Thermal paste.. Any pro tips?

[28_06_42_12]

Story time, children. I had (have?) a 60gb fat PS3. It started flashing yellow lights of doom, and thusly I haven't used it in a while. I intended to send it in with $150 for Sony to send me a refurbished one with, but since I haven't found a spare $150 lying around, I decided to spend $6 bucks on a tube of Arctic Silver.

You see, I had my PS3 set up vertically, and I suspected my shutdown was due to thermal paste failure.

I opened up the box, and lo and behold, the thermal paste was a small pile of dust near the bottom of the PS3's massive heatsink. No fancy alcohol needed to remove that.




So the point of my overly spaced thread is to ask my fellow escapists.. How do you go about applying thermal paste? I've got two areas of about 1 square inch per to cover, and they're mirror-finished flat.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

I love that you asked for 'pro tips'. I can just imagine the Thermal Paste Application Pro Circuit.


[sub]...I'd watch it...[/sub]

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

Use a Q-Tip just be sure not get any fuzzy bits on anything.

 

[WrongSprite]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+apply+thermal+paste

No offence, but seriously, that words wonders

 

[crimson5pheonix]

Story time, children. I had (have?) a 60gb fat PS3. It started flashing yellow lights of doom, and thusly I haven't used it in a while. I intended to send it in with $150 for Sony to send me a refurbished one with, but since I haven't found a spare $150 lying around, I decided to spend $6 bucks on a tube of Arctic Silver.

You see, I had my PS3 set up vertically, and I suspected my shutdown was due to thermal paste failure.

I opened up the box, and lo and behold, the thermal paste was a small pile of dust near the bottom of the PS3's massive heatsink. No fancy alcohol needed to remove that.




So the point of my overly spaced thread is to ask my fellow escapists.. How do you go about applying thermal paste? I've got two areas of about 1 square inch per to cover, and they're mirror-finished flat.

Just apply a bead sized dollop. But that's all, too much and it PB&J's out the sides.

 

[28_06_42_12]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+apply+thermal+paste

No offence, but seriously, that words wonders

I'm asking the community. I didn't come in here saying "guise this are my first build how do I applied thermal paest", I asked for individual techniques.

Carry on, colleagues. I appreciate responses.

 

[WrongSprite]

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+apply+thermal+paste

No offence, but seriously, that words wonders

I'm asking the community. I didn't come in here saying "guise this are my first build how do I applied thermal paest", I asked for individual techniques.

Carry on, colleagues. I appreciate responses.

You simply asked how to apply it, and I gave a solution. There's no need to get clever...

 

[Zacharine]

I prefer the 'twin lines' technique. About the same amount of paste as you'd put normally with a small drop, but instead spread it as two ~2/3rds long lines, with the line-to-line distance being about the same as line-to-edge distance. Gives a far more even spread than simple drop in the middle, but you can easily apply too mcuh paste by mistake.

 

[28_06_42_12]

You simply asked how to apply it, and I gave a solution. There's no need to get clever...

There was no reason to use LMGTFY either, unless you think I live in a strange land where no one knows of internet search engines.

 

[28_06_42_12]

I prefer the 'twin lines' technique. About the same amount of paste as you'd put normally with a small drop, but instead spread it as two ~2/3rds long lines, with the line-to-line distance being about the same as line-to-edge distance. Gives a far more even spread than simple drop in the middle, but you can easily apply too mcuh paste by mistake.

Do you apply the second contact straight down or do you start at an angle while doing this?

 

[Zacharine]

I prefer the 'twin lines' technique. About the same amount of paste as you'd put normally with a small drop, but instead spread it as two ~2/3rds long lines, with the line-to-line distance being about the same as line-to-edge distance. Gives a far more even spread than simple drop in the middle, but you can easily apply too mcuh paste by mistake.

Do you apply the second contact straight down or do you start at an angle while doing this?

Straight down. If there's too much paste to make a noticeable difference from air bubbles, I've messed up before even touching the radiator and I'll have to clean up and redo the paste all over again in any case. If there's proper amount of paste, the difference is almost non-existent but at least I can be sure that the contacts are at exactly the correct positions. But it's more a matter of preference, as long as you get the amount of paste right.

