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FrozenGate by Avery

Use of Silver for a Heatsink?

Teslanium

Teslanium

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Feb 22, 2012
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Yes, I realize that silver is far more expensive than copper, but has anyone considered or used it for a heatsink, especially for small/micro builds, seeing as silver has several percent better thermal conductivity than copper? A common one troy ounce silver round currently runs around US$32-34; at usually +-3-4mm thickness and +-30-40mm diameter, would this be sufficient for a A-140 type diode pressed into the center?

I might be splitting hairs here, but it seems to me that since thermal management is very high on the desirability list, might silver have potential use in spite of its cost?

Just throwing it out there for comment.:pop:

TIA,
T.
 
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No need for creating two threads for a question that has been answered several times before ;)

Would ask a mod to delete at least one of your threads, and I´m sure you´ll find the answers due using the search bar :)
 
Wolfman has a solid silver laser. Check out his build.
 
Yup - I do have a solid silver host. The specific heat of silver, per gram, is lower than that of copper, but you can really notice the great thermal conductivity. The host heats up very quickly when the laser is on, which indicates that the host is reaching thermal equilibrium very quickly.
 
Pardon, but I did not intentionally create "two threads for a question that has been answered several times before". I started one thread simply as an FYI, no questions asked. OTOH the "other thread" IS a specific question, for which I have received useful information. The two are not the same and should not be treated or understood as such.
I sincerely apologize for any misunderstanding and will search more diligently in the future.

Looking up your silver build now, Wolfman.

T.
 
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I have wanted to use silver in my lasers for quite some time, but everyone keeps saying its too expensive and hard to machine :(, I have a few coins/rounds that I wouldn't mind turning into heat sinks, I just think it would be pretty hard to achieve good contact for maximum thermal conductivity and attaching a host/wires for a power supply, I would be very interested to see what others have to say.

It truly is amazing how fast silver heats up (and cools down) :D
 
I have a bunch of pre 64 silver coins, that are not in collectable condition but they are 90% pure silver I've got a least a 2 lb bag of such coins.

I'm thinking mix in some copper as well and i could melt it down and then have it machined.

Though i hate to loose the history of the coins. As they were handed down to me from my parents. Smart of my father to just horde a bunch of pre 64 coins.

Is silver hard to work with??
 
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Please don't do that, bullion coins are one thing, but that's history right there and there will always be people looking for old silver coins.

I have never understood melting old coins like that, like in Australia people keep melting all of the 92.5% and 50% coins and now they are starting to get more expensive because of it.

I would suggest just putting the coins away until you are ready to sell or pass on to your kids or something, or even sell them now and use the money to buy a kilo bar of silver (currently under $1000 each) and just mix that with copper instead of the old currency

That's my two cents

Billy
 
I likely won't.

however i've gone through ALL of em and hand picked the more "minty" coins and cross referenced important years and such.

Maybe just a few of the highly worn coins may find there way into the fire.
 
I might suggest taking ALL of those pre-'64 coins that you don't want to keep as such down to your local coin shop. They will know which is worth what, and the ones they won't give you melt for might even be good enough on their own for use as heatsink. They are already alloyed with a slight amount of copper (to harden them for circulation). Whatever you decide to do, don't add any copper or other metal to them, it will only decrease the favorable thermal chaacteristics. If they are quarters or halves, you may be able to use them as is, just by drilling a hole for the LD and finding a host to fit. You may also be able to trade some for a few 1tr.oz. silver rounds, that would be even better. I'm looking forward to trying silver rounds myself someday, just a matter of finding a suitable host.

2c,
T.
 
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I am about to order https://www.bullionlist.com.au/silver/noahs-ark/1-2-oz-silver-noahs-ark-2012- (currently priced at 16.79 each, with a minimum purchase of 20) or some of these but you still have to buy 20 https://www.bullionlist.com.au/more/ss-special/1oz-silver-noahs-ark-2012- (currently priced at 31.79 each), there is even these ones but you would be drilling out a lot of silver https://www.bullionlist.com.au/more/ss-special/1-4-oz-silver-noahs-ark-2011 (currently priced at $8.97 each). The only real problem is I don't have any way of drilling the coins out, all I have is a dremel and thats not going to cut it.

I could always melt down some of my sterling rings and necklaces and stuff to make a bar or something.
 
Well, after I posted my above I realized you actually don't have to drill a precision hole for the LD if you are going to use one of those copper Aixiz modules, someone could drill that for you I'm reasonably sure?

You might try your local coin shop for a silver round (no minimums). APMEX.com is also a good online dealer.

T.
 
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Bullionlist.com are the cheapest ATM in Australia, they are having a large sale on, Apmex would be good if you are american but the postage and GST kill all deals coming fom overseas, sure bullionlist have minimums but they work out at least $1 a coin cheaper then other places, also Australia doesn't really have many coin shops, mainly just online bullion dealers.

I would think you would need to drill a precision hole and have tight connections/tolerances otherwise why use silver?

I might have to get someone from one of these forums to drill out these coins, might even let them keep some of the silver shavings :crackup:
 
I have a solid silver host too. I run my driver at. Around 500ma with a single 10440. It gets warm after about 30 secs of continuous use. I love it. It's more of a show piece though.
 
Well I will be ordering the 1oz coins on monday when the market re-opens, hopefully the spot price of silver has gone down :bowdown:

I still need someone with a drill press to drill out these coins with a 12mm hole "hint hint $$" (this is the most complicated part for me)

Then next week or the week after (when I have some extra $$) I will order either the $60 option from https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes/445-m140-didoes and a 1.4A mohgasm linear drivers from Blord http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/s...ivers-6-each-1-6a-1-8a-drivers-9-a-74892.html and try it out or just skip the soldering all together and get the $95 option (I can post a few vids, still Can't figure out how to post photos) but it should work out OK :)

Should I start my own thread?
 
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