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Don't lap with a dremel

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hoytron

Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2001
Location
Duluth, MN
So I got my first rotary tool yesterday, and I must say that it is the greatest tool I've ever owned. I don't know how I ever lived without it. Now I'm gonna have to get a digital camera to show off all of my mod projects as I complete them. Anyway, I got a little anxious with it, and tried to lap some old heatsinks to see how good of a job it would do. I was cutting up an old cyrix cooler to make ramsinks, (this tool is awesome!!!) and I was left with a large middle chunk I couldn't use. I noticed that the bottom was very rigid, so I tried to lap it with the dremel. It got pretty smooth, but nowhere near flat. I'm glad I learned my lesson with an expendable heatsink.
 
Good job! :D

Has anyone ever tried lapping a heatsink with a rock pollisher? seems like it might work...
 
I wouldn't try any of the methods listed. Would be too difficult to keep it flat.
 
NiTrO bOiE said:
Do belt sanders work? Or do the sheets only come in coarse grit?

They work, but they're nowhere near as flat as glass. Use these only if your heatsink is REALLY warped.
 
don't lap a heatsink with anything thats round... you can polish if u like but you won't get very flat inless you use something flat.. best results are achieved slowly by hand with sandpaper in steps.
 
Im sure theres a better faster way then just sandpaper and glass. But nobody has a diamond grinding... or rock sander... in there garage. Sand paper is cheap and I have the time!!!
 
NiTrO bOiE said:
Glass is used as the surface since it is flat. If you don't have any glass laying around, use a mirror.

you mean glass;) (since the general house hold mirror is glass with some metalic reflectivy stuff behind it) :D
 
I think that the best method of lapping is to first to a fine sandpaper, 1400. Then finish it off with the finest steel wool you can get.

Thank you,
Daniel
 
arabarabian said:
I think that the best method of lapping is to first to a fine sandpaper, 1400. Then finish it off with the finest steel wool you can get.

Thank you,
Daniel

Uhh, after 600 grit nothing else matters....
 
Used an industrial millingmachine..CNC one.
Flat and very very smooth;)
But then again who has access to such stuff...hehe
 
I sometimes worry that my 1/4" thick glass I use isn't flat enough.

It sits on top of my dresser, and I just tape the sandpaper onto the glass where it is.
but I'm always thinking what could be flatter.
I saw an inch-thick piece of sampe granite (foot-by-foot) at the hardware store, i think it was meant for countertops, but the thing that caught my eye was how well it was polished. But then I wondered how flat they pollished it. It seemed pretty flat, but they could have just polished it and buffed it and it wasn't flat at all. How do you know how flat it is?
 
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