God I Hate Thread Locker

[Jshay]

I'm trying to replace the thermal paste for my GTX 480s right now and holy crap. I've only been able to remove 2 screws and the rest of them won't budget at all.

I was putting so much pressure on this card that if I had slipped it probably would have ruined the back of the PCB then off the card into my leg.

Anybody have any creative methods to loosen up these nuts?

 

[mrnoob123]

Anybody have any creative methods to loosen up these nuts?

lol.

But on a helpful note, I would recommend hitting the gym or buying a cheap 10$ mechanical screwdriver (Home Chepo has them for 5$ ea, I got 2 So I dont have to switch bewteen Phlips and Flathead) .

Either or.

 

[Auraka]

Heat aka pencil torch will weaken threadlocker. Apply only to the fastner

 

[Jshay]

Lol I actually went and just found a bigger screw driver. I was using the precision screw drivers for these and they're nearly impossible to move. With a bigger screw driver it was cake

 

[86 5.0L]

oh yeah I hate precision screwdrivers, hard to apply torque to them

 

[LightningCrash]

see the angle driver on the bottom

I always bust out one of those if a regular won't do

 

[jiminator]

impact screwdriver will work, not necessarily recommended though

 

[Spare-Flair]

Heat aka pencil torch will weaken threadlocker. Apply only to the fastner

Or with the GTX 480, just run it for 10 seconds.



Alternatively, pop the card in the freezer for awhile and then apply some torque and the TL may crack.

When taking tight screws out of PCBs, cover the rest of the surrounding board with protective material like electrical tape in case you do slip.

 

[fattypants]

It's just a polymer. Try acetone.

 

[DrDoU]

Lol I actually went and just found a bigger screw driver. I was using the precision screw drivers for these and they're nearly impossible to move. With a bigger screw driver it was cake

this.bigger the body(hand portion)the easier to use
actone small amount

 

[CruisD64]

did you use red threadlocker? you NEVER want to use red on any computer part. Blue is good enough.

 

[Uberbob102000]

did you use red threadlocker? you NEVER want to use red on any computer part. Blue is good enough.

This! I used red thread locker on a snowboard once. Bad plan. Unless you never want to remove it again DON'T use red.

I'm betting it was threadlocked with blue from the factory though, a GTX 285 I had was as well.

 

[CruisD64]

Anybody have any creative methods to loosen up these nuts?

You should have said "deez nutz" haha