Those of you who have lapped before.....

How many different grit sandpapers did you use, how many should I use.

Where can I buy some good 3M wet/dry sanding paper preferably from a "chain" store

I did my H/S this summer and just went to my local hardware store, if you have any hardware store i would hope for its' own sake that it has a vast choice of different sand papers.

I started with 800, then 1000, then 1500. The only reason i chose 1500 is because that was the finest grit they had, it could have been better however it was good enough to do my hair in my HS .

Just remember to do the project on a flat surface, i used my sub from my z680's, a glass table would also work, have fun

yes, flat is the primary purpose.

I only used as fine as 600 grit (on a sheet of glass) myself (that's all I could get) and it actually worked pretty well.
I suppose the finer, the better. you're just gonna want to use more corse paper in the beginning to generally flatten out the entire surface. Then finer and finer grits to smooth the surface.

Actually I have found that alot of hardware stores do not carry the very fine grit sandpapers. If you want to fine those higher grits go to an automotive shop like a pep boys, auto zone, or track auto etc. Those finer grits are typically used for sanding paint jobs on cars and most hardware stores tend to stick their sand paper with the painting supplies so they only carry the lower grit stuff that is used for wood and stuff like that.

How much is the fine grit stuff per package?

should I just buy one of those Lapping Kits for 5 bucks, it gives you a sheet of 400 600 800 1000 1200 1500 and 2000 as well as polish if you want to use it, add two bucks and you get a piece of glass as well.

Does that sound like a deal or a rip off?

I'm happy with 600 then 800. If its grossly uneven then you can go down to 400. You'll notice that when your 800 starts to wear down, making sure to clean it under water every so often, that it can do a reasonable job of getting rid of any fine scratches that can interfere with the contact area.

Aristotle-IV said:

How much is the fine grit stuff per package?

should I just buy one of those Lapping Kits for 5 bucks, it gives you a sheet of 400 600 800 1000 1200 1500 and 2000 as well as polish if you want to use it, add two bucks and you get a piece of glass as well.

Does that sound like a deal or a rip off?

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What country are you in? I can tell you where I can get up to 1500grit from a chain store but if you're not in Canada then that really won't help much.

Can't remember the exact price per package but I recently bought individual packages of various grits (4 different packs) plus a small thing of superglue at an autoparts store and I think the total bill was less than $11.

Im from the US.

I just bought one of those kits it was like 10 bucks, and it gives all the high grits so i dont have to go looking for it.

I figure ill save money on gas not having to drive to 300 stores looking for the paper, especially at over 2USD per gallon

most automotive chain stores should have it.

Autozone has it.
I'm sure Kragen should have it.
Pep Boys should have it too.. you can try calling.

I know for a fact that Autozone carries a multi pack that contains 320, 400, 600 and 800 grit. Then individual packs of 800, 1000, 1500 and 2000 grit (overkill). I think you get 5 sheets per pack and they run about $2.50-$3.00 per pack.

I've lapped a couple heatsinks now. The first took forvever because I was using Dave's Lapping Kit , which starts with 600 grit and I should've started with 200 grit. The heatsink was pretty bad(it was just for practice) and I didn't realize it was taking forever until I was almost done.

I like Dave's Lapping Kit(email him for a price quote), but on rough heatsinks, it's best to go to the hardware store. My local hardware stores carry up to 600 grit which is all I feel is needed. If the heatsink is really bad, start with 220 grit(just briefly) and then 400 girt and end with 600 grit. If you wanted, you could even use some polishing compound(10,000 grit) and get the mirror finish without going through the finer grit papers.

The best thing to do is to just find an old heatsink and go with whatever your hardware store has. Lap the base and then decide whether it's good enough for you or not. If it isn't, then look into finding the finer grit papers.