Annoying Antistatic foam on CPU pins

Don't know if I'm totally off base here, but I was just installing a
new processor, and I noticed the pin array on the back of the cpu was
contaminated with bits of the black anti static foam they ship the
processors in. A rather remarkable amount too. This was an OEM AMD64.

I'd hope the stuff was harmless, but with murphy's law firmly in mind
and being an afflicted virgo, I spent a bit of time at an antistatic
workstation trying to clean the stuff off.

Blowing didn't work, and the stuff is jammed in between a very closely
packed pin array. Fishing around with the smallest pin I had didn't
do much as the foam seems to have remarkable adhesive properties.

Just in case anyone else is as anal as I was over this, I found a way
to get the stuff off.

I took a three inch section of 14 gauge stranded copper wire off an
old power cord I had lying around. I stripped off about a quarter or
half inch of the insulation on one end and an inch on the other.

I hooked a test lead from the longer end to my grounded workstation.

I then used the short section of bare stranded wire as a grounded wire
brush and worked over the pin array cleaning off the black foam
debris.

Worked pretty well, although there were about three spots that took
repeated brushing attempts to completely do the job.

You could just have immersed it in a solvent like cellulose-thinners,
without harm.
A bit of rinsing and it would have disappeared.
No need for wire-brushes or the like.


wrote in message
...

Don't know if I'm totally off base here, but I was just installing a
new processor, and I noticed the pin array on the back of the cpu was
contaminated with bits of the black anti static foam they ship the
processors in. A rather remarkable amount too. This was an OEM AMD64.

I'd hope the stuff was harmless, but with murphy's law firmly in mind
and being an afflicted virgo, I spent a bit of time at an antistatic
workstation trying to clean the stuff off.

Blowing didn't work, and the stuff is jammed in between a very closely
packed pin array. Fishing around with the smallest pin I had didn't
do much as the foam seems to have remarkable adhesive properties.

Just in case anyone else is as anal as I was over this, I found a way
to get the stuff off.

I took a three inch section of 14 gauge stranded copper wire off an
old power cord I had lying around. I stripped off about a quarter or
half inch of the insulation on one end and an inch on the other.

I hooked a test lead from the longer end to my grounded workstation.

I then used the short section of bare stranded wire as a grounded wire
brush and worked over the pin array cleaning off the black foam
debris.

Worked pretty well, although there were about three spots that took
repeated brushing attempts to completely do the job.

On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:47:51 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:

You could just have immersed it in a solvent like cellulose-thinners,
without harm.
A bit of rinsing and it would have disappeared.
No need for wire-brushes or the like.


LOL. Ok, never heard of it; what is it, and where do you find it ?

Auto shops.


wrote in message
...
On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:47:51 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:

You could just have immersed it in a solvent like cellulose-thinners,
without harm.
A bit of rinsing and it would have disappeared.
No need for wire-brushes or the like.


LOL. Ok, never heard of it; what is it, and where do you find it ?

Auto shops ? What do they call the stuff ? Brand and name.

What do mechanics use it for ?


On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:43:29 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:

Auto shops.


wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:47:51 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:

You could just have immersed it in a solvent like cellulose-thinners,
without harm.
A bit of rinsing and it would have disappeared.
No need for wire-brushes or the like.


LOL. Ok, never heard of it; what is it, and where do you find it ?

wrote in message
...

Auto shops ? What do they call the stuff ? Brand and name.

What do mechanics use it for ?


Paint solvent.




On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 08:43:29 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:

Auto shops.


wrote in message
.. .
On Tue, 20 Apr 2004 13:47:51 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:

You could just have immersed it in a solvent like cellulose-thinners,
without harm.
A bit of rinsing and it would have disappeared.
No need for wire-brushes or the like.


LOL. Ok, never heard of it; what is it, and where do you find it ?

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 13:33:39 +0000 (UTC), "Scumball"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .

Auto shops ? What do they call the stuff ? Brand and name.

What do mechanics use it for ?


Paint solvent.



LOL. "cellulose-thinners" are paint thinner ?

I think I'll stick to the bit of wire. Lot cleaner and easier.

Doesn't smell either.