HELP! How do I remove epoxied ramsinks?

UberLord · Sep 6, 2002, 12:25 PM

Well, my first mod in years just went horribly wrong.

After epoxying some RAM sinks to my Parhelia, I'm obiviously fekked one of the chips up somehow. What I wanna know is how do I remove these chips and clean up what I did wrong?

Any bright ideas? Pretty please? Help the Uber?

digitalwanderer · Sep 6, 2002, 12:45 PM

Stick it in the freezer in a static-proof bag for about 45 minutes, then lay a credit card on your board to protect it and pry the ramsinks off with a butterknife/screwdriver. Naptha-based lighter fluid works best at cleaning off arctic silver.....

UberLord · Sep 6, 2002, 12:53 PM

OK ta. I'll fix it on sunday/monday and let ya'll know...... fingers and toes crossed!

Necrosis · Sep 7, 2002, 01:44 AM

Too add to DW's advice. If you want to keep it constantly cool as your trying to remove it buy a can of that "freeze it" stuff for troubleshooting. Turning your can of "canned air" upside down pretty much does the samething as well.

skastel · Sep 7, 2002, 09:22 AM

epoxy's a bitch to get rid of, you might need solvents to do the job if the freezing method don't work. A friend of mine had a northwood P4 he wanted to test but the HSF was epoxied on, nothing worked then he got some solvent at home depot for like $3 and it came off in no time, plus all the residue was gone!

UberLord · Sep 8, 2002, 01:34 PM

Well, the freezing method sort of worked

I froze my P. for an hour and then applied a screwdriver to the heat sinks.
A cracking noise was heard and I said to myself "my god - its really working!"

Imagine my dismay when both of the memory chips came off with the ram sink

Oh well - you can't make an omelate without breaking some eggs. So I've ordered a replacement.

And I've already got some more sinks cut ready for mounting on the new card

I worked out what I did wrong - so no mistakes this time

(hopefully)

Meanwhile, my trusty Kyro 2 is still working great. It actually plays Morrowind much better in large cities except for some vital flaws. Takes about 10 secs to load each region (<1 sec with the P.), no cool looking water, no FAA and no aniso. So it looks pants but I can still play games

digitalwanderer · Sep 8, 2002, 01:58 PM

You just trashed a new parhelia and you can write it off with a straight face and no cussing?!? My hat is off to you my friend, you've got a lot more reserve than I. (Must be that stiff upper-lip thing.

) I'm so sorry to hear about the loss dude, I hope none of my advice steered you astray!

JavaFox · Sep 8, 2002, 02:32 PM

BGA is a scary thing. Sorry about that, Uber.

UberLord · Sep 8, 2002, 02:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by digitalwanderer
You just trashed a new parhelia and you can write it off with a straight face and no cussing?!? My hat is off to you my friend, you've got a lot more reserve than I. (Must be that stiff upper-lip thing. ) I'm so sorry to hear about the loss dude, I hope none of my advice steered you astray!

I reserve my cussing for the flame warzone

Well, I'm not too fussed due to the following reasons

1) I learned a lot from my mistake.
Namely, don't use rubber bands for clamps as 3 sinks moved during the setting phase and covered other components causing a short
AND (and most importantly) don't use excessive ammounts of epoxy - 2 of the four sinks ended up with excess gunk spilling over and shorting the chip pins.

2) I'm getting a 100% certifiable £2,500 bonus next month

Now it's been reduced to £2,200 :/

3) It's a lesson learned. The hardway, but experience tells me that it's the only way I learn.

4) Soldering a replacement crystal to OC my old PCX2 was much easier than using epoxy.

Your advice worked Dig - I could easily remove the sink from the chip afterwards. It's just that the pins/soldering of the chips to the board also became brittle. One thing I've noticed is that all other cards I've got, very large pins run around the outer edge with few pins in the middle. The Parhelia hasn't got that - all it's memory pins are very very thin and are all directly under the chip. Which means its mounting is much weaker - thus the freezing and wedging is damn stupid. But hindsight is always 20/20

UberLord · Sep 8, 2002, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JavaFox
BGA is a scary thing. Sorry about that, Uber.

Why is BGA scary? And don't worry about it - it's 100% my fault in the first place because I did it. The fact that I had advice is irrelevant. If I advised you to jump off a cliff would you?

skastel · Sep 8, 2002, 05:07 PM

thats a shame

sorry to hear bout that loss, but next time you epoxy on the parhelia, if there is a next time, use some solvent, no $300 headaches, and no residue, no one's the wiser!

~~JAV~~ · Sep 10, 2002, 02:04 PM

DAMN! I'm sorry to hear that too!

Hindsight but, I'd never use epoxy. 1. It requires a catalyst to harden & that creates heat. No thank you. 2. Removal problems. 3. Unnecessary. Ram sinks hold fine w/thermal adhesive, IME.

I personally use a silicone based/zinc oxide heat sink compound from Radio Shack. They've had it for years, it's relatively cheap, I have no evidence it doesn't do what it is designed specifically for, I can apply a 'skin' evenly w/my finger & removal is easy: razor blade between surfaces & cut the silicone.

Better luck next time around. eh?

JAV
GBA!

bsdgeek · Sep 10, 2002, 08:30 PM

What I usually do is apply Arctic Silver3 (or whatever) then just put a drop of superglue on each corner. It's easy to remove, but it stays if you want it to. Just pop a screwdriver under each corner and it'll come right off.

~~WyreTheWolf~~ · Sep 11, 2002, 05:04 AM

Uber, what are you going to do with the trashed Matrox card? I would be interested in it. Please email me, or PM me

Sorry to hear about the loss.

K6-III · Sep 11, 2002, 01:18 PM

Even better than Superglue is Silicone Sealant....more temperature resistant and easier to remove...