Sometimes after a hard week, you need something to help you wind down. Some people like doing yoga or listening to music. But maybe that doesn't do it for you. Maybe you're more into watching videos of the hypnotic CPU heatsink skiving process. I get you, and I'm here to help give you what you need.
A video of CPU heatsinks being manufactured last year has been making the rounds this week courtesy of Twitter user @rombik_su (thanks Kotaku). It's actually one of many videos of heatsinks being mass produced overseas from this YouTube channel, which shows the cathartic skiving process.
Skiving involves large slabs of copper (or aluminum) being thinly sliced by a precision machine, after which the fins are folded up into the recognizable tightly-spaced vertical position you've seen on all heatsinks. The thickness and spacing of each slice can be programmed down the millimeter. It is like watching pieces of deli meat get sliced. It's great.
I used to work at an equipment manufacturer, and one of my favorite things to do on my lunch break was watching the precision CNC machine do its thing. These videos do give me a greater appreciation for the heatsink, the most underappreciated PC component.
The benefit of skiving is that it increases the roughness of the fins, which allows for better heat dissipation and heat transfer. According to Profimach, a manufacturer of skiving machines, the process allows for better thermal conductivity and lower costs than the traditional machine die-cast or extruded process. More importantly, it looks awesome.
