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Lapping: polishing bad?

D

dobbz

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 4, 2002
Messages
339
out of four or five lapping guides ive seen, a couple include a final step using metal polish. im guessing that the polish does nothing but fill the microscopic pits and scratches to give the illusion of being smoother.

if im right, isnt that bad? shouldnt that "polishing" be done with AS5 to fill the tiny scratches?
 
yes it is bad. ive never seen a guide do that but they should be shot. as you lap you should use finer and finer until youre using nearly cloth, by that time itll be naturally shiney.
 
bad idea on the polish stuff - where you hear that?
just make sure to clean the cooler with alcohol and clean lint free cloth after sanding to get the remaining grit off and go from there...
 
Metal polishing compounds aren't necessarily bad. It's what you polish them with that can do more harm than good. There are compounds such as rubbing compounds that have abrasive particulates that actually further remove heatsink material to increase thermal conductivity and reduce thermal resistance. Using something such as an automotive polishing wax on a heatsink wouldn't be good because it would "fill" the microscopic
scratches and pores with a substrate that would hinder not help heat conduction. Although using polishing compounds can help as a final step when lapping, only the truly anal retentive "butt darts" actually employ it. If you do decide to use a polishing compound when lapping, just make sure you wash your seatsink thoroughly with hot soap and water before mounting to remove any residue.
 
I've found that good old fashioned auto valve lapping compound works very well for the "finishing touch" ! :)
Just make sure you clean everything well after using it ! :)
 
Polishing not good wtf????

Ive polished my wb for 3 hours to get it to shine like a mirror.

Just Command 3 paint polish :p Its yellow, it stinks, it polishes.
You can actually see the cloth turn green while polishing the copper block.
 
Using polishing compound is not bad. It'll usually be a clay bar/tube shape thing, and you can get it at different abrasive levels. If you want the absolute best, go all the way up to 2000 grit sandpaper, then using a buffing wheel, use coarse, medium, and then fine polishing compound. Always clean your heatsink thoroughly afterwards with rubbing alcohol.
 
So... can anyone compared polished numbers (and what they polished with) to unpolished numbers? If not then there is no proof that polishing/un polished it better, and this whole thing seems kind of pointless.
 
Originally posted by pbXassassinX1524
So... can anyone compared polished numbers (and what they polished with) to unpolished numbers? If not then there is no proof that polishing/un polished it better, and this whole thing seems kind of pointless.
Click to expand...

The differences would be negligable. However, polishing compound DOES actually work, IE, it does polish things. Therefore, polishing compound further accomplishes the same job that lapping a heatsink does.
 
the differences would be negligable. However, polishing compound DOES actually work, IE, it does polish things. Therefore, polishing compound further accomplishes the same job that lapping a heatsink does.
Click to expand...

but you gotta make sure you get all the polish off.....
 
Just use sandpaper, I lapped all my blocks into mirrors w/ 600 (then) 1000 and finally 2000.

I had a slight problem with the Swifty though, the original "cutting" job from the shop was actually lopsided. When placed against a perfectly flat surface you could see up to an inch of light extending all the way to the center line like a curve like shape. Some 600 grit for a few minutes really cleaned that up.

I only spent about 15minutes on each block.
 
Originally posted by Spidey329
Just use sandpaper, I lapped all my blocks into mirrors w/ 600 (then) 1000 and finally 2000.

I had a slight problem with the Swifty though, the original "cutting" job from the shop was actually lopsided. When placed against a perfectly flat surface you could see up to an inch of light extending all the way to the center line like a curve like shape. Some 600 grit for a few minutes really cleaned that up.

I only spent about 15minutes on each block.
Click to expand...

15min is kinda short, took me closer to 1hr for my hsf
 
i sanded my Volcano 7+ with 600, 1200, 2000 and i got very very close to perfect mirror shine. i just let the copper accumulate on the 2000 grit which seemed to give it a final buffing.

ill try some polish on my next sink. thanks.
 
i belt sanded my waterblocks for a while (blowtorching on cement wreaks havoc with the bases) then use 220-320-400-600-high.
high = 1500 or 1000 then 2000. then i use the back of the sandpaper to finish up. you can read core steppings in the base of my heatsinks:D
 
CMP slurry! that'll get it nice and flat :) much better than "mirror " finish

Of course, if you could do that for the top of your core as well, you wouldn't need thermal compound, either. But you wouldn't want to damage the core...
 
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