Nothing much impressive. Just want to share about my ninja lapped few weeks ago.














Using sandpaper grit -> 500>800>1000>1500>2000
Got around 10degrees drop.

Pictures taken using w810i

6600 to mirror perfection



thx neoxz

This post has been edited by neoxz: Nov 16 2007, 02:08 AM

Lapping Guide -By lolhalol

Ok here we go. Lapping, lapping, lapping, I know you would have heard about lapping from somewhere and wondered what it was. Well lapping is processes of sanding something to make it more flat. In our case, the bases of our heat sinks (or processors) to have improved contact with the processor or vice versa to further improve the thermal transfer between the heat sink and the processor or vice versa. The more contact both have, the better cooling is achieved. Nothing is flat, and lapping is one of the solutions we have to achieve better results. However, lapping doesn't fully make everything better. That's where thermal compounds come into play. They will fill in the microscopic valleys of the two metals. By lapping you are
reducing the size of the microscopic valleys thus making the thermal compound and metals work more efficiently. Lapping works and every heat sink you lap will give you experience to know just how flat those heat sinks really are.

Ok here is what you need:-
1) 800Grit Sandpaper, you can use any brand.
2) 1500Grit sandpaper, you can use any brand.
3) A piece of glass or mirror ( make sure its big enough for your sandpaper )
4) A rag/old cloth or a tack cloth
5) Arctic Silver 5
6) A glass of water
7) A roll of masking tape or any kind of tape
8) And obviously your heat sink or whatever you want to lap, in my case my Swiftech Storm G4 Rev.2.

This was the Storm before it was lapped.


As you can see it was already pretty flat to begin with, look at the TIM spread out so well. I know, many of you guys will be like, don't lap a Swiftech block, you will only, make it worse. Well to tell u the truth, when I got it, and after I lapped it, I had a 1 degree drop, so I don't really care what you say. Of course you might have a different result. Ok enough bickering, let's move on.

Step 1: Take your piece of glass and lay it on some old newspapers or a magazine so that its lifted off the table or your workbench, this is so that you can easily move the glass or flip it over later.


Step 2: Take the 800grit sandpaper and lay it out on the glass. Then tape it onto the glass using the roll of masking tape.


Step 3: Take your 1500grit sandpaper and lay it out onto the other side of the glass using the same way as step 2.


Step 4: Pour a small amount of water onto the 800grit sandpaper side of the glass.


Step 5: Disassemble your heat sink, all fans, led's, anything that can be removed please do so now. In my case, I remove four bolts to get the cooper base out.



Step 6: Put your heat sink into the water that's on your sandpaper.


Step 7: Grab hold of your heat sink/block and with even pressure, move it around in any way that is easier for you, figure 8, up-down, left-right, all is ok, and you can even mix the movement. You would know when to stop when you don't feel resistance (resistance from both directions left-right, up-down). Use your own judgment for this. The following picture is after 800grit.








This post has been edited by DaRkSyThE: Jan 28 2007, 03:32 PM

Step 8: Pour a small amount of water onto the 1500 grit side of the glass.


Step 9: Repeat steps 6 and 7. And the following picture is after 1500 grit.


Step 10: Now this step if you don't want to do you can skip, but this is for those who have extra Arctic Silver 5 lying around. Ok, first put a small blob of Arctic Silver 5 onto the centre of the base. If you haven't figured it out yet, we will be using Arctic Silver 5 as a rubbing/polishing compound. You won't get a mirror finish but this enables you to really fill out the micro gaps. Take your cloth and really rub the Arctic Silver 5 into the base, you will notice that the cloth "sucks" up the Arctic Silver 5, so try your best to rub as much of the Arctic Silver 5 on the cloth onto the base.



Here is the base after I "polished" with Arctic Silver 5.


