyor speed and workpiece envelope. Put both of those on one sheet, then decide on the volume profile your line actually runs, not on the field each supplier prefers to publish.
Next step: send the board sizes, the flux class and the panels per shift, and we will put our inline and batch platforms on one specification sheet against your numbers — open a specification review, and we will return a quotation within 24 hours.