just an excuse to show gratuitous pictures of my Sinkpads - the one on the right is stock, the one on the left has been sanded and polished with 800>1000>1500>2000>2500>Mother's Mag polish. I honestly couldn't tell you if it makes a difference to light output (although they often need a higher iron temperature to solder), but it satisfies the obsessive-compulsive in me :)
Shocking Nude photography !
The one on the left looks as smooth as a baby’s bum 
yep, the one on the right was as rough as a drunken sailor, whereas the one on the left could have been introduced to the Queen without fear of embarrassment 
I saw "nude" in the title and....
yup
Thats some serious buffing, you must have a good wrist action there, mind you dont get rsi!
Woody
I’m sorry guys, in some circles/ websites this would be considered pretty raunchy.
Hopback - many hours of diligent practice have built up the appropriate muscles…
Whoa, at least put some pasties over those!
Am I the only one that’s thought of taking copper shavings and melting them into the recess left behind by the thermal pad? That needs to be filled up, leveled off and polished flat like the rest of the back of the star. I have a copper bar that’s a quarter inch thick and an inch wide, been thinking about using that under the copper star with the aluminum plug heatsink under that to further get rid of the ugly heat issue. I’ve read that while copper can absorb more heat faster than aluminum, aluminum is better at shedding it.
Things that make ya go hmmmm…
And you could have at least had a a decent reflection in that polished one to go with the title…geesh! 
sorry man, I’ll see if I can photoshop some dignity onto those stars
being called obsessive could be taken as a compliment you know At least it is going by other things my wife calls me…
I thought about filling that recess, but the rest of the star is in complete metal-metal contact with the core, so I doubt I’d be able to fill it with anything that has better thermal transfer than that interface.
I’ll see if I can find one of the girls’ barbies and set up a pose for the next one
Melting copper with stuff you have at home? Have fun..^^
Filling the gap with solder would work though.. even if it only makes a difference for your conscience. ;)
Nice polishing work. I've done the same, works really well. Its also interesting how uneven all the stars are, even if the look flat at first glance.
Don’t even get me started on the “stuff you have at home” issue, I’ve done that one many times before just to prove the naysayers wrong. Who knows what I’ve got over here? lol
And when it starts off as a powder it’s that much easier.
Well, to get a proper bonding between all the parts you have to apply a lot of heat. I dont know if the traces and stuff would like that.. just saying, I dont want to keep you from trying. ;)