Long story short, my friend spilled a can of white primer all over the top of his PC. It went down through the top vent and got all over everything. I took his GPU apart last night and found that a lot of it got under the backplate and all over the PCB.
What would be the best way to go about removing this? I got the backplate pretty clean with IPA and a good scrub, but I can’t really scrub the PCB with all the transistors and stuff. I tried using a soft toothbrush and IPA but it wasn’t really doing much.
Any advice would be welcome! I have to do this to pretty much every component in his PC…
EnviousMedia
Got the pain can? Look at what it’s made of, see if there is something that dissolves it keeping in mind to make sure it doesn’t attack the shroud material and PCB materials.
MrVigshot
If that’s primer use for plastic model purposes, alcohol should be able to eat right through it.
XB_Demon1337
Get some ISO Alcohol. That should do the trick. If it doesn’t then you can do a test with some paint thinner in a spot and see how it reacts with the card. Make sure to use a soft brush like a toothbrush.
Emotional_Ad5833
Get some isopropyl alcohol on that thang with a brush softer than a toothbrush before that stuff cures
Stennan
Iso propyl is the safest way to get it off. Worth a couple of bucks to try and save it at least.
fiercemullet
Is paint conductive?
hideallnice
ultrasonic cleaner
ForensicAstronomer
its non metallic primer, dont sweat it.
melting2221
Does it still turn on? If it does maybe there’s no need to remove it.
matthitsthetrails
Alcohol and about 4 thousand qtips later
ShiveringAsshat
Well that’s a new one to me. Normally this would depend on the type of paint/primer. However, as I state the obvious, there are delicate electronics underneath the said paint/primer.
Comprehensive_Ship42
Isopropyl alcohol
KENNYonPC
That’s the neat part!……you don’t 💀💀💀
Daiesthai
If the paints dry and the pc wasn’t on when it happened I’d hedge my bets. The card will probably still work just fine. Even just leaving it like that. At this point you will risk damaging it trying to clean the paint off.
If any paint got on the fans tho that could cause an imbalance on them.
MJBjacket
Any method used to clean it will ruin it. Buy a new mobo, skip the stress.
Esdeath79
If you try to remove it now I would say there is like a 99% chance you only make it worse. If it is non conductive check if there is a significant increase in heat, and if not just leave it like that.
Stanvln
White spirit with soft brush, synthetic/mineral thinner or acetone will melt plastics WS saturate very quickly, put your GPU vertical upon a recipient to make it leave it the more quickly possible. Use a soft brush, impregnate the paint with WS by tapping gently with your brush wait few seconds to allow it to dissolve, put WS on your brush again, apply it on the paint to make the dissolved paint fall in the container, clean your brush with paper, put new clean WS on your brush (and not your crap brush IN the clean WS), do it until it’s clean enough.
I worked at a paint store for like 8 years. Since its water based, your best bet may be to let it dry, and try to peel it off. The circuit boards likely have some residue or oil on them, which wont allow it to stick very well. In areas where its not very thick, it may be harder to get off. Its gonna take some work. If it got into any fans or other moving parts, you should probably replace those.
Alcohol will not work very well to remove this paint since its water based, not alcohol based.
GrinchForest
Carefully use swab with acetone.
Hrmerder
Would probably be best to just leave it…
FatSteamingPile
It’s probably screwed however I would soak for a couple of hours in wd40 and brush it off. Wd-40 softens paint. Want to blow off every last drop though. Could run it through an ultrasonic cleaner with distilled water afterwards and let dry for a week and hope for the best lol.
xXThe_Mask
There’s not really anything that will take that off that won’t also destroy the GPU. It’s probably toast unfortunately.
weevils_wobble
Expensive lesson
ziplock9000
If it’s dried leave it. You’ll end up pulling off the small components. On that side it should work just fine anyway.
XXIII10
Op is cooked
No_Duck108
techtimee
Try asking in a painting subreddit or chemistry
Endle55torture
How?… but you may want to use 90% rubbing alcohol or even see if denatured alcohol would be okay
30 Comments
Long story short, my friend spilled a can of white primer all over the top of his PC. It went down through the top vent and got all over everything. I took his GPU apart last night and found that a lot of it got under the backplate and all over the PCB.
What would be the best way to go about removing this? I got the backplate pretty clean with IPA and a good scrub, but I can’t really scrub the PCB with all the transistors and stuff. I tried using a soft toothbrush and IPA but it wasn’t really doing much.
Any advice would be welcome! I have to do this to pretty much every component in his PC…
Got the pain can? Look at what it’s made of, see if there is something that dissolves it keeping in mind to make sure it doesn’t attack the shroud material and PCB materials.
If that’s primer use for plastic model purposes, alcohol should be able to eat right through it.
Get some ISO Alcohol. That should do the trick. If it doesn’t then you can do a test with some paint thinner in a spot and see how it reacts with the card. Make sure to use a soft brush like a toothbrush.
Get some isopropyl alcohol on that thang with a brush softer than a toothbrush before that stuff cures
Iso propyl is the safest way to get it off. Worth a couple of bucks to try and save it at least.
Is paint conductive?
ultrasonic cleaner
its non metallic primer, dont sweat it.
Does it still turn on? If it does maybe there’s no need to remove it.
Alcohol and about 4 thousand qtips later
Well that’s a new one to me. Normally this would depend on the type of paint/primer. However, as I state the obvious, there are delicate electronics underneath the said paint/primer.
Isopropyl alcohol
That’s the neat part!……you don’t 💀💀💀
If the paints dry and the pc wasn’t on when it happened I’d hedge my bets. The card will probably still work just fine. Even just leaving it like that. At this point you will risk damaging it trying to clean the paint off.
If any paint got on the fans tho that could cause an imbalance on them.
Any method used to clean it will ruin it. Buy a new mobo, skip the stress.
If you try to remove it now I would say there is like a 99% chance you only make it worse. If it is non conductive check if there is a significant increase in heat, and if not just leave it like that.
White spirit with soft brush, synthetic/mineral thinner or acetone will melt plastics
WS saturate very quickly, put your GPU vertical upon a recipient to make it leave it the more quickly possible.
Use a soft brush, impregnate the paint with WS by tapping gently with your brush wait few seconds to allow it to dissolve, put WS on your brush again, apply it on the paint to make the dissolved paint fall in the container, clean your brush with paper, put new clean WS on your brush (and not your crap brush IN the clean WS), do it until it’s clean enough.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2acP06791I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2acP06791I)
I worked at a paint store for like 8 years. Since its water based, your best bet may be to let it dry, and try to peel it off. The circuit boards likely have some residue or oil on them, which wont allow it to stick very well. In areas where its not very thick, it may be harder to get off. Its gonna take some work. If it got into any fans or other moving parts, you should probably replace those.
Alcohol will not work very well to remove this paint since its water based, not alcohol based.
Carefully use swab with acetone.
Would probably be best to just leave it…
It’s probably screwed however I would soak for a couple of hours in wd40 and brush it off. Wd-40 softens paint. Want to blow off every last drop though. Could run it through an ultrasonic cleaner with distilled water afterwards and let dry for a week and hope for the best lol.
There’s not really anything that will take that off that won’t also destroy the GPU. It’s probably toast unfortunately.
Expensive lesson
If it’s dried leave it. You’ll end up pulling off the small components. On that side it should work just fine anyway.
Op is cooked
Try asking in a painting subreddit or chemistry
How?… but you may want to use 90% rubbing alcohol or even see if denatured alcohol would be okay