Cleaning off Thermal Paste

"jameshanley39 yahoo.co.uk" <jameshanley39 yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

> On Jul 8, 5:24 am, jinxy <willand... rogers.com> wrote:
>> On Jul 7, 10:24 pm, John Doe <j... usenetlove.invalid> wrote:
>>
>> > 32andtwentyseven <32andtwentyse... xemaps.com> wrote:
>> > > Hi
>>
>> > > I read that thermal paste should be cleaned off with some
>> > > alcohol. What alcohol should I buy and where can I get it?

>> > I would use fine or ultra fine sandpaper, lightly after cleaning.

Let me rephrase. If I were worried about the difference between 70%
isopropyl rubbing alcohol and 90% isopropyl rubbing alcohol, I would
also be considering something like ultra fine sandpaper (and then
cleaning).

> what he describes is a fanatical procedure you'll find on google,
> called lapping a heatsink. Heatsinks are not smooth to start with,
> hence the need for the small amount of paste to fill the already
> microscopically small holes - crevices/orifices!.
> But one can make them smoother. So the holes are even smaller.. . As
> this is improved , the coppor heatsink gets more and more mirror
> like. I've never seen it described as a procedure to help get the
> paste out though! that's done by IPA. I've never lapped a heatsink
> before. I get angry enough just installing it.

Using ultra fine sandpaper (like 800 grain per inch) would not make a
heatsink smoother. It would remove thermal paste because the original
IC surface would be removed.

Like most things said on USENET, that advice is not for everybody. The
original poster or whoever reads a message can decide for himself (or
herself) what to believe or not and which advice to follow or not,
depending on his abilities, needs, and circumstances.

Speaking of unorthodox, you can use ultra fine sandpaper on an IC and
then superglue a heatsink to it. Works fine in my experience (I've had
a lot of experience with superglue and IC chips).

> the advantage may be a few degrees.

The advantage of using 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol versus using 90%
isopropyl rubbing alcohol might not even be noticeable.

Good luck.







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> From: "jameshanley39 yahoo.co.uk" <jameshanley39 yahoo.co.uk>
> Newsgroups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt
> Subject: Re: Cleaning off Thermal Paste
> Date: Sun, 08 Jul 2007 15:43:26 -0700
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"John Doe" <jdoe DeleteThis @usenetlove.invalid> wrote in message
news:YVXji.20997$RX.320@newssvr11.news.prodigy.net...
> 32andtwentyseven <32andtwentyseven DeleteThis @xemaps.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>> I read that thermal paste should be cleaned off with some alcohol.
>> What alcohol should I buy and where can I get it?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>>
>
> I would use fine or ultra fine sandpaper, lightly after cleaning.

Very fine ScotchBrite is also good after cleaning.

Ed