Scythe Ninja Lapping

[Warpy]

Well folks I just lapped my Scythe Ninja HSF that sits on my Q6600 G0. I have attached some pics, but unfortunately I didn't have any industrial polish to polish the cooler at the end. I guess after the AS5 has settled in (200hrs) I will be able to tell what temp drops are like.


I used dry/wet sandpaper with the following grit: 180, 360, 800, 1200


Here is the gear I used, I made sure the water was warm and soapy as the sandpaper does a much better job with that mixture. I didn't need to use the metholated spirits as the acetone did the job at cleaning out the AS5 thermal paste from the base of the HSF.


The Scythe Ninja HSF had to have the mounting clips removed and to od that the base was unscrewed.















I started of with grit 280 and made sure the Scythe Ninja HSF was firmly fixed to the sandpaper and as flat as possible, the HSF was then moved in circular motions until I could feel it easier to move around - I then moved to the next grit that being 360. I found that by 800 I was pretty much able to iron out any scratches or markings - I did move to 1200 grit - the whole process took about 30mins.

I have a feeling my CPU may not be flat though as I still get a 8 degree temp difference between Core 1 and 3, and I really wish I had some boot polish to show the results properly!

 

[Warpy]

Great post mate, i just bought some W+D sandpaper from Halfords (Assorted Mix), lapping my 4300 tomorrow. Got a P182, Tunic Tower and some Skythe S-Flex fans coming so should be an intresting day tomorrow.

Is water required for lapping? Did you use water for both CPU and HSF?
Also, what does boot polish do? Thought you could just use criss-crossed paper to check if its flat!

Any help appreciated!

Hi

I didn't lap the CPU - just the HSF, the polish is to shine the HSF after you have lapped it - not essential but looks good.

If your using water with wet/dry sandpaper for lapping a CPU, I'd suggest you be very careful not to get water in the underside of the CPU were the metal pins are... I guess you could just avoid using water/soap.

I used a glass table to make sure it was flat

 

[Warpy]

Yeah it is.... im not sure if i did it right? I get the following temps:

Core 1: 45
Core 2: 46
Core 3: 37
Core 4: 42

EDIT: The surface appeared to be smooth when I was making circular motions on the sandpaper - I just couldn't get it looking smooth.

 

[Warpy]

Its hard to say man but from that photo it looks totally ******



I gotta say I am not a fan of this 'circular motion' business, I read thats how u do it when I first started lapping and I mashed up a Thermalright SP94 doing it that way, it came out totally warpy, more fool me for not practicing on something cheap first.

Anyway depending on who you talk to they will say do it this way or do it that way etc but through trial and error I found out what works best for me, maybe it can work for you too. The real improvement came when I stopped doing that circular motion thing and instead just did simple 'back and forth' about 15-30 times then just rotate the heatsink and continue back and forth, then rotate etc. Soon enough the base is quite flat and smooth. I start off with 240grit if the base is bad and progress to 400 grit. I always finish off with a gentle back and forth motion to get the final cut just right (i.e all the visible lines are straight).

When u get time maybe you can try the back and forth motion on your heatsink, you should be able to see straight away the improvement!

Thanks for the info... I will try this tomorrow - I hope I haven't mashed up the HSF!

 

[Warpy]

Well don't worry to much because you can always get it flat and smooth proper, the only thing working against you is that to some extent if you lap too much from the base the clips/retention mechanism will not apply as much pressure because a slith of the base is not there anymore. If you have some kinda heatsink that has an adjustable fitting mechanism/screws etc then you don't have to worry so much because an extra half turn on the screws puts the pressure back.

As with everything practice makes perfect, deffo try the back and forth method (with regular rotations), at the very least do it this way to finish, A straight cut with 400 grit appears smoother to me than the standard finish you see with a premium heatsink.

I think the first thing I lapped was a BGA ramsink (tiny), hehe a Scythe Ninja is quite a handful, you must really work up a sweat shifting that bugger about, no need for the gym just a few reps with the Scythe Ninja and your muscles will be toned!

Roger!

I'll head to down tot he hardware store today and get some more wet/dry sandpaper and give it a crack