# What the devil is this stuff?



## Illum (Jan 29, 2007)

On the flip side of used heatsinks....theres this stuff on the aluminum surface...sometimes black colored, some times pink colored, about 1 sq inch.

I think its thermal adhesive from chips they are mounted to previously.

If I wanted to attach luxeons onto these CPU grade heatsinks via artic alumina thermal epoxy, do I need to remove this stuff...and if so, what solvent can clean it off?

thanks in advance


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## Sable (Jan 30, 2007)

Sounds like the cheap "thermal pads" that come on or with fairly low-grade computers or heat sinks. They're not really that great for heat transfer or reusability.


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## Mirage_Man (Jan 30, 2007)

Illum_the_nation said:


> On the flip side of used heatsinks....theres this stuff on the aluminum surface...sometimes black colored, some times pink colored, about 1 sq inch.
> 
> I think its thermal adhesive from chips they are mounted to previously.
> 
> ...



Yes get it off. It should come off with isoprohyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol).


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## Illum (Jan 30, 2007)

Sable said:


> Sounds like the cheap "thermal pads" that come on or with fairly low-grade computers or heat sinks. They're not really that great for heat transfer or reusability.



well...im pretty sure even at low grade heatsinks goes...it was made for a Pentium III and has a small fan...I plan to mount 4 Luxeon Is on separate heatsinks and run them with a 12V gel cell and a bucktoot driver...im pretty sure the heatsinks is adequate for luxeon Is...


Thanks
I tried scraping a bit off, it wasnt hard to remove it, but...the aluminum is relatively easy to scratch


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## Mirage_Man (Jan 30, 2007)

Illum_the_nation said:


> well...im pretty sure even at low grade heatsinks goes...it was made for a Pentium III and has a small fan...I plan to mount 4 Luxeon Is on separate heatsinks and run them with a 12V gel cell and a bucktoot driver...im pretty sure the heatsinks is adequate for luxeon Is...
> 
> 
> Thanks
> I tried scraping a bit off, it wasnt hard to remove it, but...the aluminum is relatively easy to scratch



Alcohol and a Q-tips always works for me.


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## 65535 (Jan 30, 2007)

Actually a 600 grit surface is pretty good for thermal conductivity maximizes thermal surface area.


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## IsaacHayes (Jan 30, 2007)

Sometimes you need to use Acetone to get the stubborn stuff off.

Sometimes it's a wax pad too. Those suck as they melt into the pores of the aluminum.


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## 65535 (Jan 30, 2007)

Thats true I would always stay away from heat and unknown substances.


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## Illum (Jan 30, 2007)

well...I can always take a propane torch and see if that'll melt it....

[only kidding]

the alcohol works well, thanks :thumbsup:


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## BionicSniper (Jan 30, 2007)

I build high end computers for people.

The pink stuff is the generic TIM (thermal Interface material) 

What i use on ALL of my builds is articsilver 5 or articsilver ceramic http://www.articsilver.com/
They also make the thermal epoxy that most people here use.

I use 99% isoproply alcohol


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## IsaacHayes (Jan 31, 2007)

The pink thing is thermal pad, sorta like cloth, and then it's covered with white thermal grease front and back. Usually it's to electrically isolate parts that need to be heatsinked on a common heatsink, such as an ampifier. On CPU heatsinks, I guess its easier to attach the pad, instead of grease, so when a user gets it, he can just put it on ready to go.


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## Illum (Jun 4, 2007)

some came off fairly quickly but a few are very stubborn....especially the previously mentioned wax pad

I've managed to heat one using a propane torch till the heatsinks slightly toasty, pull out my old squirt gun and target the edges of the pad...apparently quite a few will curl up or simply fall off the heatsink:twothumbs


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## bfg9000 (Jun 5, 2007)

Any serious geek will already have the proper ArctiClean on hand.


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## nein166 (Jun 5, 2007)

Illum_the_nation said:


> ...I plan to mount 4 Luxeon Is on separate heatsinks and run them with a 12V gel cell and a bucktoot driver...im pretty sure the heatsinks is adequate for luxeon Is...


 
I run a Lux III on a 1 1/4 Cubic Inch Heatsink I took off a northbridge (motherboard part).
Its for my little fish tank, it runs all day and is only luke warm.
The reflector is from a blown SF Lamp assembly X80 and uses a Q3 Driver board off a 3vDC wall tramsformer


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## bfg9000 (Jun 5, 2007)

I also have a little 4-gallon hex tank but it uses 23w of CFL spotlight directly on the top glass. It's the most light I could use without cooking the occupants, and plants keep growing out of the water (keeping it free of nitrogenous waste).

At such low power levels, HID bulbs do not last long and an array of 10 Crees could possibly work.


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## nein166 (Jun 5, 2007)

bfg9000 said:


> I also have a little 4-gallon hex tank but it uses 23w of CFL spotlight directly on the top glass. It's the most light I could use without cooking the occupants, and plants keep growing out of the water (keeping it free of nitrogenous waste).
> 
> At such low power levels, HID bulbs do not last long and an array of 10 Crees could possibly work.


 
Wow your using a 5~6" spotlight nice idea. Do you hang it like an asian paper globe light or off a light stand?

Check out http://www.solarisled.com/ for LED tank lighting


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## Illum (Jun 5, 2007)

I passed up the idea of running 4 luxeon Is...but instead made a few luxeon powered USB goose neck light:naughty:

I kept a K2 version, rest were given to my neighbor who gave me heatsinks from old computers he apparently salvaged and a friend who gave me the idea

the K2 I kept didn't have a star, so it looked much better on a colored heatsink...but the jelly dome of the K2s quite fragile and I have yet to see what I can add to it so I can pack it in my overstuffed notebook case without destroying it.


 




 



its currently running off an Iomega wall [email protected] 1 amp output...but for conservative power consumption when I'm mobile, the LEDs only drawing around 250ma


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## bfg9000 (Jun 5, 2007)

I recall 486 chips started to come with passive heatsinks at around 5 watts. Those were about the size of small northbridge sinks so if you are happy with 60°C then 5w is OK when using such tiny heatsinks.

Considering the recent Pentium 4D Smithfield was specified at 130w, there are a lot of used computer heatsinks around today that would work well with such low heat LEDs, even when passively cooled. Remember even a plain old star can work well enough up to around 1.5w.

nein166, the spot bulb actually has a flat bottom and sits directly on the 1/8" thick cover glass. While the glass does get too hot to touch in the center, it has worked fine for over ten years.

The LED tank lighting page you link to claims that 50 Luxeons can produce as much usable light _for corals_ as a 250w MH. Thing is, plants are a lot less picky about spectrum and can use a far wider range, so 50 Luxeons would probably be no better than a few cheap 40w fluorescents while generating more heat.

Also one of the reasons people find reef tanks so dazzlingly attractive is the "sparkling" effect from the ripple reflections at the surface, that are only possible with a point source like HID. You should see a little of this effect with one LED but obviously not so much with 50 or with fluorescent.


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## G1K (Jun 5, 2007)

If I had to guess, it's fujipoly. Neat stuff...


R


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## nein166 (Jun 7, 2007)

I saw one of those LED lights over a coral tank over the weekend and it mixed cool white and royal blue leds and 4 green ones and those coral glowed as well as the arc tube lit tanks.
I've gone and steered this thread off course, :shakehead my bad.
At least the original purpose was achieved.


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