Heat sink clamps

[FrostyMaGee]

As I was working on a repair Xbox for someone and noticed the two thrashed and broken heat sink clamps (not sure exactly what they did to them but clearly they didn’t quite grasp how they came off lol) I pondered this question. Has anyone ever tried to make replacement clamps to match or improve on the originals? I always just use others from parts Xboxes but I’m curious to know. I would assume they have to be injection molded or something of that nature. It seems like a 3D printed part might not hold up to that stress or maybe it would if done in the right material. Anyway, just thought I’d throw it out here and see if anyone had ever run across that before or tried themselves. 

[fox]

One clamp to my main xbox snapped recently. The plastic these things are made from is really old now and probably oxidized or whatever. I'm seeing it in a lot of my old stuff (things 15 years+) these days -- plastic screw mounts, tabs, etc, snapping like dried twigs. Were someone to make new clamps I'd consider buying a couple.

[Bowlsnapper]

48 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

As I was working on a repair Xbox for someone and noticed the two thrashed and broken heat sink clamps (not sure exactly what they did to them but clearly they didn’t quite grasp how they came off lol) I pondered this question. Has anyone ever tried to make replacement clamps to match or improve on the originals? I always just use others from parts Xboxes but I’m curious to know. I would assume they have to be injection molded or something of that nature. It seems like a 3D printed part might not hold up to that stress or maybe it would if done in the right material. Anyway, just thought I’d throw it out here and see if anyone had ever run across that before or tried themselves. 

I think they are injection molded with a certain material with a certain amount of "give" to it. Do you need clams, by the way? I'm sure I have some in the parts bin.

Maybe this could work?

https://github.com/Team-Resurgent/OGClips/tree/main/CPU Clip/Clip

[FrostyMaGee]

16 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I think they are injection molded with a certain material with a certain amount of "give" to it. Do you need clams, by the way? I'm sure I have some in the parts bin.

Maybe this could work?

https://github.com/Team-Resurgent/OGClips/tree/main/CPU Clip/Clip

Thanks for the link. I’ll have to look at that more in depth. 
 

Currently I’m ok on clamps but I appreciate the offer Bowl!  I’ll keep that in mind if I run out.
 

Much like our discussion with making hdd cables I was thinking it would be nice to have a way to make replacement clamps or an improvement thereof should the need arise. Made me start to wonder if someone else had already tried to do that. 

[FrostyMaGee]

41 minutes ago, fox said:

One clamp to my main xbox snapped recently. The plastic these things are made from is really old now and probably oxidized or whatever. I'm seeing it in a lot of my old stuff (things 15 years+) these days -- plastic screw mounts, tabs, etc, snapping like dried twigs. Were someone to make new clamps I'd consider buying a couple.

I’ve noticed that too in the last year, Fox. Some will just snap even taking them off the right way and usually on the exact same side. I feel like the age, material, tension, and heat around them just wears some of the clamps out and they turn brittle. 

[Bowlsnapper]

5 minutes ago, FrostyMaGee said:

I’ve noticed that too in the last year, Fox. Some will just snap even taking them off the right way and usually on the exact same side. I feel like the age, material, tension, and heat around them just wears some of the clamps out and they turn brittle. 

https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/158584/what-causes-plastic-to-become-brittle-and-can-it-be-softened-again

I think it's an element of the petroleum base that dries out and results in loss of elasticity.

[fox]

1 hour ago, FrostyMaGee said:

I’ve noticed that too in the last year, Fox. Some will just snap even taking them off the right way and usually on the exact same side. I feel like the age, material, tension, and heat around them just wears some of the clamps out and they turn brittle. 

This side? https://imageupload.io/ib/dU9GrkPcZMERSiH_1699396869.jpg

56 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/158584/what-causes-plastic-to-become-brittle-and-can-it-be-softened-again

I think it's an element of the petroleum base that dries out and results in loss of elasticity.

I guess that explains it

Edited November 7, 2023 by fox

[FrostyMaGee]

28 minutes ago, fox said:

This side? https://imageupload.io/ib/dU9GrkPcZMERSiH_1699396869.jpg

I guess that explains it

That’s the one yeah. Also the backside (that’s on the same side of the mobo as the clip in your post) on the gpu. 

[bolofski]

it wold probably be easier to fabricate a working replacement 'clip' from metal

[FrostyMaGee]

37 minutes ago, bolofski said:

it wold probably be easier to fabricate a working replacement 'clip' from metal

That would be ideal. I like the metal clips that are on the gpu of the 1.0/1.1 versions. 

[fox]

40 minutes ago, bolofski said:

it wold probably be easier to fabricate a working replacement 'clip' from metal

it is and it isn't, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is shaping steel at critical temperature (usually glowing orange) and spring tempering it

it's not practical for most people

[Nate2905]

I wish to go back in time and tell the engineers all about X clamps. The flimsy plastic XBOX clamps barely apply pressure and not equally. I think this is why the OG stock thermal paste is like thick super glue and you can move around the clamped heat sink with new thermal paste.

[Bowlsnapper]

4 hours ago, Nate2905 said:

I wish to go back in time and tell the engineers all about X clamps. The flimsy plastic XBOX clamps barely apply pressure and not equally. I think this is why the OG stock thermal paste is like thick super glue and you can move around the clamped heat sink with new thermal paste.

... I use the CPU heatsink as a handle when putting the mobo in and taking it out. I always feel it shift when I do that. Makes me nervous.

