Cleaning acrylic and Micro Res?

[LogAn'sRun]

Well after 6mos of running nothing but distilled and 2 drops of PT Nuke, I spotted my first signs of growth in my EK GPU Nickel/Acrylic block.

I thought something might be happening in my system as my Swifttech Micro Res clouded up after only 3 months of use, but other than that I didn't see any other signs.

After about 4,5 months my XSPC ddc top started to cloud a little too, so I knew it would only be a while longer before I needed to break everything down and clean.

After using the search tool, I found tons of threads on cleaning blocks and especially using ketchup/lemon water/ some cleaning agent (brasso or there was another one, but it doesn't matter) and lastly vinegar. While these methods are effective for the copper tarnish, should I be using the ketchup/toothpaste on nickel? Also most searches bring up old threads from 2007 or older so perhaps we need some updating in the stickies?

What do I use to clean all the acrylic - xspc ddc top, EK GPU top, and Micro Res? All of them have fine coatings on the insides and it can be rad flux (even though I flushed the crap out of both PA rads and did numerous boil/shake and bake rinses) or it can just be something else. Don't matter to me, I just want to clean everything.

Should I just boil the acrylic in distilled water and let sit? And how do I get into the Micro Res? There's no way I can get a brush in there, so what would be the best way to get rid of the film on the inside?

Appreciate the help!

[Brad8988]

I filled mine with neat vinegar and it got most of the crud off.

[LogAn'sRun]

OK, Vinegar seemed to be the recommended cleaning agent in most of the old threads as well, but how about the nickel?

And just thought of something else too, since there was a fine coating on everything, I looked at the insides of my tygon and they were brown? Now I have the black tygon and I rinsed everything out with distilled before assembling my loop, but now there's def growth.

Should I boil my Bitspower compression fittings in distilled to clean them, or should I use another vinegar solution? And then rinse, rinse, rinse? And separate the o-rings or can they withstand the boiling treatment or vinegar treatment?

[Waterlogged]

Vinegar eats o-rings...avoid contact at all costs.

[SoulsCollective]

My recipe -

Acrylic:
- disassemble blocks, remove O-rings, leave just the acrylic parts
- scrub with hot (not boiling) water and detergent. Rinse with hot water, then distilled. If unable to scrub, fill with hot salty water with detergent and let sit.

Other metal:
- disassemble, remove O-rings and eg. delrin tops
- fill cooking pot with two parts white vinegar to ten parts salty water and bring to boil
- dunk blocks in, let sit. Stir occasionally.

For really stuck-on crap, scrubbing action may be needed.

[LogAn'sRun]

Vinegar eats o-rings...avoid contact at all costs.

usch, now you say that .

I let sit my miniMicro Res all night with caps on (of course they had O-rings) in vinegar, and I can report that the ant sized speck of algae and the translucent film are still present. So vinegar and sitting are not positive.

I'll give SoulsCollective's suggestion a try now for the res and see if that's better.

[Pisklink]

Sorry for off topic reply but like your sig with the funny sentence of The Hives:

"They say the definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result."

The Hives is a great rockband from Sweden which kick a$$. Saw them last year on a festival and the crowd was rockin' all over the place on their rock 'n roll music!!!! I hope to see them again this year.

[LogAn'sRun]

On Topic - Well, after an all day soaking of salt+soap+hot hot water can I say that the film is slightly gone but there's still the algae and the rest of the film.

What's not gonna damage the res but eat that stuff away? Should I try coke next?

Off Topic @ Pislink - ya, I've seen them like 8 times here and actually got Pelle's autograph on their second album 2 weeks ago. A friend of mine works as a photographer's assistant to the bands photographer, so he's gonna hook me up with some nice stills woOt

[SoulsCollective]

You have to be careful with acrylic and acids, as you can get cracking.

It's worth giving Coke or something a try, yes, but I'd try and get a hold of a bottle brush to help you out here.

[brammers]

To clean the inside of my MC-RES I used small squares of Bounty tissue and some Dawn soap.

UK version: Plenty tissue and Fairly Liquid :D

Any issue would do - so long as it's the kind that doesn't fall apart in water (the wring-able when wet kind).

Half fill the res, add small scraps of tissue, cap off and shake like hell.

Use tweezers to remove tissue parts afterwards. Rinse and repeat as required.

PS: This managed to shift the Flux residue from the PA120s.

HTH
J

[Pisklink]

Off topic ==> It's sweet to know somebody that has such close relationships to a band. It gives you some nice opportunities when compared to avarage fans. I didn't know they released a second album, so thanks for the tip. IMO their first album was great and I think they will get even popular in the future.

Finally, good luck with cleaning your watercooling parts. :D

[voigts]

As brammers mentioned, a small piece or two of soapy paper towel swooshed around the inside works very well. Just use a good paper towel that doesn't readily disintegrate when wet.

[autobot]

For my Swiftech Microres, I use hot water with the Scrubbing Bubbles foaming cleaner. Swish it around a bit and it come out like new. :)

[Brodholm]

Whatever you do, just don't use alcohol. Its sick how fast it cracks... In this video he is using 3mm :S

The same goes for products that contain alcohol. Like some soaps and cleaning products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU9Ty0L0g7E&fmt=18

[Waterlogged]

For my Swiftech Microres, I use hot water with the Scrubbing Bubbles foaming cleaner. Swish it around a bit and it come out like new. :)

You may want to reconsider that practice. ;)

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/1988/scrubbingbubbles.jpg

[DementeD]

idk if i made a smart choice..but i used tap water with a little bit of bleach and let it sit..it hasnt cracked yet and came clear?..
i read around that bleach mixed with tap water is ok with acrylic but...dont hold me to it..just a little bit of google search gave me that answer..

[LogAn'sRun]

So here's an update : I did the shake method with some sponge like paper towels, but most of the film was really hard to get off. I managed to get some chopsticks in the fill holes and used those with the sponge towels to wipe everything off (95%). Some corners I just can't get to.

Now my next problem is my EK nickel GPU block with Acrylic top. I've cleaned the nickel block with a sponge and soapy water, then boiled it in distilled, so that feels good. The acrylic however has a slight film stuck to it, even with repeated treatments. Is there anything I can use that won't damage the acrylic top and will restore it to 'new' condition?

[gillbot]

i use pipe cleaners and bend them into shape for scrubbing.