Heatpipe seperate from heatsink
 

Hi, i have a few heatpipes from laptops, i would like to separate them from heatsinks, to use them at other projects. I tried with acetone, i tried boiling water, i tried fridge, nothing worked, it seems they are soldered to heatsink. I saw some guides online saying i should put them into the oven, i was wondering what temperature i can use to make sure i dont ruin the heatpipes themselves, but still separate them ?

Well i tried my idea, put it into the oven at 200C (400F) for 10 minutes. I tried 150C but didnt work, 10 minutes at 200C(400F) worked. I did notice though that the heatpipe expanded, so i could say i was lucky that it didnt explode (but then again i was recording it all so explosion would be spectacular also). I will now try it with 5-10 heatpipes in the oven at once and see what happens. If anyone has better idea i would still like to hear it. I thought about heatgun - that way i would be only heating 1 part of the heatpipe and probably quickly separate them. But then i wouldnt be protected like i am if heatpipes are in the oven behind thick glass.

heatpipes often have water vapor under partial vacuum in them as a cheap refrigerant. might account for the expansion.

I know, that is why i asked what would be the best way to separate them. Today i tried again, this time with 4 heatpipes. I took aluminum foil and covered everything except the part i want to separate. It took a lot longer this time, i dont know whether it was because of the aluminum foil or because the pipes were bigger/different.

Nothing exploded so far but the pipes themselves do seem bigger - they expanded. I will have to see if they still work just as good as they did before. Good thing is that even if they explode, they cant really damage anything in my oven.

What if i used hotair gun and just heat the part i want to separate ? I have a glass table that i could use as a shield in case something exploded. I am wondering how they solder the heatpipes together without danger ..

Today i used a heatgun and it worked, and most of the heatpipes didn't become enlarged, like they did when i put them in the oven