Lapping for the lazy...

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Darth Bobo

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 6, 2007
Messages
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I have considered lapping my CPU / HS with a Dremel using the polishing accessories. Now have anybody tried this? Is it adviceable? Am I just a sick puppy who needs to be put down? Or am I a pioneer pointing fellow lappers to the stars?
 
haha, I just polished my DD blocks with Craftsman rotary tool :D

Anyway, you can not lap with rotary tool, only polish.

You have to work with sand paper and then you could finish it with rotary tool for perfection ;)
 
No, no, no.

The "finish with rotary tool" is a bad idea too. You're better off not lapping it at all than adding waves and ridges to it with power tools.
 
can someone explain what a lapping is to a newb and what's the benefit of it.. or if im not too lazy i can just do a search but i'm too lazy:D thanks
 
It's just sanding your heatsink and/or CPU heatspreader smooth. It gives better contact and lowers your CPU temps.
 
Vlad_13 said:
with polishing wheels all you do is make things mirror smooth.
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You've obviously never polished a mirror. A polishing wheel can turn a flat surface into a wavey mess. Not large scale waves, but certainly not flat. Just check with any amateur telescope maker.
 
BladeVenom said:
It's just sanding your heatsink and/or CPU heatspreader smooth. It gives better contact and lowers your CPU temps.
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no, it's not just sanding your heatsink or heatspreader smooth.

In fact, lapping has nothing to deal with smoothness of the surface but rather the FLATNESS of the surface. We could have a smooth sphere, but it would be horrible for cooling. Lapping is FIRST about flatness, second is smoothness. Over polishing is also said to mess with the interface because thermal paste can't properly interface with the two surfaces (heatsink and heatspreader).
 
Rule #1 - do not use any electric powered tools to lap.
- someone has tried this and failed miserably.
 
Hmmm... Looks like there's no fun for me that involves powertools. :( Thanks for the input anyways...
 
FooTemps said:
We could have a smooth sphere, but it would be horrible for cooling.
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Actually, any two surfaces that are the same shape would be fine. Both spherical, both elliptical, both grooved etc - as long as the shapes match exactly.

There are only two shapes that are easy to make - sphere and flat. For CPUs, flat is obviously more convenient.
 
Michael Daly said:
Actually, any two surfaces that are the same shape would be fine. Both spherical, both elliptical, both grooved etc - as long as the shapes match exactly.

There are only two shapes that are easy to make - sphere and flat. For CPUs, flat is obviously more convenient.
Click to expand...

Good point, but I was assuming everyone would imagine trying to mount a sphere onto an IHS. lol, that would make for some good entertainment.
 
I have had positive results with a jewelers belt sander and very fine non woven cloth 3in belts. You can find everything you need online.
 
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