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SolidCake

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 20, 2016
109
41
I did a practice run with an old w3630 from my 2010 MP (worth about $5 on Ebay). I have to say that it came off quite easily. In the video it appears that you had to use a heck of a lot of pressure but in my case it took hardly any and it popped right off.

What do you do about the solder remaining on the CPU? Nobody seems to talk about this. I happened to have a razor window scraper that was perfect for the job and left a very smooth surface, but I wonder what others have tried.

Yeah, it was a lot of force. Some CPU's use a thermal adhesive to hold the heat shield in place, so that comes off a lot easier than the X5690's which use solder. Don't be surprised when you feel like you're applying too much force. Just keep on going, take your time and you'll be safe.

As for removing the solder on the diode: I used this video for reference:
Using a single edged razor on the lowest possible angle I started to slowly scrape away the leftover solder. I used about 2 to 3 razors per CPU to maintain a sharp edge. Lastly, I didn't bother taking off the black adhesive around the edges of the CPU's. It's quite tough and too close too to the caps for my comfort. Again, no issues so far.

Hope this helps!
 

Enricote

macrumors regular
Oct 7, 2018
129
100
Madrid, Spain
My experience with a very simple vice and the SolidCake procedure has been excellent. Easier than I thought. I simply put my processors on the heating radiator for a couple of hours (wrapped in a cotton cloth) before using the vice. I don't know if that helps or not, but I did it.

Thank you so much Solidcake. Simple things use to be the best. Your procedure is simple and cheap, so it is excellent.

Regards from Spain
 
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