Step 11: Now install everything you took out from your heat sink/water block, and install it back into your case. Apply your preferred TIM, like mine is Arctic Silver 5. (For users of Arctic Silver 5, look to the end of the guide for "Instructions for Arctic Silver 5" sourced from the manufacturer's website. You should see a 1~5 degree Celsius drop from your old temperatures. Oh and of course clean up after you're self, or else the missus or the girlfriend will be after you. (Highlight in red) You STILL HAVE TO APPLY TIM to your heat sink/water block.

Notes:

Having a mirror finish is not what we are after, look for "techpowerup lapping article" article at the end of the guide, but having a mirror finish sometimes comes naturally if you lap with 2000grit sandpaper, but I have had no real improvements by lapping with 2000grit.

If you touch the heat sink and it feels warm, you know that the heat sink is making a difference. The heat sink and the thermal pad/compound is absorbing the heat and dissipating it away. If I used a bigger heat sink the area of dissipated heat would become greater because you have a bigger surface area to move away heat. Lapping works, there is no reason why it wouldn't. Lapping is a bit tiring but is well worth the effort to get every last ounce of performance and cooling off your product.

Link to techpowerup lapping article, scroll down to the " Do i want a miror Finish" if you don't want to read the whole article.
Click Here
Attachment for the as5 installation.[attachmentid=186255]

Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any damages that resulted from following this guide directly or indirectly.

P/s sorry for the crappy photos, will post high res ones if requested.


thx lolhalol

This post has been edited by DaRkSyThE: Jan 28 2007, 03:45 PM

i cant find 2000grid sand papers at my place .
ive learned one thing from my own heatsink lappin , i didnt lap the surface evenly , so there is a sinking in the center where the CPU contacts with it , so my CPU will have a suction between the CPU and the sink .

This post has been edited by LWRNCH6550: Nov 5 2006, 06:10 PM

10 degrees ??
That's really a lot.

You should include some pics while you are lapping though, lol

Thanks IcEMoCHa. GREAT work there!

This post has been edited by neoxz: Nov 16 2007, 02:01 AM

bro.. lapping mean u use the sand paper. to sand until shine eyh???
why it increases the performance??

Bro can teach us how to properly lapped our HSF... if can lower by 10c is really good...my cooler isnt cooling my proc enuff maybe by lapping it can help alot since the surface aint that smooth....come come teach us

Actually it's bad like tat.

Lap to make the contact area as flat as possible, so there will be more contact area.

Lapping is actually easy, but it'll indeed take lots of patience and time.

very nice job..sure take alot of energy

care to teach me i need to cool my proc a lot before try OCing.my load temp on stok speed kinda high

Wow, smooth like a mirror. Maybe you can help us by doing some lapping services here

a step by step way to do it shud be nice and it shud be pinned!!!!

Ok.

I think there are some people in here who already do so.

Hahhaa. I'll be delighted to. but i do not have pictures step by step. Wont it be nice to have it step by step with pics?

nice....

i got the same result too when i lapped my XP-120 to copper base with mirror finish. 10C drop using same grit sandpaper as neoxz

and for those of you who wants to lap...just google up guides...there are tonnes of it out there.... thats exactly what i did when i wanted to lap my XP-120. i picked one and just stick with that guide

This post has been edited by mADmAN: Nov 5 2006, 08:04 PM

google now is a verb..

can i lap my stock lga775 hsink????
last time i checked,, the themal paste kinnda like rubber..
is that normal thermal paste??
i mean, the one i always see in lowyat.. the one in injection...
if i lap,, that mean i hav to buy new one rite.. ehmm..

very nice job lapping.. couldn't have been easy with that heavy and huge ass ninja

Definately u can lapped ur stok but the diff wont be as much since ninja is a high end HSF.for thermal paste get those Artic silver5 my fren will cost u a bit but its worth the buy

#do u really need the piece of glass any alternative...any g power pro user here how to disassemble the fan?

This post has been edited by styloe: Nov 5 2006, 08:40 PM

ehmm.. so,, thermal paste harden like rubber eyh???
thanks for the knowldege..

i hope anyone can enlight me.. how hard to lap the ninja??
why so hard??

one thing is because it darn heavy