Skip the Arctic pads 30 second of time saving, and use silver paste like CPUs and GPUs use. You wont ever have to remove the KAAAHB from its heatsink for the most part. Use proper T.I.M. (Thermal Interface Material) like brand name Arctic Silver goo. Comes in a little tube and a $15 tube will last forever. Just a DOT, less is more here. Too much will actually keep the heat from transfering. Good quality machined aluminum...like every annodized pinfin and machined heatsink I have seen thus far... only needs a smidgen and that is to make for a level surface at the microscopic level. Use masking tape to keep it from getting messy at all...put a tiny size pea dot on a CLU048....grab a trapezoid razor blade or a paint brush like my buddy swears by and make it uniform and THIN. Heat is the worst thing you can do to your new LEDs...get that heat off there proper. Also.....from personal experience, the Mechatronix heatsinks are STOOPID nice, and If I was gonna do it all over, I would get those.
