PC Peripherals So...how to clean copper heatsinks and heatpipes and make it shiny?

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The Sorcerer

The Sorcerer

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Galvanizer
I was googling about it and according to what I found in other forums, tomato ketchup or vinegar with salt or isopropyl alcohol (with one heck of a shining)is the beast cleaner and brings back the shine back. This is for thermaltake big typhoon. So I wanted to know what some of you guys clean copper heatsinks and bring the shine back.
 
Apply a layer of some thermal goop on the base and scrub it in and then pat a matte layer- I use Ceramique.
Leave it alone for sometime.
Then scrub with a cotton swab/boll or soft tissue paper.
Gets rid of any oxidation- shiny enough for reuse. :P

I leave the pipes alone as they oxidise faster after you clean them.
Rubbing/polishing them the first time gets rid of the light protective coat they have. :(
And whatever light oxidation they develop prevents/minimises further oxidation. :P
 
Brasso leaves deposits.

Acid may pit the surface if not used carefully. It works great for cooking vessels, but you're not gonna boil an egg on the heatsink for some time yet.

And Thermal compound may fill in some minute gaps, and if you use a different paste the next time around, may cause issues. Besided, it works better for Al sinks than Cu, specially the regular white goop, it's a little more abrasive.

1500grit paper, some iso alcohol, followed by an Acetone rub, for the closest to virgin finish. If the oxidisation isn't too bad (it's mostly over-rated) a plain acetone rub does fine.
 
nice... great info there .. ty :) .. i am thinking of doing the same thing for my HPC reaper rams which have copper heatsinks on top .. they have lost the shine and look just plain brown color now.. side-effects of staying cms' away from the beach :|
 
BackToExistence said:
nice... great info there .. ty :) .. i am thinking of doing the same thing for my HPC reaper rams which have copper heatsinks on top .. they have lost the shine and look just plain brown color now.. side-effects of staying cms' away from the beach :|
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I hope you are not serious- else bye bye RAMs. :bleh:

And anyways that dull brown layer will prevent further oxidation.
Shine them now and see them go dark brown/black/greenish black sooner than they went plain brown now. :P
 
brasso should be good enough for RAMs. it leaves some kind of oily deposit, which actually prevents further oxidation :P

dont want residue? clean with acetone/IPA after you're done. use gloves, fingerprints on copper look nasty :(
 
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As ad1tya recommended, I used lime extracts. Given awesome results

Went back to its standard colour after 2 days but oxidation wasnt present at all. Rubbed the copper base with cotton+isopropyl alcohol before mounting and lot of dirt came out. Kept on rubbing it was clean.

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thanx guys appreciate the advise.
 
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