- Joined
- May 5, 2005
- Location
- UK
I joined these forums less than a month ago, having absolutely no idea whatsoever what lapping was. This evening I have just completed my first attempt at it, so thought I would recount my experiences so that any other newcomers can discover this at some later date and learn from my mistakes, and be encouraged! (sorry for poor picture quality)
Ok, before I started I had this:
90minutes later I had this (and a pair of very wet trousers ):
I felt this was a pretty good result considering the highest grit I could find was 1500!
Now I'm not going to recount the precise details in here of how I got from A to B, as there is a lot of detailed information out there on how to do sp, and following it will yeald good results it seems. I would just like to say a few things to those considering trying this for the first time.
Firstly, it is easy. It's not complicated to understand, and it's not particularly time consuming either, you could even do it whilst watching tv!
Secondly, go easy on the water. If you overload the wet and dry paper with water, it seems to stick a little, so don't try and do it under running water like I started off doing!
Thirdly, cleanliness is next to Godliness has never been more true. Concentrate on keeping the paper clean of little specs of dirt that might fall onto the paper, as these will cause havoc with the heatsink!
Fourthly, use a really smooth surface to work on. I started on a piece of chipboard, and that did not cut it. I needed a piece of glass, which was located in the fridge - as the bottom shelf. Borrowing that for a little while shouldn't cause too much hassle, as long as you clean it well both before (see above for why) and after use.
Fifthly, don't get disheartened when you see new scratches appearing, or if you make a mistake (like dropping it onto a concrete paving slab
). Ok, so these will take a little time to work out, but they will go eventually.
Sixthly, don't get disheartened if you don't seem to be getting anywhere. I was about to give up after about an hour, until I looked at the surface from an angle, instead of directly head one - and I could see a proper reflection! This redoubled my workload and spurred me on; don't give up!
Finally, give it a go! All the wet and dry paper cost me only £4, and I have plenty left over; so it's cheap, you can't really break the heatsink, and you willl probably improve it!
Ok, before I started I had this:
90minutes later I had this (and a pair of very wet trousers
):
I felt this was a pretty good result considering the highest grit I could find was 1500!
Now I'm not going to recount the precise details in here of how I got from A to B, as there is a lot of detailed information out there on how to do sp, and following it will yeald good results it seems. I would just like to say a few things to those considering trying this for the first time.
Firstly, it is easy. It's not complicated to understand, and it's not particularly time consuming either, you could even do it whilst watching tv!
Secondly, go easy on the water. If you overload the wet and dry paper with water, it seems to stick a little, so don't try and do it under running water like I started off doing!
Thirdly, cleanliness is next to Godliness has never been more true. Concentrate on keeping the paper clean of little specs of dirt that might fall onto the paper, as these will cause havoc with the heatsink!
Fourthly, use a really smooth surface to work on. I started on a piece of chipboard, and that did not cut it. I needed a piece of glass, which was located in the fridge - as the bottom shelf. Borrowing that for a little while shouldn't cause too much hassle, as long as you clean it well both before (see above for why) and after use.
Fifthly, don't get disheartened when you see new scratches appearing, or if you make a mistake (like dropping it onto a concrete paving slab
). Ok, so these will take a little time to work out, but they will go eventually.Sixthly, don't get disheartened if you don't seem to be getting anywhere. I was about to give up after about an hour, until I looked at the surface from an angle, instead of directly head one - and I could see a proper reflection! This redoubled my workload and spurred me on; don't give up!
Finally, give it a go! All the wet and dry paper cost me only £4, and I have plenty left over; so it's cheap, you can't really break the heatsink, and you willl probably improve it!
