Introduction
Lapping is the act of sanding the base of your heatsink. By using progressively finer grits of
sandpaper you can level and smooth off the base of your HS, and in doing so increase the heat
transfer across the heatsink. In some cases this can increase the cooling efficiency of the
heatsink and drop temperatures on the chip.
Preparation
We will be using 3-4 various grit of sandpaper. I recommend finding the finest possible grit for
the last run, so you can get the heatsink as smooth as possible. Sheets work the best so you can
lay out the sandpaper on your workbench. All in all, we are going to need the following materials
to lap our heatsink:
- Heatsink
- Sandpaper sheets of varying grit – 240, 400 & 600+ should work
- Soft cloth or paper towels
- Canned air (optional)
Lapping
Start out with the lowest grit; place a sheet of sandpaper on the workbench, face up, and then set
the heatsink flat on the top of it. Apply good pressure to the heatsink and sand it in an up and
down motion. Continue this until the heatsink base rests completely flat on the sandpaper, you
want to make sure you flatten the base with the low grit. Once you feel it’s quite even, move
on to the next higher grit and repeat the process. Continue this for 3-5 minutes (or longer if needed)
at every grit until the bottom of the heatsink is completely smooth.
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And voila, you’re done with the real work! Now you just have to clean the heatsink off. You can rinse
the heatsink off, as long as you make sure to dry it completely. Canned air, a hair dryer, a cloth
or towels should work fine. Try to use a lint-free cloth to avoid any imperfections on the heatsink.
Now go put that sucker on a chip and watch your temps drop!
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