What is lapping?

[unruli1]

What does it mean when someone says their Gorb is lapped?

[batboy]

Basically, you're sanding the base of the heatsink mirror smooth where it contacts the CPU slug. The best way is to tape some automotive wet/dry sandpaper down on a thick piece of plate glass, then move the heatsink in a circular manner, being careful to keep the heatsink flat on the glass. I started out with 400 grit, then progressively went to 600, 800, 1000, and 1200. I probably could of even went with 1500 for a nice final finish. Aluminum clogs the sandpaper badly, so flush the metal dust off periodically.

Trouble with the Orb is that the mounting bracket is nearly nonremoveable. Ok, you can remove it, but can't hardly get it back on. So I used a small square piece of steel stock and wrapped sandpaper around it. Anything that will fit and that is perfectly flat on one side will probably work. Those Golden Orbs have a lot of little concentric machine marks on the bottom that looks like tree rings in a stump. Plus the gold anodizing seems to prevent heat exchange too. I had noticeable cooling results when I lapped mine. Even better results when I lapped my new GlobalWin FOP.