Thermally Conductive / electrically isolated Epoxy

Oops - !!!, Just finished a 6X build and epoxied the laser into the jayrob heatsink and LED'd the diode by accident. Now I get to eat my words "it has never failed me with thermal epoxy" Now I have to drill out the heatsink which should be fun to try and keep tolerance. Sorry if this was off topic. Guess I could soak it in MEK for a few days...:yabbem:

That's the downside of securing things in place with plenty of adhesive compounds. Expoxy resin is especially hard to get rid off, and doesnt dissolve well in whatever solvent either.

I've been playing with the mentioned DX thermal compound. Doenst seem to be that good of a thermal conductor, but it does have nice other properties. It bonds very nicely with many surfaces (glass, aluminium, galvanized steel, pcb), but remains easy to remove. It sets to a sort of rubbery state that isnt that hard to peel off even with just fingernails in case you make a mistake.

Even though advertised as a thermal compound, i find the stuff much more useful as a semi-permantant 'tack'... it can surely bond/glue surfaces together, but also be removed with limited mechanical force if required. Also, it peels off with very little residue, much nicer than most silicone kits and similar substances.

Some epoxy glues lost their adhesive properties and start to decompose, if heatewd around 150 degrees (a "paint-scrapper" phon blower can be enough, i've opened some connectors in this way)

Ofcourse, this ruin all the inside components, but if you want to save just the heatsink, may worth a try ..... only, do it in open space, the fumes are not healthy