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Basics on Lapping

ineedaname

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
83
Location
Toronto
I made this video for a friend of mine and well here it is.

Its not the best video but its a good nudge into the right direction.

These instructions will NOT get you a mirror polish look. To get it extremely polished u'll need polishing compound which is done differently.

Materials:

1. Sandpaper ranging from 200 grit to about 1200 grit or more. (the lower grit gets the surface flat while the higher grits get it smooth)
2. Sheet of glass or very flat surface to lap on.
3. The thing you're going to lap.
4. Metal ruler or Razor Blade
5. Some isopropyl alcohol or similar cleaner.
6. Weak tape (make sure its not too strong like painter's tape or scotch tape)
7. (Optional) some water or soap water.

Instructions:

1. Before you even start lapping you want to test the base to see if its flat. If its pretty much flat then you might not even need to lap the heat sink. To test this use your razor blade and touch it to the surface you're going to lap. Hold it up to the light to see if any light is creeping from beneath the blade. Do this all over the base in different directions.

2. Depending on what you're lapping u'll want to tape over the sensitive areas so you don't get them dirty. For example the base of the CPU. (Strong tape might peel the pads off the base of cpu so make sure its not too strong)

3. So u'll want to put the lowest grit sand paper over the sheet of glass or flat surface. Tape it down if its easier for you.

4. Hold whatever you're lapping close to the base and slide it in one direction over the sand paper. You do not need to push extremely hard, just enough to feel it scratching the surface. While doing this you can use a little bit of water if you have wet use sand paper but make sure you dry it of quick because it will oxidize fast. Dab a bit more water every so often to keep it wet and clean.

5. Lift up the heat sink and sand it again in the same direction. You do not want to change directions yet. This ensures that you will be sanding the surface evenly.

6. When pretty much the whole base has scratches facing the same direction you can now turn the base 90 degrees and start sanding it again.

7. After you have done 360 degrees check your base to see if its flat. By now it should be easy to see by the naked eye because if its not flat there will be scratches facing directions other than the direction you've last sanded. You can use the razor blade method for more accuracy. If the base is not flat yet then repeat steps 4-7 with the lowest grit sand paper.

8. By now your base should be completely flat and you want to move up to the next grit level to begin smoothing out the surface. Just do the same steps as 4-7 and work your way up the grit range now.

9. When you are done with your highest grit sand paper all you have to do now is clean the base. Use the isopropyl alcohol and wipe the base down with a lint free cloth. Make sure at this point you DO NOT TOUCH the base or let anything else touch it for that matter.

Now that you're done if you want that mirror polish you can try using polishing compound and you're base might look like this:

y1p8puwgcBXoQjt2ZPue8ItN7hw1md8MT55BUDD8cbJmRDEWqSbCmneNnlXinLVgY0ISrk-vMoqDJE
 
Last edited:

SKYMTL

HardwareCanuck Review Editor
Staff member
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
12,840
Location
Montreal
Great post but can you also post in the original post the locations where you can get the higher-grit sandpaper?
 

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