Copper polish

[Mark]

No, I am not talking about lapping. I am just curious as to which brand of Copper polish O/C's use to remove the surface discoloration on Copper water blocks? I am concerned that a Copper polish may act as a barrier to effective heat transfer from the cpu core. Anyone have any thoughts on this matter?

[Super]

I'm not sure about water blocks, but I used nail polish remover to clean the copper surface of my Alpha.

[mudguts]

Heres what you do.....slather a load of ketchup on it.....yeah ketchup...Im not kidding.

[Hoot]

Ketchup Eh? I love it! :D

If you thoroughly clean and degrease your waterblock after polishing it, there should not be any residue left behind to impede the heat transfer.

Hoot

[Staz]

tooth paste

[dozier768]

man im tellin' you TACO bell hot sauce work's the best

[Mark]

Per DD tech support:

Hi Mark,



To keep your block bright and shiny all you need is a little bit of ketchup (tomato) and some fine steel wool, yes the ketchup works great. Use gloves when you do this, we have found that the single most thing that discolors the copper is the oils from your hands. As for the alcohol I’m not to familiar with that but we’ve just wiped the blocks off with some clean towels. Some people have even used some clear varithane on the tops and sides to preserve the brightness, if you do this remember do not put any bottom.

Hope this helps

[Hoot]

Do not varnish, lacquer, paint, etc., your HSF

Hoot

[Ridenow]

Ketchup contains a lot of vinegar, a weak acid, and some other "stuff" and it comes in this easy to use paste. I have heard Coke also works, but not as well. I agree that you should never clear coat a heatsink, but I think that the effects on the *top* of a waterblock would be minimal. Yes, it would decrease the heat radiated from the block, but that is very little.

[sambao21]

I think I have the discoloration on my WB from my fingers. Does it impede heat transfer or does it just look bad? Also if I use ketchup, I'm suppose to polish it with fine steel wool? Wouldn't that scratch the WB.

[Evil_Eye]

I've heard of people using toilet bowel cleaner to get out that nasty copper corrosion.

[TheMightyBuck]

yes, if you handle a block, and get oil on the heat xfer surface, it will degrage performance... maybe not noticeable, maybe so...

also, "Brass-o" works weel, and gives it a pretty shine, too.

it's a fine abrasive, i use it for lapping, as well as cleaning.

[PalominoBURN]

*SIDE NOTE*

COKE is great for getting that green build-up off your battery terminals under the hood for your car. I happen to be HUGE into cars, thought that might be interesting, however most of you probably already knew that.

KICK THE TIRES, LIGHT THE FIRES

[CrystalMethod]

I'd skip the ketchup, and just use straight vinegar. there's a lot of other stuff in ketchup that you may not want filling in hte pores of the heatsink/ waterblock.

[mbigna]

I thought that there was some sort of other acid in tomatos (not acetic acid/vinegar) that really made this work.