# Lapping made easy



## PorPorMe (Sep 28, 2008)

I haven't seen to much on lapping a heatsink lately.
I did some looking about 6, 8 months ago and if i remember right the gains were roughly 3c to 5c or something in that area. Most of the 'How to's.' were written by someone who was more than happy to tell you how many hours he had to spend to get it right. No wonder you don't hear about it much!
I can remember one guy that provided pictures of his kitchen table covered in news print, wet dry sand paper of different grits layed out in order, with a small piece of slate for a surface-well you get the idea-he spent 10 hours lapping his heat sink.
Kind of turns a guy off to the idea of doing it himself if thats what it takes.

What a bunch of horse pucky! 

I picked up a bottle of course abrasive metal polish at the auto parts store on a whim. I poured a little on a coffee filter and started to rub away on the Freezer 7 Pro. In 10mins I could see the TV 10 feet away if i held it at the right angle to the light, and I mean I could see the show!-otherwise you saw the rubbing marks.
I'll pick up a bottle of medium grit and a bottle of fine grit the next time I'm in the area. I'd wager that in less than 20min total, just holding it in my hands, rubbing with a coffee filter, I'll have a shiney copper mirror the Hubble would be prould of!
Why do some have a need to make something complicated when it just doesn't have to be?
I've seen it so many times and it always bewilders me.

In the immortal words of Larry the Cable Guy, " Get 'er done!"


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

Now that is something I gotta try. Made a note of it, be stopping at an autoparts store next time I'm around one for sure. Thanks.


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## PorPorMe (Sep 28, 2008)

grimx133 said:


> Now that is something I gotta try. Made a note of it, be stopping at an autoparts store next time I'm around one for sure. Thanks.


I have since learned the errors of my ways. The shiney surface is a byproduct of getting it absolutly flat. 
i have a mirror surface and in all probability a concave surface. Not good.:4-thatsba
Now I have to spend a little more time to get it right.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

I'd do it on a flat surface, not just using my hand, better pressure and right level that way. They often come from the factory a wee bit on the concave or convex side. If you read the article around here somewhere, what's recommended is to tape a piece of glass to a table or something in order to get a flat, level, and stable surface. I'd think it would be the same idea, just using a different medium. Besides, I have several aftermarket HSF's to choose from, I'll just start with my least favourite.


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## PorPorMe (Sep 28, 2008)

This is working out. J had big problem once i had to put it on a flat surface. I have an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on a socket 775 Asus P5Q board. The sink it self won't touch a flat surface such as glass because the mounting legs are longer than the sink is. [ The socket stands up off the board approx 1/3 in.]
I found a solution in an old aluminum heatsink. It has a 2in x 2in square screwed into the base making a nice surface to mate the Freezer 7 Pro to.. I still need to pick up a finer grit metal polish but it's working fine so far.

Edit:
I found it works better to use a double layer of coffee filters on the base sink. It seems to hold the suspencion of grit and liquid better and gives a little cushion so that it isn't like little grains of sand digging away. I'd bet if you got a very fine rubbing compound it might be better ecausethe gritis already in a cushioh of paste. Try both.

And i have enough polish to lap heatsinks until I'm a very old man!


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

All of my aftermarket heatsinks have removable mounting hardware as they can be used on both Intel and AMD cpu's. The Scythe ones even have the hardware for socket 478. I'm already old, so I guess I won't need very much eh.


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