 

[28_06_42_12]

thing is, the supposed 'protip' method of smoothing it on with a credit card doesn't work as well as a pea size dollop right in the middle. Push straight down onto the contacct and avoid twisting it as this can open up air channels depending on the viscosity of the paste. Clean both contacts with methylated spirits and a lint free cloth prior to the procedure and let both plates dry thoroughly.

So yeah, pea size spot right in the middle and clamp the heat sink on nice and tight. I'd write more but that's literally all there is to it.

Alrighty, thanks for your input. I'll be back hopefully soon to tell you guys if my PS3 is happy again :]

 

[Formica Archonis]

So the point of my overly spaced thread is to ask my fellow escapists.. How do you go about applying thermal paste? I've got two areas of about 1 square inch per to cover, and they're mirror-finished flat.

If they're that flat, you don't need much. Remember, it's just to fill in the tiny air gaps between the two objects. (In a perfect world, the two objects would be to-the-atom perfectly flat and not need it at all. But nothing's that perfect.)

While thermal paste is better at conducting heat than air, it's WAY worse than metal. Too much of it and it'll effectively act as an insulator. So go light, spread it very thinly over whatever you're spreading it. Any clean and reasonably wide piece of plastic will work fine for that, I find, though I know people who use a razor blade, and I know one tech who uses a toy butter knife from a kids' toy cooking set! Once applied, lock your two whatsits together and let the pressure of the locking mechanism smush the paste it where it needs to go.

If you want to improve the effect, scuff the surface with sand paper.

Sand paper? That'll make everything worse. You're trying to make up for imperfections in the metal, not add more!

 

[dancinginfernal]

Eat it?

Honestly I haven't a clue. Have you tried a site where people actually know how to do this?

 

[crimson5pheonix]

So the point of my overly spaced thread is to ask my fellow escapists.. How do you go about applying thermal paste? I've got two areas of about 1 square inch per to cover, and they're mirror-finished flat.

If they're that flat, you don't need much. Remember, it's just to fill in the tiny air gaps between the two objects. (In a perfect world, the two objects would be to-the-atom perfectly flat and not need it at all. But nothing's that perfect.)

While thermal paste is better at conducting heat than air, it's WAY worse than metal. Too much of it and it'll effectively act as an insulator. So go light, spread it very thinly over whatever you're spreading it. Any clean and reasonably wide piece of plastic will work fine for that, I find, though I know people who use a razor blade, and I know one tech who uses a toy butter knife from a kids' toy cooking set! Once applied, lock your two whatsits together and let the pressure of the locking mechanism smush the paste it where it needs to go.

If you want to improve the effect, scuff the surface with sand paper.

Sand paper? That'll make everything worse. You're trying to make up for imperfections in the metal, not add more!

Yeah sorry, for some reason I was thinking of glue...

 

[Shru1kan]

If you want to improve the effect, scuff the surface with sand paper.

Sand paper? That'll make everything worse. You're trying to make up for imperfections in the metal, not add more!

But the imperfections will allow the paste to latch onto more places. we aren't talking GRAHH GRIND IT DOWN! We're talking maybe one firm swipe, and hell, maybe scratch the word firm.

 

[Zacharine]

If you want to improve the effect, scuff the surface with sand paper.

Sand paper? That'll make everything worse. You're trying to make up for imperfections in the metal, not add more!

But the imperfections will allow the paste to latch onto more places. we aren't talking GRAHH GRIND IT DOWN! We're talking maybe one firm swipe, and hell, maybe scratch the word firm.

The problem here is that the paste is inherently poorer thermal conduit than the slabs are. You will want as little paste as possible over there, ideally none at all.

 

[Formica Archonis]

Sand paper? That'll make everything worse. You're trying to make up for imperfections in the metal, not add more!

Yeah sorry, for some reason I was thinking of glue...

Oh, woodworking. Yeah, if you're gluing stuff together, you can't have two objects perfectly smooth or the glue will get forced out by the tight fit. Sandpaper works great there.