Using copper polish to lap copper shim

I'm replacing that little blue thermal pad with a copper shim to try and eliminate my TZS0 problem, so obviously I'm going to need to remove all the scratches on it. I have some 400 grit sandpaper to bevel the edges, but I'm having trouble tracking down 1000+ grit. I had an idea though. Would it be possible to use copper polish for this, the same kind you would use on kitchen utesils?

 

I hope he's just kidding.

 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006O8SN6...e=380337&creativeASIN=B0006O8SN6&linkCode=asn
Where did you look for it?

 

I can't order it online, don't have enough time. It has to be done tomorrow. I looked in home depot, but tomorrow I'm going to try a local hobby shop and if they don't have it, I'll see if there are places that do body work that would sell it.

 

.. Or napa, autozone, etc. Walmart will have it, probably Ace hardware..

 

I know walmart doesn't have it. I know it should, but I just called. But yeah, there's an autozone pretty close to where I am, so I'll try there too.

 

Autozone will have the super fine grit 3M sandpaper you want. You can also use automotive rubbing compound (in the section with the wax/polish). Rubbing compound is an extremely fine grit abrasive that's commonly used to remove swirl marks from paint. It'll work fine on metal though.

By the way, copper polish usually isn't abrasive. It uses a chemical reaction to remove the tarnish from the surface of the copper without scratching it. One of the best polishes I've used (that's non-abrasive) is some stuff called Flitz ( www.flitz.com). It's non-toxic, and is safe enough to use on almost anything (I frequently use it to clean thermal print heads, but I've even used it to clean fiberglass shower stalls, and even the rims on my car). The only places locally that I've seen it carried is at gun shops, believe it or not. Reason is that it's really good for removing the lead from a barrel without damaging it.

 

haha yeah flitz is some good Sh!t made my exhaust bling!

 

I've actually used Brasso to good effect for doing this. It's not abrasive, but by the time it stopped removing dirt from the heatsink, all the sctratches had been removed by the paper towels I was using to clean it. There was a lot of dirt on the heatsink, so it took many applications and many paper towels, but by the time I got to the point were there was no black residue left on the paper towel, the copper had a nice mirror finish to it.

 

lol, how did you get so much dirt on your heatsink?

 

Finally! After calling like every hobby shop and auto parts store in a 10 mile radius, I found a place that carries 2000 grit paper. Happy days.

 

Dirt and oxidation. You just don't know how dirty it gets until you try to polish it off. What looked clean to the naked eye was in fact anything but.