DX-200 heatsink

I was a little tired of my DX-200mW heating up and a little jealous of these guys with lathes so I decided to make my own heatsink. I used a wire brush and sandpaper to get the rubberized coating off the laser where the heatsink would go. Then I slid some o-rings onto the body followed placing thermal grease onto the body. After that I placed washers of various sizes, all 1/2" inner diameter, on the laser followed by more o-rings. Then I just glued the washers together.

It is removable since they were held together tightly when I glued them and the grease prevented the glue from bonding to the laser.

It does get warm after a few minutes of continuous use. Not the most beautiful thing in the world, but I could always paint it black. Besides, it serves its purpose. I will be making another one for my Leadlight sized lasers tomorrow.

A closer shot. A leadlight heatsink made this way would require smaller washers. Best bet is to take it to Home Depot with you and fit it there... I used aluminum and copper washers for this to reduce weight.

That is pretty inventive Steve (Nice one) pretty much any conductive mass you can add to the laser barrel will extend its duty cycle.

Good Job

Jase

looks like a well-constructed heatsink.. now lets see some pics of that baby in action !

now all you need is a thermal imager to see if it works ( i have one )

I have a webcam that see's very well in the IR range. It's so effective I can see the glow of white blue on my soldering iron.

Nice heatsinkage.

Was thinking of doing that to my X series.
I noticed the hottest part on it was the gold ring where "I assume" they screw in the modules.
It is the first thing to get hot before the heat starts to spread.

Do you think a personal heatsink for that lil spot would help.. I know it
wont give me a 100% duty cycle but it would help no?

Just waiting for it to come back from NOVA.

the caveat I have is that you will probably need to remove the paint/stickers to get maximum heat transfer. I guess it can't hurt to add one on (even with paint intact) and see if it improves duty cycle...

The only thing I would be worried about with the X-series is voiding the warranty before it expires. AFTER it expires, I say go for it ! But I owuld just ensure that you follow the duty cycle until then. My X-85 only heated up when I ran it (following duty cycle) during filming, for a few minutes, probably close to ten minutes - following a very strict duty cycle - 60second on, and 20 seconds off. After running like that for close to 30 minutes, it does get a little warm I suppose, but not enough that it worried me.

Yes, thats why I do not want to remove the paint. But would have to.
If the heatsink not tight on body, it will just hold the heat in.

I guess I will be nice to this one until my warranty is dead.

And again.. nice heatsink guy.