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Sanding your heatsink(not lapping!)

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Yuriman

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2002
Location
The OCFORUMS
I just had an interesting idea. It is best to have the bottom of the sink as smooth as possible, to transfer heat the best. But on the fins, you want turbulance. So what can you do? Sand them of course!

Take some low grit sandpaper, like 60, and rough up the fins on your heatsink. It will give it more surface area and create turbulance. Any thoughs on my idea?
 
I thought of this a long time ago. In theory, it will work. However, I don't know how much performance you would gain. And your heatsink will look like crap. :D

Give it a try and post the results. I don't think it can possibly hurt temps any.

-CPFitz-
 
I have always wondered about that. It may be time to take an old heatsink and see what the results are. Yuriman you are always thinking. Give it a try, and I will do the same. We can see if it does any good or just anouther good idea gone bad :)
 
It may work in some cases, but if the fins are already very thin, then it may work against you (like Thermalright SLK series). Rought fins would decrease/divert airflow.

However, It would not hurt to try, but I would not try it on something too expensive.
 
On the other hand, the roughness could potentially contribute to the formation of a boundary layer near the heatsink, causing airflow to stagnate and actually decreasing heat transfer ... Not really sure what would be more likely. Interesting idea. I'd be very curious to see your results. -- Paul
 
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