[bolofski]

7 hours ago, fox said:

it is and it isn't, for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is shaping steel at critical temperature (usually glowing orange) and spring tempering it

it's not practical for most people

I was thinking more along the lines of bending some already springy metal, many years ago I made a metal clip to keep a solenoid secure in a diesel pump, granted it wasn't an xbox heatsink but it did the job, not pretty but.....

ok im a bodger.

[Bowlsnapper]

2 hours ago, bolofski said:

I was thinking more along the lines of bending some already springy metal, many years ago I made a metal clip to keep a solenoid secure in a diesel pump, granted it wasn't an xbox heatsink but it did the job, not pretty but.....

ok im a bodger.

What about the hooks at the end?

[fox]

2 hours ago, bolofski said:

I was thinking more along the lines of bending some already springy metal, many years ago I made a metal clip to keep a solenoid secure in a diesel pump, granted it wasn't an xbox heatsink but it did the job, not pretty but.....

ok im a bodger.

Sorry for my previous post sounding cryptic, my mind was elsewhere. What I meant to say is it's easier...if you're experienced with metal fabrication :3  the whole process can be done in one day. Years back I had to make a 1.0 GPU clip from a bicycle spoke, but I did so properly. I would recommend against trying to bend already springy steel into the fine shapes required for xbox heat sinks, that's difficult at best and very dangerous. Watch it spring back and fly into your eyes.

[Bowlsnapper]

20 minutes ago, fox said:

Sorry for my previous post sounding cryptic, my mind was elsewhere. What I meant to say is it's easier...if you're experienced with metal fabrication :3  the whole process can be done in one day. Years back I had to make a 1.0 GPU clip from a bicycle spoke, but I did so properly. I would recommend against trying to bend already springy steel into the fine shapes required for xbox heat sinks, that's difficult at best and very dangerous. Watch it spring back and fly into your eyes.

Lol. I wonder if that's a part that can be commissioned in very small batches?

[fox]

1 minute ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Lol. I wonder if that's a part that can be commissioned in very small batches?

lol no

It did the job, but it was so ugly I wouldn't give it away.

[Bowlsnapper]

1 minute ago, fox said:

lol no

It did the job, but it was so ugly I wouldn't give it away.

Wait... You did that? Show us!

[ChriZz]

10 hours ago, Nate2905 said:

I wish to go back in time and tell the engineers all about X clamps. The flimsy plastic XBOX clamps barely apply pressure and not equally. I think this is why the OG stock thermal paste is like thick super glue and you can move around the clamped heat sink with new thermal paste.

Correct. It is thermal adhesive and not thermal paste like in the PC area. This adhesive is not intended to be removed. In addition, the temperatures with this adhesive are more than good. The people who tear down the heatsinks to renew the "paste" often have problems... torn GPU/CPU or cracks in the transition to the solder balls. 

You can find enough pictures of destroyed boards on the internet. I have one here that has 3 broken contact points under the CPU. When it was cold it ran perfectly, but as soon as it warmed up strange errors started to happen. Finding this problem was beyond crappy I can tell you. 

[fox]

7 minutes ago, Bowlsnapper said:

Wait... You did that? Show us!

I got a real clip and tossed that thing, it was so gross.

[Bowlsnapper]

34 minutes ago, fox said:

I got a real clip and tossed that thing, it was so gross.

Shit!

[FrostyMaGee]

6 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

... I use the CPU heatsink as a handle when putting the mobo in and taking it out. I always feel it shift when I do that. Makes me nervous.

I do that too. Lol.  I usually use the gpu heat sink since it tends to be tighter and move less than the CPU one. Also I’ll reach down to where a little bit of my fingers are on the plastic base. 

[FrostyMaGee]

1 hour ago, ChriZz said:

Correct. It is thermal adhesive and not thermal paste like in the PC area. This adhesive is not intended to be removed. In addition, the temperatures with this adhesive are more than good. The people who tear down the heatsinks to renew the "paste" often have problems... torn GPU/CPU or cracks in the transition to the solder balls. 

You can find enough pictures of destroyed boards on the internet. I have one here that has 3 broken contact points under the CPU. When it was cold it ran perfectly, but as soon as it warmed up strange errors started to happen. Finding this problem was beyond crappy I can tell you. 

I can believe that people run in to problems given videos of how some people try to pry the heat sinks off. Usually the cpu heat sink falls off it’s so dried out. The gpu is the one I’ve seen people pry off. Yikes. I usually just hit the stubborn ones with a heat gun on low moving side to side above that specific heat sink. Five seconds or less and it comes right off. 

[Bowlsnapper]

1 hour ago, FrostyMaGee said:

I can believe that people run in to problems given videos of how some people try to pry the heat sinks off. Usually the cpu heat sink falls off it’s so dried out. The gpu is the one I’ve seen people pry off. Yikes. I usually just hit the stubborn ones with a heat gun on low moving side to side above that specific heat sink. Five seconds or less and it comes right off. 

 

2 hours ago, ChriZz said:

Correct. It is thermal adhesive and not thermal paste like in the PC area. This adhesive is not intended to be removed. In addition, the temperatures with this adhesive are more than good. The people who tear down the heatsinks to renew the "paste" often have problems... torn GPU/CPU or cracks in the transition to the solder balls. 

You can find enough pictures of destroyed boards on the internet. I have one here that has 3 broken contact points under the CPU. When it was cold it ran perfectly, but as soon as it warmed up strange errors started to happen. Finding this problem was beyond crappy I can tell you. 

I did not know it was adhesive. Now I understand why it has always been so difficult to remove from the dies: It's fuckin' glue. I usually don't touch the thermal paste. I've never, ever had problems with overheating and if it isn't broken, I see no reason to fix it. Especially since I know the heatsink may be used as a handle in the future and I don't wanna fuck up the bridge.