How do I clean the dye out of this EK GPU block?

Soldato
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Bought this off the MM and foolishly assumed it would be fine and when I finally opened it I realised it was badly stained.

If I could take the thing apart I'm sure it would clean up fine but for some mental reason EK has given you access to all the screws but glued it together with the black strip on the left so thats out.

I'm currently running a tiny loop with water to try and rinse it but it's not working.

I did have designs on mounting it vertically but firstly I'm not planning to use pink and secondly even if I was I wouldn't want this level of leakage.

Any ideas?

ErJJpB0.jpg
 
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EKWB got back to me. Apparently you have to literally rip off the black metal strip which is glued to get to the screws underneath. TERRIBLE design as you basically have to ruin the thin metal strip to remove it. It's all bent and warped now since it's glued on there good and required a good amount of force to rip it off. They should've just cut small holes into the metal strip so you can get to the screws underneath it. Seriously regretting this purchase. Not just for this, but the fact that after 4 months of use it's already corroding and the nickel plating turned all brown, not even the parts that touch water. I used their cyrofuel premix and distilled water, but apparently that didn't do anything.
 
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EKWB got back to me. Apparently you have to literally rip off the black metal strip which is glued to get to the screws underneath. TERRIBLE design as you basically have to ruin the thin metal strip to remove it. It's all bent and warped now since it's glued on there good and required a good amount of force to rip it off. They should've just cut small holes into the metal strip so you can get to the screws underneath it. Seriously regretting this purchase. Not just for this, but the fact that after 4 months of use it's already corroding and the nickel plating turned all brown, not even the parts that touch water. I used their cyrofuel premix and distilled water, but apparently that didn't do anything.

That is really bad design! Disappointing from EK.
 
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Yeah I'd read that.

Really stupid, I actually took all the screws out and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't come apart because it assumed it would!
 
Soldato
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Another approach would be to try and heat up the metal strip to break the bond on the adhesive. Is it glue or sticky tape? If its tape you could squirt akasa tim clean in there? That stuff debonds sticky tape really well without damaging plastics or metals.
 
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Not sure that's going to work because the strip is metal but I might give it a go..

2 other alternatives are to use pink liquid which wouldn't be my first choice, or pull the strip off altogether because it just houses LEDs..

3rd, buy a new one and live with it.

4th... mount it horizontally like every other build I've ever done and forget about it.
 
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4th... mount it horizontally like every other build I've ever done and forget about it.

I had that thought with some stuff I've just ordered but if you've gone to the effort of getting a pretty gpu block with RGB, why wouldn't you want to look at it? You may as well give a few of the methods a try and then if nothing works out (or you accidentally ruin the aesthetics) you can always go back to a horizontal mount.
 
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Ha yeah... This will be my first custom build for getting on for 10 years.. I was looking back yesterday at some of the heath robinson nonsense we had to get into in the mid 00s when I was doing all my experimenting...

In a time before compression fittings when cable clips, zip ties and PTFE tape were the norm.
 
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remove the screws that you can get to, to allow a cleaning solution to get to it a bit more easily. Perhaps a bleach solution would remove the colour. Don't forget to soak the block in clean water to remove bleach remaining.
 
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Ha yeah... This will be my first custom build for getting on for 10 years.. I was looking back yesterday at some of the heath robinson nonsense we had to get into in the mid 00s when I was doing all my experimenting...

In a time before compression fittings when cable clips, zip ties and PTFE tape were the norm.

Do you remember heating the smaller tubing to fit over the larger barbs then going zip tie less :D

oh and the anti kink coils :)

I was pretty floored when I first started looking back into it year before last, fancy fittings, hard tubing, zmt, the only thing that remained constant was the Laing d5 and ddc being the pump - it was a slippery slope.
 
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remove the screws that you can get to, to allow a cleaning solution to get to it a bit more easily. Perhaps a bleach solution would remove the colour. Don't forget to soak the block in clean water to remove bleach remaining.

Sadly I tried that and it made no difference...
 
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Well the quick answer to hearing it is no. I left it on a radiator to the point where it was slightly uncomfortable to touch and it did make it look like I could remove the strip but given its metal it would definitely still bend in the process.

So 2 options... Horizontal mount or take the RGB strip off and never put it back on.

Or buy another which is crazy.
 
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Is it actually glue or VHB tape thats holding it on?

I would consider a glue remover if its glue and slowly work from a corner, allowing the remover to dissolve the glue. Use a really thin tool to dislodge and get underneath it, like a razer blade but be super careful! It's doable, you just gotta be patient.
 
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