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Looking for a lapping kit / general information

K

Kogan

Golden Member
I've got an old thermalright slk-800 or 900 (can't remember, but they look nearly the same) and it's got quite a few small scratches/dents on the bottom from installing/uninstalling it several times over the past few years. It's original finish isn't really too smooth to begin with anyway.

Anyhow, I'm bored and want to see if I can get a better heat transfer by lapping. I've read this guide:
http://www.bigbruin.com/html/lapping-guide.htm

And have seen these products:
http://easypckits.com/products/
http://www.pcviper.net/index.htm

And was wondering what sort of kit I should to get me started (I can get my own glass).

I was first planning to get just a plain sandpaper kit from 400 grit to 2000 grit and just simply sand my heatsink. But is this a good idea? I see some kits include lapping compounds - are these just polishes or do they actually work like sandpaper? If they're just polish, won't they wear off under heat? Or if they're like sandpaper, are they better than 2000 grit?

Thanks for any information 🙂
 
You should be able to find a flat piece of glass somewhere for free. Next, you need a marker pen, waterproof. Scribble on the bottom of the heatsink and have at it. Look occasionally. If the heatsink isn't flat, you will see where that is. Getting it flat is the first step. It might be that way out of the box then, it might not be.

Once it is flat, you can quickly graduate up through the grades of sandpaper.

I finish with some ammonia based brass polish on the glass and buff it out as if I were still lapping on sand paper. The brass polish is nothing but some very fine clay suspended in water/ammonia liquid. It rinses off with tap water. Got mine at the grocery store. It starts to turn black as the copper is removed from the heatsink surface.

You don't need to buy a special lapping kit.

After the polish stage, I did the same thing with my thermal compound. I put a dab of Ceramique down on the glass and continued to work the heatsink in a figure 8 pattern. Make sure you have entirely covered the lapped surface with compound. It will help prevent corrosion on a copper surface.

Remove all the excess with an edge like a credit card. Put just a little blob on the core of your processor.

Make sure your are within the instruction guidlines of your thermal compound and your respective processor/heatspreader.
 
I polished a sk-7 by first wet sanding with 1000 grit then hitting it with brass polish. Using a piece of glass is not necessary unless the surface is wavy, or has rough machining marks, with which is very unlikely. Took all of 5min. and didn't effect the temps in the least.

Ed
 
Yeah, I haven't really seen anyone that had any good before and after lapping temperatures, but I'll search around a bit more for that.

TRUMPHENT, you covered the entire surface of your heatsink with thermal compound? Does this work compound into tiny holes that may be left or is it just done to prevent corrosion?

With the $5 sandpaper kit with 600-2000 grit papers on easypckits.com, I may just try that out since it's cheap. I looked around local stores like wal-mart and automotive stores and they don't have any kits with fine grit sizes - I'd have to buy a bunch of different sizes and they're all about $3 each.

And one last thing, I still have about half a tube of the original arctic silver that I've used over the years. Is it recommended I get something else, or are all arctic silvers basically the same?

Thanks for the responses.
 
"TRUMPHENT, you covered the entire surface of your heatsink with thermal compound? Does this work compound into tiny holes that may be left or is it just done to prevent corrosion?"

Yes, I do. It is so thin as to be barely visible. I do it because I had one heatsink start corroding right at the edige of the die of a Duron processor. It had developed into a very deep pit and there other spots that were pitting. I live in South Florida and the humidity gets downright aggressive, even with airconditioning. An extra layer between the bare copper and the demon humidity can't hurt.


Lapping can't hurt if you do it right. I have seen AMD retail heatsinks that look as if they were machined with a chainsaw.


My latest heatsink has 4 heatpipes. When I started lapping, it revealed the layout of the heatpipes in the core. In otherwords, it wasn't totally flat. It is now. The Ceramique hasn't settled in yet and at idle, the cpu temp according to Asus Probe is only one to two degrees above mainboard. After running Prime 95 with the fan on low, the temperature went to 10 degrees above mainboard. With the fan on high, it went back down to 4 degrees above mainboard.


Another great invention is the USB led light. After installing the heatsink, I put one behind the socket and look through to see if the heatsink is actually seated on the processor die. Seating the heatsink on the die is last thing you want to rush without double checking.

Whether you lap or not, attention to detail is necessary.
 
I've purchased the $6 kit from insulglass
http://easypckits.com/products/hslkwg
I just followed the directions. It took me a really long time due to a learning curve of when you've sanded the item enough. Just follow the directions.
Some notes: There's no such thing as using TOO much water. You have to keep the hs and the paper clean. One small little metal filament that's courser than sandpaper that might come off will mean that you have to go back a sheet or two and rework it or else you'll have a big scratch in the base. So water and clean. Other than that, just go slow and be patiant. You'll find that when the sheet is ready, it will be very smooth and easily slip across the surface of the heat sink. If I did a second heatsink afterwards it would have been a lot quicker. Just be patiant. You can probably do it correctly in about half an hour. Having to learn the hardway myself, it took me probably two hours total after going back to rework it before i got it done. It was pretty though afterwards =D
 
Oh, and I didn't use any special compounds, just the sandpaper. If you want to get your own sandpaper and do it yourself, make sure you get wet sandpaper.
 
