insulglass

While the principle of diminishing returns applies here, you WILL see benefit from lapping progressively finer grades until you reach the point where the lapping scratches are smaller than the "active ingredient" particle size in your thermal interface material.

For AS5, that's at about the .5 micron point. And yes, I can get the supplies to lap down to the .3 micron level but it's a little on the pricey side. :-)

David

graysky

Agreed, I've read going beyond 800 grit is a waste of time and energy on a HS.

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insulglass

I heartily disagree, see post above. :-)

Although, I freely admit, each person has their own breaking point of time and effort spent. I go back to the dragstrip analogy... it takes a lot of extra work to get that extra 10HP out of a 600 HP engine. For some driver teams, it's worth the extra effort because that small bit might be the extra margin they need. For others on a time or money budget, it might not be worth it.

However, the extra time and effort to go through the higher grit ranges WILL produce further results. The BULK of the lapping advantage occurs as you near the 1200-1500 range, but there IS some additional gains to be made by going further. Actual lapping examples has borne this out time and time again.

David