severely cooked heat pad

[lotharamious]

Hey all,

I was taking apart my compy to clean it yesterday and when taking off the NB hsf of my DFI nf4 Ultra-d mobo I realized that the original heatpad was still there (I guess I failed to replace it with something better T_T). What's great is the fact that there is now a very stubborn caked residue on my NB and hsf. Rubbing alcohol doesn't work, credit card scraping doesn't work, and even taking a straight blade knife doesn't hold a candle to the awesome power of this godly compound as it just barely flakes off. Heating it does not work, even label remover doesn't work. I have no idea how to get this stuff to dissolve... and I would like to get it off in solution; brute force attacks with scraping will not be appreciated by my mobo. Any ideas?

Thanks

 

[Quiksilver]

Arcti-Clean and Heat Gun?

 

[PolymerTim]

I had the same problem recently. I was doing some maintenance on an ancient K62-450 computer I put together for someone about 9 years ago (and still running strong) and needed to remove the HSF. The original thermal pad was yellow and had become rock hard. I tried just about everything as well including scraping (did I mention hard as rock), arcticlean, rubbing alcohol, and acetone. I eventually got it off with acetone, but I probably spent more than an hour with q-tips and acetone rubbing it away. Not a fun experience. On the HSF side, it did go faster with a heat gun, but I didn't want to heat up the CPU.

 

[lotharamious]

acetone... dang. I wonder if some HCl would work. Where would I find that though? Maybe some liquid Plumr. The residue I have is also yellow and rock hard. I am glad that it does come off somehow. Any other ideas?

 

[lotharamious]

After trying some acetone-based goo gone, this stuff still will not dissolve. I'm at wits end... any more ideas?

 

[Cutthroat]

Paint thinner?
Kerosene?
Gasoline?
Freezing?

 

[Zepper]

I use lighter fluid (naphtha) but it works best while the stuff is still pliable/rubbery. But I expect it will work eventually as acetone perhaps does. Careful with any heat source around Acetone and lighter fluid... Acids and bases are to be avoided. Perhaps some of that spray-freeze stuff would work as it might get brittle enough to lose adhesion like bubble gum does.

.bh.

 

[Nocturnal036]

Well, if you wanted to try and use hydrochloric acid its one of the main ingredients in "The Works" toilet bowl cleaner. I don't know what the other additives in the product will due to the residue or your cpu but I know that the main ingredient in "The Works" is usually 15-20% HCl.

 

[Zepper]

Acids and bases generally have little effect on synthetic polymers plus they can damage your equipment if it gets into the wrong places. The hydrocarbon based solvents are generally the best bet while being fairly safe for the equipment.

.bh.

 

[rgallant]

Originally posted by: lotharamious
After trying some acetone-based goo gone, this stuff still will not dissolve. I'm at wits end... any more ideas?

-when I received the striker, I removed the nb-sb heat sink to replace the tm, I used a item that someone suggested to use in another forum , and that was flat toothpicks, it worked for me ,if you put too much pressure , the pick breaks and wood won't scratch the chips . give that a try.
-even new and unheated the stuff still needed to be chipped off. it's like a carbon pad with tm top and bottom.

 

[PolymerTim]

Yeah, I tried toothpicks and other stiff-but-soft materials. It can help, but you still need a little solvent to soften the pad in the first place. As is, it is pretty hard, and mine wouldn't budge without something to help soften it.

A note on acids and bases from a chemist (me):

Acids don't usually have a large effect on plastic, but they will rust your metal. Even stainless steel and aluminum won't stand up to HCl or other acids very long. I would avoid this. Acids are really most effective on minerals and other inorganics (which is why they are in the toilet bol cleaner).

Bases can actually be pretty good at softening and loosening many plastics, but not all. It really just depends on what the plastic is made of chemically. The other good point about bases is that they are pretty safe for metals. But lets just say if a drop gets on anything plastic (like mobo or chip pcb) the results may not be pretty.

I'm not really sure what you could try next, but maybe find a solvent that doesn't evaporate too fast and see if you can get it to soak in a little and soften it up. Good luck, and let us know if you get it free.

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: PolymerTim
I'm not really sure what you could try next, but maybe find a solvent that doesn't evaporate too fast and see if you can get it to soak in a little and soften it up. Good luck, and let us know if you get it free.

Mix a drop of paint thinner w/ a little peanut butter, keep it a paste, cover w saran wrap of wax paper and let it sit.

thank your mom, grand-mom they were chemists long before you were born!

 

[PolymerTim]

Originally posted by: WoodButcher

Originally posted by: PolymerTim
I'm not really sure what you could try next, but maybe find a solvent that doesn't evaporate too fast and see if you can get it to soak in a little and soften it up. Good luck, and let us know if you get it free.

Mix a drop of paint thinner w/ a little peanut butter, keep it a paste, cover w saran wrap of wax paper and let it sit.

thank your mom, grand-mom they were chemists long before you were born!

Now that's ingenious! And it may involve physical chemistry, but I say that's an engineer's mind at work.

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: PolymerTim

Originally posted by: WoodButcher

Originally posted by: PolymerTim
I'm not really sure what you could try next, but maybe find a solvent that doesn't evaporate too fast and see if you can get it to soak in a little and soften it up. Good luck, and let us know if you get it free.

Mix a drop of paint thinner w/ a little peanut butter, keep it a paste, cover w saran wrap of wax paper and let it sit.

thank your mom, grand-mom they were chemists long before you were born!

Now that's ingenious! And it may involve physical chemistry, but I say that's an engineer's mind at work.

Who told you my mom worked for the railroad?!:laugh:

 

[VirtualLarry]

You all are scaring me. Should I replace my thermal pads underneath my NB and SB heatsinks with AS5, BEFORE all of this stuff sets in?

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Acids and bases generally have little effect on synthetic polymers plus they can damage your equipment if it gets into the wrong places. The hydrocarbon based solvents are generally the best bet while being fairly safe for the equipment.

.bh.

english zepper! Your sounding like doc brown in back to the future!

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
You all are scaring me. Should I replace my thermal pads underneath my NB and SB heatsinks with AS5, BEFORE all of this stuff sets in?

LOL yea i would be scared too if i got a pm like that from zepper.

to make it short, yes. Once it sets in, its PITA and no im not kidding, to get off.

However i stress, Leave the mosfet pads alone. Sometimes there used to make good contact with all the mosfets. Having a bad or untouched mosfet will hinder your overclocking serverly and also degrade your board at a faster rate.