Themal Adhesive Mix-Up

Um... I made a woopsie.

In trying to make a thermal adhesive, i mixed a ceramic based paste and superglue. The paste seemed like it would work (I mixed it in a bowl, then quickly applied it to my video card)

After making the concoction, and pasting my heatsink to the GeForce FX 5200, I waited for it to dry and gave a little tug on the heatsink to make sure it was attatched. The heatsink fell off.
I've now got a layer of hard ceramic on my video card. Meaning i can't use it until i get it off.

So I decide, well, i need to get it off. I've tried Isopropyl Alcohol, nail polish remover and water, but none of these have worked. I'm open to suggestions.

If anyone has made this mistake before, do you know how to get the stuff off? If anyone wants to try this mix... don't try it.

(I didn't post this in the video card sections because it really applies to most anything.)

I thought the proper technique here was to put a thin layer of thremal grease on the GPU the take a razor blade and remove a very small amount at each corner. Then on the clean corners to put a drop of super glue and glue the HSF directly to the GPU.

I would sugest that you put your card in the freezer and turn the freezer to it's coldest setting. Then use a sharp razor blade to carefully chip, pry, or flake the paste off. Bee gentle and don't force it.

yeah, that is the proper way of doing it, and i've done that before, but i wanted to see if this might work better.
i'll pop it in the freezer right now.

thanks for the suggestion.

You will probally have to sand it down, A better idea would be ASIII (cheap) and some type of metalic type of epoxy.

I also would not try any hard solvents that might eat away at the board.

I thought that nail polish remover (acetone) was the recommended remover for super glue.

I use silicone rubber sealer. Sticks well, transfers heat well, but it's so soft that if you don't like it you can cut through it very easily.

Just lap your GPU and sand off the paste in the process.

Acetone will remove superglue, but not ceramics! You've basically applied a thin layer of cement to your CPU, and you'll have to physically scrape it off. I'd suggest the razor/freezer method, but *really* fine grit sandpaper should work as well. Just make sure you clean the card off *really* well, or you'll have ceramic powder all over your computer when you reinstall it and fire up the fans.

The arctic silver folks make a thermally conductive epoxy adhesive (for northbridge heatsinks and the like) -- I'd advise getting some of that rather than trying to make your own.

yeah, i've used ASIII in the past. I was just curious and made a mistake.
I've gotten most of it off the gpu and all of it off the heatsink, I'm gonna find some high grit sandpaper and lap it to remove the rest. Thanks for the help.

Mixing Superglue and thermal goop is a terrible idea. Acetone will help seperate the Glue and I suggest in the future you buy some Alumina Adhesive and don't try this mixing in the future.