Apparantly sanding heatsinks allows better heat dissapation.

[ShockSlayer]

Topic title, HDC from BH told me, in an IM convo.

Hey guys. This is a trick, which I've learned from a certified electrician (and the owner of a computer repair store.)

If you look at any big speakers, you will notice most have a heatsink that is external. (On the back of the unit.)

Don't touch the heatsink, want to know why? Any good pair of speakers will have a SHARP heatsink. (Aka: Its sharp because its roughed up. Not sanded smooth.) Want to know why? Simple.

A roughed up heatsink that is not sanded smooth, will disperse heat better. Don't ask me how, but I've been told this by a lot of people.

Now, how do you make your silky smooth heatsink, into a rough and tough bad boy? Well...

Try sanding it with heavy grit/heavy coarse sandpaper. Rough it up. Make it so it isnt pretty, and so it will look like it has slivers. (Or you could somehow grind/dremel it.)


There ya go!
-HDC

Discuss? I think its a neat trick.

SS

 

[grossaffe]

makes sense, sanding it gives it a rought surface, which means more surface area per two-dimensional square-inch.

 

[XCVG]

makes sense, sanding it gives it a rought surface, which means more surface area per two-dimensional square-inch.

Aw, you beat me to it. Although plausible, I've never seen this. It will give you a little more surface area, and a little better cooling, but it's not significant, and people like nice finish quality.

 

[neverused]

The greater surface area would allow a better transfer of heat. The rough ridges or areas would basically act like small "fins."

 

[eurddrue]

didn't read the replies, but more surface area is what it does.

 

[Basement_Modder]

Sweet! Now I have an excuse to make my heatsink thinner

 

[DNT 2.5]

Couldn't that damage internal wires, or are these external fins? Regardless, if I roughed them up, I would hurt myself.

 

[jleemero]

Yup.

There are two sides to sanding heatsinks:

Lapping, and Coursing.

Lapping ANY heatsink is a plus, and in computers, doing it to the processor is a good idea too.
Basically it consists of sanding the portion that will contact your processor with progressively finer sandpaper until you get it mirror smooth.
People do this to processors as well.
Don't try it with an IC. (eurdrue)

Coursing the fins of a heatsink help with heat dissipation as well.
Rough 'em up, you end up with greater surface area, and if you know anything about heatsinks, you know this is a good thing.

 

[Basement_Modder]

Couldn't that damage internal wires, or are these external fins? Regardless, if I roughed them up, I would hurt myself.

WTF? A heatsink is a piece of metal used to disperse heat from IC's. There is nothing electronic about them.

 

[XCVG]

Wires if not well secured could rub and may short out. Also, for external heatsinks I wouldn't do it, because it looks ugly. Bottom line is that the difference isn't that much, and usually doesn't warrent the tradeoffs.

Ah yes, lapping, unnecessary for most things other than overclocking. My advice to you is to learn to use the proper amount of thermal paste first.

 

[eurddrue]

(eurdrue)

Bah, you misspelled my name (I did get that working finally, but I have no PAL games)

I would hurt myself.

Afraid of sandpaper?

 

[PalmerTech]

Wait a sec... You believed something HDC said without making sure it was true first?

He came on AIM to brag to me about being quoted, but in reality, this is mostly BS. It is true that this is good for SOME heatsinks, but only ones that do not have a fan passing air by them and are already mostly flat, inefficient. There is a reason that multi-billion dollar companies are using smooth heatsinks, and it is not that they are stupid. Air flows a lot more smoothly over a smooth heatsink, and heat dissipation will thus be better. The amount of surface area that this adds is minimal, and you need to keep in mind that if you are realy doing serious sanding, you are removing some of the mass that was dissipating heat. If you really want to put this idea into effect, you should use a dremel to make a lot of shallow, thin grooves on your heatsink. I will agree that for open air heatsinks with large flat areas, this could possibly be helpful, but for portable or anything with a fan, it is pointless.

To be honest, the gain/loss either way is minuscule. Remember, if you ever have a great idea, the first thing you need to do is to wonder: "Why has nobody done it this way before?". Generally, you will end up narrowing your field of ideas to ones that actually matter.

 

[ShockSlayer]

Okay then! Lesson learned: Piss off the sheriff, and he'll find a way to put you in jail. (Piss off palmertech, and he will find the contradictions) (Piss of ShockSlayer, and you will get ShockSlayed, or get ) (Piss of eurddrue, and you will get flamed with koolaid) (piss off the word filter and you...*shot*)

SS

 

[epicelite]

HAY YOU GUIZE!

It is called "lapping" just so you know. The point is to make the bottom more flat, giving it a mirror finish. Then you do the same to the thing your putting the HS onto. Don't forget some thermal compound like AS5.

 

[jleemero]

HAY YOU GUIZE!

1) I already talked about lapping.
2) What this thread was started for was NOT lapping, but something else entirely.

 

[Bibin]

HAY YOU GUIZE!

1) I already talked about lapping.
2) What this thread was started for was NOT lapping, but something else entirely.

Heh.