Thermal Cement?

Customer returned a Linksys 8-port Gigabit switch which clearly had
something rattling around inside it. When I open up the unit, I
discovered a heat-sync had dislodged from the board.

Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

Any suggestions?

A_C

On 6/30/2012 8:52 AM, Agent_C wrote:
Customer returned a Linksys 8-port Gigabit switch which clearly had
something rattling around inside it. When I open up the unit, I
discovered a heat-sync had dislodged from the board.

Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

Any suggestions?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100013

Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100013

Wait.. what if I needed to detach the heatsink later? Is its effect
permanent?

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Man-wai Chang wrote:
Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100013

Wait.. what if I needed to detach the heatsink later? Is its effect
permanent?


Thermal epoxy compounds cure as hard as rock.

If you need to remove it, and attempt to pry it off, the
integrated circuit underneath would be ruined.

If you attempt to use a solvent (something known to attack
epoxy), that will also attack the IC underneath. Many IC packages
are made from epoxy or similar compounds.

You only use that compound, for things you know you will
never need to remove again.

*******

You can also get "thermal tape". We might have used something
like this, to hold on 50 gram mass heatsinks or lighter.

http://www.itapestore.com/3mthermall...0heatsink.aspx

That's probably messy to remove as well, but at least with a
remote chance of success.

Our thermal guy would use two pieces of double sided tape. One
piece fastened to the IC. One piece fastened to the heatsink.
Maybe that makes it easier to tear off later ??? Not sure.

It's likely the thermal epoxy has better thermal conductivity.
Tape products, vary by a factor of 10, and you should use as
thin a product as possible (consistent with filling the gap),
to get better conductivity. The tape is charged with ceramic
particles (boron nitride etc), which is what makes it conduct heat.

Paul

Agent_C agent-c-hates-spam nyc.rr.com wrote:

Customer returned a Linksys 8-port Gigabit switch which clearly
had something rattling around inside it. When I open up the
unit, I discovered a heat-sync had dislodged from the board.

If you are very familiar with using super glue, you can use that.
That means the pieces must be flat and lightly sanded with fine
sandpaper. Then pressed hard to dry.

Some might say otherwise, but I have been using super glue for
ages, and I have used super glue for heatsinks in my computers
that have functioned well. You can tell when the heatsink gets
very hot

If you are not skilled at using super glue, trying is probably a
bad idea.

--









Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

Any suggestions?

A_C

Paul nospam needed.com wrote:

Thermal epoxy compounds cure as hard as rock.

If you need to remove it...

You only use that compound, for things you know you will never
need to remove again.

Agreed, but what reason could anybody have for removing a
well-functioning heatsink?

--










Paul

On Jun 30, 9:52 am, Agent_C wrote:
Customer returned a Linksys 8-port Gigabit switch which clearly had
something rattling around inside it. When I open up the unit, I
discovered a heat-sync had dislodged from the board.

Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

Any suggestions?

A_C

Same thing as mechanics, you've got a few options for semi-pliable
gasket sealers or degrees of hardness to thread sealers when torquing
down a fit;- I've seen some of the auto varieties even used on
computers as snake-oil CPU heatsink compound comparatives for blind
testing purposes.

On Sat, 30 Jun 2012 09:15:48 -0500, Grinder
wrote:

On 6/30/2012 8:52 AM, Agent_C wrote:
Customer returned a Linksys 8-port Gigabit switch which clearly had
something rattling around inside it. When I open up the unit, I
discovered a heat-sync had dislodged from the board.

Problem is, it clearly wasn't connected with anything more than some
sort of thermal cement. No clip screws or anything. I'd like to repair
it, but for the life of me I can't seem to locate anything that serves
as both a thermal compound and adhesive.

Any suggestions?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835100013

I've seen that, but I was a little unsure about it, as there's a
disclaimer not to use it between a CPU and heat-sync; but I guess it
will be OK for this application.

Thanks,

A_C

On Sat, 30 Jun 2012 18:18:14 +0000 (UTC), John Doe
wrote:

If you are very familiar with using super glue, you can use that.

Would this include 'Krazy Glue' ?

A_C

"John Doe" wrote in message ...
Agent_C agent-c-hates-spam nyc.rr.com wrote:

Customer returned a Linksys 8-port Gigabit switch which clearly
had something rattling around inside it. When I open up the
unit, I discovered a heat-sync had dislodged from the board.

If you are very familiar with using super glue, you can use that.
That means the pieces must be flat and lightly sanded with fine
sandpaper. Then pressed hard to dry.

Some might say otherwise, but I have been using super glue for
ages, and I have used super glue for heatsinks in my computers
that have functioned well. You can tell when the heatsink gets
very hot

If you are not skilled at using super glue, trying is probably a
bad idea.

+1. I've used super glue a few times on chipset heatsinks. The old Dell's used to have a spring-style retainer that if
the anchors pulled free of the MB, the PC would shut down and not start until the anchor was repaired. For some reason
(maybe poor QC, I don't know), there was a rash of them having the anchors pull out. To fix the ones where the trace was
pulled free, I'd solder a jumper wire in place and super glue the heatsink onto the chip. Problem solved :-)
--
SC Tom