Top/Underneath
You can see the chunk of aluminium which sits over
the Red Pitaya processor. The black square is rubber feet. The
white square is a cpu pad. There are also 4 screws in the
packet somewhere.
Remove the heatsink
I had already removed the plastic feet from my RP. The heatsink similarly is held in place by plastic push fittings. When squeezed carefully from underneath these can be eased out... eventually. You end up with this:
Compound remnant
Remove the heatsink
I had already removed the plastic feet from my RP. The heatsink similarly is held in place by plastic push fittings. When squeezed carefully from underneath these can be eased out... eventually. You end up with this:
Compound remnant
Removing the gunk
I did not have any appropriate cleaning fluid (to hand) so I just tried carefully cleaning the cpu paste off with a cotton bud. It was quite fluid and came away easily.
All clean
Home
I did not have any appropriate cleaning fluid (to hand) so I just tried carefully cleaning the cpu paste off with a cotton bud. It was quite fluid and came away easily.
All clean
Add the pad
I checked carefully and the thermal pad had nothing to peel away. You use it as is from the packet, well I did. It stuck easily.
Heat pad
I checked carefully and the thermal pad had nothing to peel away. You use it as is from the packet, well I did. It stuck easily.
Heat pad
Then you carefully align the
two halves of the case and add the screws (which
go through the board) from underneath. BUT read
the NOTE below.
Bottom/Top
Bottom/Top
How did it work?
It looks great. I was very pleased with the printed case my friend Chris made for me. I was never happy about the need for a fan. In this the case gets warm, as the whole thing is a heatsink. It is very tough and looks nice. Is it worth £60? No I do not think it is, but then again a cooked RP is now very expensive to replace, so what can you do? It does run very warm, over 30 degrees C just now with room temp only 16 degrees C; cannot help thinking how much warmer it will be in summer - Red hot Pitaya. However there is a further issue, beyond cost and heat, I had not considered.
NOTE
Once the case is screwed together the thermal pad, presumably, squashes to make a good thermal conduction. The case gets nicely warm so it works well from that point of view, in fact on a cold day like today it is an excellent hand warmer. BUT, what if I want to change the jumpers inside? Oh dear, looks like I might need spare thermal pads; previously I just opened the case and did as I liked. Also will it require force to pull the two halves away, and will I run the risk of damaging the processor? Oops.
RP in action. Note light 'tube' and rubber feet fitted
It looks great. I was very pleased with the printed case my friend Chris made for me. I was never happy about the need for a fan. In this the case gets warm, as the whole thing is a heatsink. It is very tough and looks nice. Is it worth £60? No I do not think it is, but then again a cooked RP is now very expensive to replace, so what can you do? It does run very warm, over 30 degrees C just now with room temp only 16 degrees C; cannot help thinking how much warmer it will be in summer - Red hot Pitaya. However there is a further issue, beyond cost and heat, I had not considered.
NOTE
Once the case is screwed together the thermal pad, presumably, squashes to make a good thermal conduction. The case gets nicely warm so it works well from that point of view, in fact on a cold day like today it is an excellent hand warmer. BUT, what if I want to change the jumpers inside? Oh dear, looks like I might need spare thermal pads; previously I just opened the case and did as I liked. Also will it require force to pull the two halves away, and will I run the risk of damaging the processor? Oops.
RP in action. Note light 'tube' and rubber feet fitted