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DH Guide: Lapping a Heatsink

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Old Jan 6, 2004, 08:22 AM   #1
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DH Guide: Lapping a Heatsink
Staff member Joe "Roadee" Dawson has a great step by step guide up for everyone, showing you how to lap your heatsink.

This is the next installment in our guides series and im sure will prove benefical to alot of members.

To read the guide please go to this page on Driverheaven and be sure to pass your comments or address any questions to Joe in our forums.
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 08:50 AM   #2
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verry good work . nice mirror shine!
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 09:07 AM   #3
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very nice indeed !!!!!
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 10:37 AM   #4
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Great and handy guide
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 11:43 AM   #5
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Beat me to it man!!!! Nice guide
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 11:56 AM   #6
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Hope it comes in handy for someone. Maybe if someone that has never done this before decides to try it.......then they will post about there experience in here.
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 12:35 PM   #7
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It really does help, the first time i did it i didnt think that it would make much of a difference. You really see a decrease in temp with new and old heatsinks.
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 12:41 PM   #8
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Great guide Roadee! It really does help to lap the heatsink and you've writen a great easy-to-follow guide. THX!!!
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 01:49 PM   #9
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Very Cool Guide......
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Old Jan 6, 2004, 09:15 PM   #10
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Thanks everyone........if anyone has any question on this guide or others......just let me know. I am here to help any way I can.
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 02:46 PM   #11
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....i'd like to give it a try...... also... i thought polishing was a very bad idea... and i can understand why..... polish fills in the unseen dips in the heatsink were the thermal paste is saposed to go...... right? (cause more heat... then before)
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 04:11 PM   #12
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yeah, I would reccomend againts polishing. A mirror finish acctually raised my temps by 1C compared to a regular 1200 grit sanded finsh.
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 05:40 PM   #13
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I should attempt to make my own heatsink from scratch.... wonder what the BEST heatsink material would be... i know copper is good..but is there something else better...... i could make on mean heatsink with the tools i could use....
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 07:10 PM   #14
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A block of gold.
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 07:13 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally posted by craig588
yeah, I would reccomend againts polishing. A mirror finish acctually raised my temps by 1C compared to a regular 1200 grit sanded finsh.
1c? of course you quote this extremely minor increase taking into consideration changes in ambient room temperature and other fan related variables, right?
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 07:26 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally posted by Veridian3
A block of gold.
that stuff is way to soft to play with... and hard to get ahold of.... when i have money... and i mean a serious amount... i'll do it....
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 07:32 PM   #17
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judas I hate to break it to you but I think he was yanking your chain.
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 07:34 PM   #18
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Of course i was, everyone knows the most conductive metals are Silver then Copper then Gold...
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 07:36 PM   #19
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Actually although its an interesting theory, I am not quite so sure it would be feasible or practical to attempt making a heatsink, there is a surprisingly high amount of R&D that goes into the design of a heatsink, its not just the case of plopping on a piece of copper. If you take a look at a thermalright SLK or another of the high end heatsinks, the build quality and the fans, and design is of an extremely high quality.
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Old Jan 7, 2004, 08:04 PM   #20
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I wonder when we can expect super extreme air cooling solutions to use a core of silver with copper/aluminum fins? We already know the wonders of ThermalRight's ALX-800, a near perfect fusion of copper and aluminum that cools as well as the SLK-800 with ~100grams less weight and is 10-20 dollars cheaper.... I wonder how a silver (plus aluminum/copper) heatsink would do?

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Old Jan 7, 2004, 11:28 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally posted by Judas
....i'd like to give it a try...... also... i thought polishing was a very bad idea... and i can understand why..... polish fills in the unseen dips in the heatsink were the thermal paste is saposed to go...... right? (cause more heat... then before)
Well........I guess some of your statement is true......if you use a cheap polish! I prefer to use Wenol. Reason being, is that it is high quality, used extensively in manufacturing that concerns chrome and other soft metals. It doesn't take long to get the desired look. Easy clean up, and it protects the metal from tarnishing, and with copper this is a plus. If you lap your heatsink properly, and clean it with rubbing alcohol real good.......then make sure that it is dry and use rubber surgical type gloves when polishing........then there wont be any crevices for the polish to fill. Of course doing it this way is pretty anal......

As far as temp differences.....on an aluminium heatsink. Lapping with up to 1000 grit will drop the temp......let's say for example......8 F, on a cheap one, work up to 1500 and you will gain maybe 2 F more.......polish it and you may gain nothing or maybe 1 F......but if done right.......you wont lose anything.....polishing correctly will take what little pits there are.....and make them even smaller. The smaller the pits.......then the more surface area for heat transfer.......and the less thermal compound is needed.

Alot of top heatsink makers lap by a machine........and then polish the base with a buffing wheel.......by polishing they are protecting the raw metal surface and it gives it the appearance of being lapped better than it actually is. And that saves them money in machine work. Think about it.....it is market driven. Think about how many heatsink reviews you have seen, where the first thing they do is show you a picture of how much reflection there is from the base

But in the end......it all comes down to what you feel like doing. As I said in the guide....it is optional.
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Old Jan 8, 2004, 12:36 AM   #22
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Anouther excelent guide...may be needing it soon....congrats buds this was really a great idea...keep up the good work...keep them comin.
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Old Jan 8, 2004, 02:27 AM   #23
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Quote:
Originally posted by eyeguy616
I wonder when we can expect super extreme air cooling solutions to use a core of silver with copper/aluminum fins? We already know the wonders of ThermalRight's ALX-800, a near perfect fusion of copper and aluminum that cools as well as the SLK-800 with ~100grams less weight and is 10-20 dollars cheaper.... I wonder how a silver (plus aluminum/copper) heatsink would do?

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SLK 800U IS ONLY LIKE $30 SHIPPED
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Old Jan 8, 2004, 07:27 AM   #24
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zardon
1c? of course you quote this extremely minor increase taking into consideration changes in ambient room temperature and other fan related variables, right?

these were temps taken from an average of 1 hour under load. (Speed fan automaticly calculates the avarages so it might have calculated it wrong, but I doubt that)

even if it was affected by a room temp increase, that still means that lapping doesnt do much because if it was cooling better and the room temp increased it probably should have stayed the same.
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Old Jan 8, 2004, 07:56 AM   #25
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Quote:
Originally posted by Zardon
1c? of course you quote this extremely minor increase taking into consideration changes in ambient room temperature and other fan related variables, right?
another 8 hourse and i'll have a good ref for ya
i of couse have recently did some lapping of my own
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