I am planning on lapping my T.Tower 120 also but i need to know how do you tell that the surface is exactly even. I know the razor blade trick but can you visually 'see' the surface being even when you lap? I'm asking since i lapped my Freezer 7 pro and well some ppl told me to do about 10 reptitions and turn the HS and repeat but sometimes the surface is still uneven. I gues the question is do you go with the repitions or with wat your eyes see?
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Lapping a heatsink...one relevant question....
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BillParrish
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your eyes, you can easily see that the sandpaper has effected the entire surface (flat) or not (not flat) from the sanding marks. You MUST be lapping with the sandpaper on a flat surface, a pane of float glass is best (window pane glass or glass from a picture frame).
Also you can "feel" when the sandpaper stops "cutting" hard when the surface is even if you are doing it properly, letting the sandpaper do the work and not pressing down too hard.
Also you can "feel" when the sandpaper stops "cutting" hard when the surface is even if you are doing it properly, letting the sandpaper do the work and not pressing down too hard.
Yup I have the glass and stuff but when i initially start off with w/e 200, 400 grits its really hard to get an even lap. Plus if its visual then why the ten rep. suggestion?
BillParrish
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eeeeeent. two questions, you lose, thanks for playing. J/K.
I don't know here the 10 reps came from.
lay the sandpaper on the glass, grit side up, fold it over the edges and make sure it is laying flat on the glass and will not bunch up. Dribble some water on it, (I do it under a dripping kitchen faucet or in a shallow wide container with water in the bottom and splash some on the paper fairly often. )
lay the base of the heatsink on the wet paper and gently rub, lifting it up and checking every so often until you see and feel the entire surface has been "hit" by the sand paper. move to the next finer grade, repeat.
The water washes away the by products of the sanding operation, so dribble water often.
There is no "repetition" you do it with each grade of paper until its uniform per above, can take 10 min can take an hour to cycle through to the very finest grit you use, just depends on how out of flat it is.
It does tend to go faster after the first couple of courser grits as you should have gotten most of the unevenness out. Its a bummer when the center of the HS is depressed as that typically takes a lot more work to sand the edges down to meet the center. As opposed to the center being raised up which is easy (faster) to sand down to meet the edges.
I don't know here the 10 reps came from.
lay the sandpaper on the glass, grit side up, fold it over the edges and make sure it is laying flat on the glass and will not bunch up. Dribble some water on it, (I do it under a dripping kitchen faucet or in a shallow wide container with water in the bottom and splash some on the paper fairly often. )
lay the base of the heatsink on the wet paper and gently rub, lifting it up and checking every so often until you see and feel the entire surface has been "hit" by the sand paper. move to the next finer grade, repeat.
The water washes away the by products of the sanding operation, so dribble water often.
There is no "repetition" you do it with each grade of paper until its uniform per above, can take 10 min can take an hour to cycle through to the very finest grit you use, just depends on how out of flat it is.
It does tend to go faster after the first couple of courser grits as you should have gotten most of the unevenness out. Its a bummer when the center of the HS is depressed as that typically takes a lot more work to sand the edges down to meet the center. As opposed to the center being raised up which is easy (faster) to sand down to meet the edges.
Arcygenical
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I just use a 2mm square graph paper to check for flatness.
IF the reflection isn't at all warped, FTW.
IF the reflection isn't at all warped, FTW.
FallenMystic
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I use the piece of glass and set it on the HS surface with a drop of water centered on the sink, once you set the glass down, (straight down,) you'll see airbubbles if the surface is uneven.
If this is unclear/doesn't make sense let me know I'll try to clarify it.
If this is unclear/doesn't make sense let me know I'll try to clarify it.
Great advice. I appreciate it. So i guess its wat you see is wat you get.
Thanks to those who replied.
serialtoon
Limp Gawd
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I so need to do this. I also have a Tuniq Tower and it wasnt exactly smooth. I cannot remember if it was flat tho.
Thats right after buying a high end cooler i wanna squeeze every ounce of cooling out of it thats why i decided to lap the HS. i'm not brave enough to lap the processor yet but i might do so after buying the newly rev. quad or dual cores coming out "post-july 22nd".
Till then i'm sticking to just messing with the Tuniq.
BillParrish
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Thats right after buying a high end cooler i wanna squeeze every ounce of cooling out of it thats why i decided to lap the HS. I'm not brave enough to lap the processor yet but i might do so after buying the newly rev. quad or dual cores coming out "post-july 22nd".
Till then i'm sticking to just messing with the Tuniq.
Dont want to talk you into something you are not comfortable with, but with the new packaging (no little pins to break off) doing the CPU is a piece of cake. Course no sending it back. I always was scared of doing it and its not a big deal, just did mine a few weeks ago. Same method, just wipe it off good with alcohol after you are done and let it air dry for an hour or put in a warm window or hairdryer on low. Reason I am pushing you is that my heatsink, well waterblock actually, was pretty flat and needed almost no work, the IHS was awfull, not even close to flat. Someone just did one and posted here with pics. You might want to take a look.
Write down all the codes and stuff on the cpu heatspreader, never know when you might want to look something up.
I think i might just lap my IHS since I've seen many ppl do it. Plus if i do screw up CPu's will be cheap enough to purchase too. The only question i have is how do you cover the pinless underside of the CPU while lapping. Did you use the plastic black cover that came with the retail box?
These tuniq's i tell ya are like drugs .........can't live with 'em can't live without 'em.
liquidfluidity
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I just finished lapping my heatsink - an Ultra Chilltec. You'd think for the amount of money that is charged for some of these coolers that their machining would be better. I had some pretty bad imperfections through the center and off to one side. I spent about 2.5 hours on it last night and another hour today. The defects were low spots! I used dish soap , water , 800 , 1500 , 2000 grit w/d sandpaper. I wish I would have started with something coarser but I'm pretty anal about things and didn't want to take any more than I had to off. I paid for it with time spent. In the end , though , I think it will be worth it as I ended up with a mirror finish that you could read in. Unfortunately I don't have an initial temp reading for comparison but I in no way wanted to remove this behemoth again and after seeing what kind of defects it had , I'm glad to have done it before installation.
All I can say is take your time and have patience. You'll be able to see when it's done. There is no rule about how many times to go over it. Just do it 'till it looks right. Good luck!
I used dish soap , water , 800 , 1500 , 2000 grit w/d sandpaper. I wish I would have started with something coarser but I'm pretty anal about things and didn't want to take any more than I had to off. I paid for it with time spent. In the end , though , I think it will be worth it as I ended up with a mirror finish that you could read in. Unfortunately I don't have an initial temp reading for comparison but I in no way wanted to remove this behemoth again and after seeing what kind of defects it had , I'm glad to have done it before installation.All I can say is take your time and have patience. You'll be able to see when it's done. There is no rule about how many times to go over it. Just do it 'till it looks right. Good luck!
BillParrish
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don't even bother, its ceramic, an the "balls" are sealed with solder, don't dunk the thing in a glass of water or anything, but don't worry about it, dribble water on the paper, hold by the edges and go to it, wipe it off front and back with alcohol, let it dry or hit it with a hairdryer on low for a few minutes and pop it back in. I am assuming a C2D with IHS. plastic cover cant hurt. dont walk over carpet in your socks skuffing your feet
Yup its the E6300 the same as yours.