Dave Brown's Heatsink Lapping Kit

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
Dave Brown
Apr. 29, 2003

Specifications

Introduction

CPUs have gotten faster and faster over the past few years, and with speed comes heat. Heatsink/fan combos usually do a good job of relieving that heat, but this requires a perfectly flat contact surface between the CPU core and the heatsink. Sadly, not all companies will provide you with a perfectly flat heatsink contact area. This is where lapping comes in.

What is Lapping?

Lapping a heatsink is basically sanding it until it is perfectly flat. This requires several grades of sandpaper, from about 600 grit to 2000 grit and 10,000 grit polish. The higher the grit, the finer the sandpaper, and the smoother the sanding job. Now, this may seem like an easy task, but there are a few things you have to think about. First, you need a PERFECTLY level surface to sand on, otherwise the heatsink contact area may become angled and not properly fit only the CPU core. Second, when's the last time you had 2000 grit sandpaper laying around? And third, although it seems simple, do you know how to lap a heatsink properly?

This is where Dave's Lapping Kit comes in. Dave has made creating a perfectly flat heatsink easy with his kit. He has included all the necessary tools and instructions to get the job done.

The Kit

Included in this kit are:

A complete set of instructions

1/4 sheet of the following grit sandpaper
600
800
1000
1200
1500
2000

10,000 grit mirror finish polishing compound

An Optional Glass plate to be used as a perfectly flat work surface

The Process

I won't go into too much detail about how to lap your heatsink because Dave has included very good instructions with the kit, but here is the jist of it (NOTE: THESE ARE NOT INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO LAP, IT IS JUST AN OVERVIEW):

First you need to get all your stuff ready. Basically the kit and your heatsink. You will want to remove the fan so the metal dust doesn't get in there. Clean your heatsink and glass plate. You start with the lowest grit sandpaper, wet it, and sand using the glass as a surface. Go from lowest grit to highest, thoroughly rinsing sandpaper, glass, and heatsink in between each grit. When all that is done, you apply your polish.

That is the basics, and now I have a nice flat surface as opposed to the earlier nasty surface that Cooler Master provided me with.

One thing you should know about a flat heatsink is that shiny doesn't always mean flat. Some companies will sell a very shiny polished heatsink that has bumps, scratches, and irregularities on the surface. Don't always assume that shiny is flat.

Conclusion

After the lapping process, I can happily say that my CPU temperature has dropped about 4 degrees Celsius. Dave's kit was complete, and instructions were thorough. If you follow his instructions, you should have a beautifully flat heatsink and plenty of sandpaper and polish for a few more lapping jobs.

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