custom heatsink :)

ok so i went to the hardware store and i was going to make a washer heatsink....i found perfect washers that fit into my flashlight, but i had to get a drill bit because the hole was too small.....unfortunately i was unable to get it to stay centered when drilling through them so i said screw it.....i went back to the hardware store, bought a bag of rubber fishing lures, some 60 second epoxy and another roll of solder.

i laid my flashlight down on a piece of paper and carefully place my laser module in the center of it, then i usede the bottom of a coke can and melted the fishing lures, once melted real nice i poured it in the the top of the flashlight, after cooling i took it out, trimmed it to size and i had a rubber heatsink now with this i got my 60second epoxy and poured over the rubber heatsink and let it harden, then i took the rubber out and i had a mold for a heatsink.......then i melted solder in the bottom of a coke can and poured it into the mold......

SO NOW I HAVE A CUSTOM FIT HEATSINK! WOOHOO!!!

it's not as smooth or pretty as a machines aluminum heatsink like jayrob's, but i think it will work nicely......would aluminum work better for heat dicipation, if so i may use melted down aluminum next time.

Thats nice Shame solder isn't *great* for heatsinking. ;D

was wondering about that.....i'm thinking of doing it again with melted down aluminum...i still have my little epoxy mold.....the solder slid right out so i didn't have to cut it out....

Aluminium would be ALOT better, solder isn't very thermally conductive, you'll notice that if your soldering , the heat doesnt usually spread very far up the solder ( Depends what combination of solder you use , I use 60/40 Tin/lead ) but whatever wire your soldering, or bit of metal, the heat spreads right up that, and sometimes burns your skin even through the insulation.

-Adam

think melted pennies would work too? or nickels?

Pennies would work, they have iron and copper in them, so I dont know how good they are, probably better than solder anyway .

Dont know anything about the thermal properties of nickel, might google that .

it is illegal to deface coinage though :

yeah but it's soooo much fun!

I agree

from a chart at it looks ike gold would be the best thing to make a heatsink out of....aluminum after that......

nickel isn't too well.....i think i'll just find some pieces of aluminum and melt them down and make a new heat sink.....

Actually Diamond is better than gold for heatsinking, but lets no go there .

Aluminium is cheap and effective, and relatively easy to melt

For an aluminum casting, you might want to take your rubber sample, and use it to make a mould from fireplace cement. Liquid aluminum is red hot, and will probably start an epoxy mould on fire, deforming the mould before the aluminum hardens. Fireplace cement can take up to 3000 degrees F. Since aluminum can be melted with a propane torch, you will probably get a very good result quite quickly. Maybe put a little white thermal heatsink compound on the aixiz housing before you slip it into your finished heatsink.

i tried it with aluminum and the outcome is quite well, it's not pretty, but i think it will work rather nicely....you were right though, the epoxy did set on fire (and a little bit of aluminum spalshed back out of the mold when i poured it)
but it kind of helped, it made the epoxy kind of soft and i just rip it apart to get to my heatsink....

Awesome! Upload a picture for us will you? :

pennies are zinc btw

MarioMaster said:

pennies are zinc btw

Click to expand...

Bronze (1971–1991)
Copper-plated steel (1992–)

Thats the mixture here in the UK