Wha is this tool?

[Farishta Jayas]

What is that blue plastic tool? The guy in this video used it to remove the thermal paste. Can someone please suggest me an alternate option? Something more DIY, perhaps

 

[Jurrunio]

That looks like a plectrum, otherwise known as a guitar pick to me. That's bound to not clean thermal paste well though, without any solvent it will leave some paste behind.

[Farishta Jayas]

1 minute ago, Jurrunio said:

That looks like a plectrum, otherwise known as a guitar pick to me. That's bound to not clean thermal paste well though, without any solvent it will leave some paste behind.

Are you talking about the blue stick on top of the battery? 

[Fried.Bacon]

Just now, Jurrunio said:

That looks like a plectrum, otherwise known as a guitar pick to me. That's bound to not clean thermal paste well though, without any solvent it will leave some paste behind.

As what @Jurrunio says. Though I would NOT recommend using any tool to pry/pick/peel of the thermal paste. Always use a solvent, get the 99% isopropyl one

[Fried.Bacon]

1 minute ago, Farishta Jayas said:

Are you talking about the blue stick on top of the battery? 

Blue stick = prying tool

Blue pick = well a pick 

[WereCatf]

5 minutes ago, Farishta Jayas said:

What is that blue plastic tool? The guy in this video used it to remove the thermal paste. Can someone please suggest me an alternate option? Something more DIY, perhaps

Those typically come with various kinds of laptop-/phone-repair kits, like e.g. the iFixit toolkit. That said, just scrape the paste off with whatever you like. It's just paste, you don't need some fancy, magic special-tool for it. Just scrape it off with whatever, then wipe the rest off with isopropyl alcohol.

[Farishta Jayas]

Thank you everyone. Is there any alternative to the isopropyl alcohol? 

 

[Guest]

23 minutes ago, Farishta Jayas said:

Thank you everyone. Is there any alternative to the isopropyl alcohol? 

 

Generally no, if you don't have it you can just use a cotton swab and try to remove the paste like this. 

[Fried.Bacon]

25 minutes ago, Farishta Jayas said:

Thank you everyone. Is there any alternative to the isopropyl alcohol? 

 

Alternatives i tried:

1. its actually a bit better than the 99% isopropyl. We use in on our enterprise clients (data-center grade rack servers). It's a Thermal Material Remover+Purifier Kit. You use the thermal material remover, well to remove material. And the purifier kit to clean the plate.

 

2. Not recommended but if you are in a pinch, you can try Acetone (mom has this so, easy to get haha). Again, I wouldn't recommend it. It's meant to be abrasive, unless you have no other ways to clean that paste off, avoid this.

3. You can actually use standard non-scented 70% isopropyl or ethyl alcohol. Though it takes a bit of time, just be patient and dont push to hard.

 

Oh, on what to wipe as well. IF POSSIBLE use microfiber, if not, you can use  kitchen grade paper towels, those ticker tissue papers. When using Paper towels, make sure to only wipe them once, dont re-wipe using the same paper. I've seen Motherboards filled with paper towels filings. You can damage your mobo like that. Though again, if you can get yourself a microfiber cloth, then better.

[Enderman]

You clean off thermal paste with a paper towel and some alcohol.

You do not use an ifixit pry tool to remove it.