Household items to remove thremal paste/pads, and purrify?

E

Eshelon

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 2, 2006
Messages
100
What's good household items are good for removing thermal paste / pads and for purrifying the surface for application of some Artic Silver?
 
pickup the highest grade isopropyl alchohol you can find at your local walmart and that should do fine. (the 91% alchohol stuff, with the red label, cost you about $2)
 
Goof Off, or some other xylene based cleaner, then isopropyl alcohol. If you try to do it with just alcohol, it takes a long time to get the haze off it, but still possible.
 
Nail Polish remover works great for me and some tissues then lint free for final cleaning.
 
The best tools/products to use, by a long margin, are your thumbnail and some ordinary old methylated spirits.

'Metho' may not be as efficient at cleaning as some more specific products, but it's not far short of their capability and it's something just about everyone already has in the cupboard! To do the cleaning a 'lint free cloth' should be used, but scraps of material torn from old cotton bedsheets or the like will do just fine. The material polishes rather than abrades, and doesn't have a habit of leaving lint behind.


Clean.
Let it dry.
Clean again.
Let it dry again.

That should do the trick for you. If you don't want to use your thumbnail to clean the old crap off make sure you use a nylon scraper of some description. Don't use metal or any other dense material which will scratch the surfaces.




Edit:

Nail polish remover is NOT a good choice. Nail polish remover contains perfumes and oils which will leave residue behind! Tissues are a poor choice also, as they ldrop fibres in dramatic fashion!
 
I'm not sure if using your fingernail is such a good idea. Just because one object is less dense than another doesn't mean it can't damage it.
 
CoW]8(0) said:
Just because one object is less dense than another doesn't mean it can't damage it.
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Well you could sit there, look at it, and pray that divine intervention will occur I suppose. But I don't think it's gonna happen so I'd choose the fingernail or the nylon scraper route ;)
 
Well the problem with the fingernail is also you're trading old thermal compound for nail fibers in the microscopic valleys. This is bound to happen because as you said the base of the waterblock will be more dense than the fingernail.

All I usually do is use isopropyl alchohol with cloth or paper towel and some thorough rubbing. You can't get all of it out, but it's usually not going to effect much in terms of cooling ability either.

But if you MUST get all of it out, I would suggest getting out your lapping tools and getting to work.
 
CoW]8(0), nobody was suggesting that a fingernail/scraper/other tool is a replacement for using a cleaning solvent. It's simply something almost anybody would do to remove the excess bulk of old material before getting busy with the cleaning.
 
Stiff cardboard. Scrape off the majority, then go nuts with rubbing alcohol.
 
You can get 100% Acetone nail polish remover, I picked a bottle up from walmart a few days ago.
 
go ahead, call me nutz, but i use zippo lighter fluid. i get a cotton swab, wet the tip of it, and wipe off the hard to remove ""goooo"" with out any trouble. the fluid dries up very quickly and i have not seen any ill effects using it so far. ive even used it on my 6600gt and the yellow crap that was on the processor. g/l
 
good sugestions all around. I used a nylon kitchen utensil to do the scraping :)

Thanks for all the sugestions, now I know I'll never need that clean/purrify stuff from newegg that costs 12 bucks :)
 
dr_dirtnap said:
Goof Off, or some other xylene based cleaner, then isopropyl alcohol. If you try to do it with just alcohol, it takes a long time to get the haze off it, but still possible.
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damn i thought i was the only one who used that stuff, it works great for realy baked on thermal material but after you get off the majority i find i have to go over it aigain with rubbing alcohol and alots of q-tips since goof off still leaves stuff in the little crevices
 
IffY said:
go ahead, call me nutz, but i use zippo lighter fluid. i get a cotton swab, wet the tip of it, and wipe off the hard to remove ""goooo"" with out any trouble. the fluid dries up very quickly and i have not seen any ill effects using it so far. ive even used it on my 6600gt and the yellow crap that was on the processor. g/l
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Ha i'm not the only one that uses zippo fluid. I use alcohol after i'm done with the zippo fluid just to be safe.

I decided to remove my chipset cooler and repaste it a couple of days ago and it had that thick pink stuff on it. Tried just alcohol and it did nothing, zippo fluid made it come off in no time.
 
Mr Clean Magic Eraser - you'd be surprised just how abrasive the thing is, it really does an amazing job at getting paste out of a finely textured surface. I rip a little chunk off the corner, have it slightly damp (water), and wipe/scrub the IHS and heatsink clean. After that I just use the typical alcohol + qtip to make sure the water doesn't leave any spots, and have the surfaces completely dry.
 
I don't even bother replacing the thermal compound. It's all a marketing scam anyways. I just put the HSF back on with the old stuff on it.


Just kidding, I use rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.
 
eurin said:
I don't even bother replacing the thermal compound. It's all a marketing scam anyways. I just put the HSF back on with the old stuff on it.


Just kidding, I use rubbing alcohol and cotton balls.
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lol man you almost had me. I was like "wha... you can't be seriou... ohh funny guy!!"
 
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