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Introduction Well ladies and gentleman, today I will be going through an in depth article that will show you how to properly Lap your ThermalRight SK-6. Along with this how-to I will attempt to show you the differences between an Unlapped SK-6 and a Lapped SK-6 with 3 different types of fans. The fans I will be using are the Sunon 60mm x 25mm 23.5CFM fan, YS-Tech 60mm x 25mm 40.1CFM fan, and the HAIR DRYER!@!#@! Actually it is the NEW Delta 60mm x 38mm 50.15CFM fan. The great guys over at CoolerGuys set me up with all the equipment that I will be using for this How-To. Very special thanks to Todd over there for getting all of the items to me and for trusting Dice when he said "Hey Todd, we have a newbie here that thinks he is good enough for VH....send him some stuff so we can see how bad he really is!!!!! Well I think I would be wrong also if I didn't give Wolfie some thanks to. How the heck Dice convinced him to give me a shot I will never know. And I probably don't want to know either ;p. Thanks Wolfie!!!
A little SK-6 History As you all pretty much know already, ThermalRight came out with the first heatsink that I have seen that competes like a natural born champion to the "KING OF THE HILL" Swiftech MC462. The SK-6 isn't as pretty of a heatsink as the Swiftech MC462 is, but better yet, it is way more handsome, a heck of a lot cheaper, and can perform just as good as the Swiftech MC462 if not better. I have (had actually) a Swiftech MC462 and used it for a while thinking I had the next best thing to water-cooling for my 1GHz T-Bird (AXIA) running rock hard and stable at 1.6GHz. Well, let it be known, that I was introduced to the SK-6 by Leroy-Jones from the Virtual-Hideout IRC channel on Enter The Game. I went ahead and purchased the SK-6 with the most popular 60mm fan, the Delta 38CFM. At first, I was far from impressed. My temps were 5c to 10c higher then my Swiftech, and I slipped with the screw driver putting the SK-6 on. No damage done, I decided it was time to see if a Lap Dance...I mean Lap Job to the base of the heatsink would cause it to perform a little better. I went out, bought all the sand paper I could find, came home, and commenced to lapping for 8 hours until I had a copper mirror in my hand. I reinstalled the SK-6 and noticed that I was now only 1c to 2c higher then my Swiftech. WOOHOO!!!!! Then came the biggest heatsink event in history. YS-Tech came out with a 60mm 40.1CFM fan that was more powerful and supposedly quieter then the Delta. I bought it from the first site I saw that had it. A few days later, and $20 less out of my PayPal, I received the YS-Tech. Took me all but about 1 minute to unwrap it and put it on the SK-6. Wallah!!!! I am now 1c to 2c better then my Swiftech. Once the members in the great VH forums got wind of my accomplishments with the SK-6, I got request after request for a How-To on my SK-6. After speaking with Dice and telling him my plans, he came up with this wild idea of me writing articles, reviews, and how-to's for Virtual-Hideout. WOW!!!@@#@! And now here we are. SK-6 Details Dimension: L64 x W72 x H31.6 (mm) --
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Please note. The heatsink I received is the 330 gram SK-6. The SK-6 I purchased a few months ago is the SK-6ab. The SK-6ab is 100 grams lighter, and what I found to be more proficient. Not by much though. Maybe 1°C to 2°C difference at most.
Tools To Be Used Lets see here. The only tools you will need for this project is your hands. If you do not have any hands, well then I guess you could use your feet. WHAT??? You don't have any feet either? Send me $100 and I will lap your SK-6 for you. Get your neighbor to install it when you get it back ;p. Just Kidding. We don't need any Human Rights People knocking on our doors. Besides your hands or feet or whatever you decide to use, you will need some sandpaper. I also decided to use Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish simply because it has a consistency of about a 3000 to 5000 grit texture. If you decide to use Mothers or any other brand of a Polisher, make sure you get a water based one so you can clean the base with water or rubbing alcohol insuring you get all of the compound removed from the heatsink.
The grits that I will be using in this How-To are:
You should be able to get all of these at a local hardware store, Auto Zone, Pepboys, and even Walmart. The 3M Imperial Wetordry sandpaper was purchased at Walmart for $3 a pack. Walmart Also carries a 2000 grit sandpaper that you can use as a finisher. The only reason I didn't use it was because my local Walmart didn't have any in stock, and the Mothers Polish would do the job of the 2000 grit sandpaper and then some. The Job At Hand (Or Feet ;p) Lapping a heatsink is the furthest thing from difficult I could ever imagine to tell you the truth. If you take your time, have patience, and at least 2 beers, this job will be a breeze for you. Remember, if you are in the USA and under 21, substitute the 2 beers for soda, milk, or water. I don't want your mother being mad and blaming me for you being an alcoholic case modder. One thing I have noticed about lapping a heatsink is it does involve some pain. If, for some reason during your lapping job, your arms do not hurt and your hands (or feet) do not hurt, you are either doing the job wrong, or you need to lay off of the steroids or the pain killers. If the base of your SK-6 isn't in the best condition, I would probably recommend using some thick leather gloves or maybe some winter gloves when doing the initial cutting/sanding of the heatsink. My hands were damn near bleeding on this one by the time I got a flat base to work with. << Back to Articles Page | Let's Lap Dance! >>
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