Don't use polishing compound. It will stay on the heatsink. The goal is to make the heatsink flat and smooth. A polished surface does nothing. Sanding up to 600 grit is enough.
If the heatsink is already pretty flat I start with 400 and then finish with 600. If its warped I start with 220. Its best to use some water (kerosene is actually ideal if you don't mind it) on the sandpaper. Put the heatsink on it and slide it across in one direction. Then pick it up and set it back where you started and slide it again. Don't push down on the heatsink. Let the weight of the heatsink do the work. The reason for this method is it helps you make the base flat by not sanding too much on the edges of the heatsink, and it doesn't heat up the metal.
Be thorough with each grit of sandpaper. If you start with 400, sand with it until you can see uniform sanding marks across the base of the heatsink. If you switch to a finer grit too early it will never sand through.
Edit: A flat surface to sand on is key. 1/4" glass is good.
If your hardware store doesn't have fine grit sandpaper, try an auto parts store. Make sure its "wet-sand" sandpaper.
 
Well, I got my sandpaper kit yesterday and sanded down my heatsink.
The 400 grit was able to get rid of all of the scratches and dents in the heatsink after working at it for less than 5 minutes. After this step, it looked smoother than it was previously.

I worked my way through each grit size, moving onto the next one after all of the previous grit scratchmarks were gone. I spent the most amount of time on the 1500 and 2000 grit. I did back and forth motions throughout the process until the 2000 grit. I tried a circular motion on the 2000 grit, but all of the slight circular scratches on the heatsink face looked messy so I re-did the 2000 grit in the back-forth motion and it looked much smoother and cleaner to me.

And one last thing that may help someone out - If your heatsink is skipping across the sandpaper instead of sliding smoothly, you can put a bit of soap (dishsoap or whatever) on the sandpaper to help it slide easier. When doing this with the 2000 grit, I was also able to get a slightly smoother finish.

And for my temperature results! - No change at all 🙂
My cpu idle/load/system temps before the procedure were 41/47/35 and were the same after the procedure. I see you're supposed to wait a day or two before you measure your temperatures (to let the heatsink compound break in) so I measured again just a few minutes ago and got 41/47/34.

Well, I feel a little bit better knowing I did it and knowing that my heatsink isn't dented up anymore. The sandpaper is also still in good condition and is re-usable. If anyone else is looking to do the same thing, PM me and I'll send this kit to you for $3.00.
 
Hi Guys and Gals....

I'm the owner of www.PCViper.net and just wanted to add a little info to your discussion.

Q: ?I see some kits include lapping compounds - are these just polishes or do they actually work like sandpaper??
A: They do both! The compounds in our kits are extremely fine abrasives that finish by acting like a polish.

Q: ?If they're just polish, won't they wear off under heat?
A: Our compounds do not play a part in the physical transfer of heat. They reduce the size of the pits in the surface of the sink. They are NOT a polish. Do not use a polish on your sink. Polishes leave behind a protective film to stop oxidation and keep the surface shiny. That?s not what you want! The only thing you want on the surface is thermal compound.

Q: ?Or if they're like sandpaper, are they better than 2000 grit??
A: you cannot buy a piece of sandpaper that is as fine as the compounds we make.

Q: ?I polished a sk-7 by first wet sanding with 1000 grit then hitting it with brass polish. Using a piece of glass is not necessary unless the surface is wavy, or has rough machining marks, with which is very unlikely. Took all of 5min. and didn't affect the temps in the least.?
A: I?m not surprised..lol The brass polish may even RAISE your temps because it gets into the microscopic pores of the surface and interferes with the workings of the thermal compound.

Glass is good of you have it, but no lapping will ever produce a truly flat finish! Only an industrial lathe can approach perfection..i.e. like the ones used to manufacture hard disk platters! Even if you achieved perfection, the CPU is more uneven than you can imagine!

Q: ?Yeah, I haven't really seen anyone that had any good before and after lapping temperatures, but I'll search around a bit more for that.?
A: Actual customer comments about our UltraKit Pro Lapping kit?many, many more at eBay also!

Ohayo!
I love your UltraKit. I have now purchased your kit twice. The first time, I had never lapped a heatsink before and your instructions and kit made it super easy. When I decided to upgrade to water-cooling recently, I ordered your kit the same day I ordered my waterblocks. I just finished using your kit on my brand new DangerDen waterblocks and achieved a beautiful mirror finish. I can't wait to get the babies installed. Thanks again!

Hi, I Just Finished! I Did It To A Thermaltake Volcano 10+ With Out Sanding and Arctic Silver 54C With Sanding And Polishing 34C!!!! Thank You I Will Leave A A++++ Feedback!

And P.S. It Was A Amd Athlon XP 2600+ 2.08GHZ

Q: ?Don't use polishing compound. It will stay on the heatsink. The goal is to make the heatsink flat and smooth. A polished surface does nothing. Sanding up to 600 grit is enough.?
A: Ahhh? True, don?t go to Wal-Mart and buy a can of car wax. Retail polishes will leave a film and interfere with heat transfer?our compound will not! THE WHOLE GOAL IS TO MAKE IT SHINY! 600 is NOT enough! In a nutshell ? metal-to-metal contact blows away any thermal compound. The flatter a surface is the shinier it will be! The shinier it is, the more metal-to-metal contact. More MTM = lower temps!

You can read the instructions for the UltraKit at www.pcviper.net

If you have any questions, I?ll be glad to answer them: freeshipping@pcviper.net

Kits are available for professional reviewers: Freeshipping@pcviper.net
 
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