Why not use a couple of screws, washers nuts and springs?

Doornkaat wrote on 2023-01-03, 23:11:

Why not use a couple of screws, washers nuts and springs?

That's actually going to be my backup plan. Although I don't have any springs, I was going to simply use machine screws and nuts, and just be careful not to over tighten them. Or if I can locate the correct size screw, I could tap the holes in the heatsink and screw directly into it. But I wanted to first see if replacement clips exist.

i've never been able to remove those oem plastic clips before without breaking them.

ziggy587 wrote on 2023-01-03, 23:25:

Doornkaat wrote on 2023-01-03, 23:11:

Why not use a couple of screws, washers nuts and springs?

That's actually going to be my backup plan. Although I don't have any springs, I was going to simply use machine screws and nuts, and just be careful not to over tighten them. Or if I can locate the correct size screw, I could tap the holes in the heatsink and screw directly into it. But I wanted to first see if replacement clips exist.

I agree that springs are optional, they help with even pressure distribution while tightening the screws.
Replacement clips probably still exist somewhere but I have never seen them sold individually. Personally I wouldn't wait for them to turn up but rather use screws. It's the better alternative imho except when assembling them in masse where time is a factor.

My local hardware store actually had a good selection of springs, some of them felt strong enough. But I didn't feel like experimenting with them. The holes in my heatsink were the perfect diameter to tap for M4 x 0.7 screws, and I figured the nice hex head on the M4 screw would look nicer, so that's what I attempted to do. But I forgot to check something...

The four holes in the PCB are not large enough for the M4 x 0.7 screw. And there are traces so close to 3 of the holes, I don't dare to try and enlarge them. I have a supply of 6-32 screws on hand, but they are also too large for the PCB holes. And annoying, the local hardware store that I went to doesn't seem to carry anything smaller than a #6. So I had to improvise and came up with with this...

14 gauge Romex, fed through the holes and then twisted to an approximate tension that felt OK. This wire will hold tight, and will never loosen, but the result doesn't look too good IMO. And more importantly than looks, the fan shroud for this particular PC no longer fits on, as it was a pretty tight fit to the CPU and the twisted wire sticks out a good amount. I'm going to leave it like this for now, with the shroud removed, but I want to try and come up with a better looking solution. I thought of zip ties, but the only ones that I have on hand that are long enough I think will be too wide for the PCB hole. And I don't think they make long and thin zip ties. I could cut away the fan shroud, as you really don't need it on the plastic side of the CPU, but I'd rather not do that. It would be nice if I could twist the wire on the heatsink side, but I don't think I can. Or I guess I can try and locate some smaller diameter machine screws and go with the original nut and bolt idea.

Just wanted to share though. Twisted Romex wire works in a pinch. I intended for this to be a temporary fix so I could test this system, but I see no reason why I couldn't leave it like this indefinitely.

The old zip-tie trick works fine for this.
Get one small enough that the head (?) fits inside the hole on the plastic cover, or a larger one if you don't care about how it looks.
Then poke it through the CPU PCB and lock it on the other side with another zip-tie head, snipp off the dangly end and it looks decent.
End result should have enough spring in it to prevent over tightening.

Oh and to remove the OEM mounting take something round that just fits into the plastic holes and press, hard.
But don't bet on the thing being reusable, it relies on hooks that you force backwards when removing.
Also when dealing with stubborn plastics (old or new) a little heat helps, hairdryer warm is safe enough to not risk anything melting.

Oh don't use wires. Buy machine screws 3.0 x 20, M3 nuts, washers size 3, springs size 3. They are really tiny and usually sold in small boxes. It works much better than original clips.

doesn't look like it will make even pressure on the die.

The Romex wire worked fine, it just looked very ugly. Again, it was only a temporary hack so I could test the CPU right away. I only had #6 machine screws on hand, which were too large, and the first local hardware store I went to didn't have anything smaller than #6 for some strange reason. When I tightened the Romex, I twisted each side little by little so the heatsink would tighten evenly against the die. It wasn't pretty, but it worked absolutely fine.

I was finally able to source some smaller size nuts and bolts locally. I ended up getting #4 screws, mostly because that's what was available. I tried to find appropriate springs, but couldn't. I would have liked to have used springs to apply the pressure, but the specific kind I need wasn't found locally. I know I can order assorted springs from places like Amazon, and on the cheap, but I really want to examine them in person. For example, if the spring is too weak then it would be pointless to use. So I ended up just using the #4 nuts and bolts, and was just careful not to over tighten them.

As a lucky coincidence, the nuts that I got fit perfectly in the slot of the heatsink. All I had to do was spin the screw to tighten the nut! The screws that I got are excessively long, but it's not matter. I did put a dab of blue thread lock on the nuts just to be sure they never loosen up. This heatsink doesn't have a fan (there's a fan shroud from the PSU in this system) so I'm not worried about vibrations loosening the nuts, but I figure they could still loosen over time anyway.

When I tightened the nuts, I did so in an X pattern. I made them really snug, where they pretty much just started to get tight, and then stopped.

Looks great!😃👍

Can't you do digging on ebay and get some springs this way?

Cheers,