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Heatsink big enough?

C

carulli

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Hi all, Im building an open can red and was homing to put it in a pocket pal host, I have machined a heatsink and am not sure if ti is big enough. the dimensions are in the pic, the base of the module (the threaded part) is not in full contact with the aluminium, is this ok or should I screw on the base of the module and cut it off?
 

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pwnstar

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threaded part connected or not, that is alot better than no heat sink. they will still live w/o one. just not as long...
Maybe you can put a very small amount of thermal grease in there just to bridge empty space for the heat.
 
C

carulli

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do you think I could run it at 450 ma in this heatsink without it blowing up too soon?
 
pwnstar

pwnstar

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ehh 450mA is probably a bad idea no matter how much heat sinking you have. It will probably live but I don't think it is worth shortening the life of the diode for only a few extra mw. This is only my opinion but I say 420mA at the highest to be safe. Mine is running at 422mA and its been doing fine for a few months now.
 
charliebruce

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Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I am doing my own build similar to this, and was wondering about heatsinks. Will having a larger heatsink mean you can use a larger duty cycle, or do they simply reduce the risk of blowing the diodes? Is there a size of heatsink big enough to allow continuous operation for several minutes, with little risk to the diodes? If so, what kind of duty cycle would be sensible for a LOC at 420mA in a pocket/hand-sized torch-head heatsink? Also, would Copper or Aluminium be better? In computers, at least, copper blocks are more widely used, but is it different for lasers? Thanks, and sorry for the long-winded post!
 
M

Montana64

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charlie bruce said:
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I am doing my own build similar to this, and was wondering about heatsinks. Will having a larger heatsink mean you can use a larger duty cycle, or do they simply reduce the risk of blowing the diodes? Is there a size of heatsink big enough to allow continuous operation for several minutes, with little risk to the diodes? If so, what kind of duty cycle would be sensible for a LOC at 420mA in a pocket/hand-sized torch-head heatsink? Also, would Copper or Aluminium be better? In computers, at least, copper blocks are more widely used, but is it different for lasers? Thanks, and sorry for the long-winded post!
Click to expand...

I accidentally left my 22x LOC on for about 20 min in my pocket...it still works great, I use the Dark_Horse full length Dorcy Jr heatsink.

Ted
 
M

milantheone

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charlie bruce said:
Sorry for hijacking the thread, but I am doing my own build similar to this, and was wondering about heatsinks. Will having a larger heatsink mean you can use a larger duty cycle, or do they simply reduce the risk of blowing the diodes? Is there a size of heatsink big enough to allow continuous operation for several minutes, with little risk to the diodes? If so, what kind of duty cycle would be sensible for a LOC at 420mA in a pocket/hand-sized torch-head heatsink? Also, would Copper or Aluminium be better? In computers, at least, copper blocks are more widely used, but is it different for lasers? Thanks, and sorry for the long-winded post!
Click to expand...


good question.. you asked exactly what i wanted to ask.. ;)

so, which matterial will be better for heatsink??? copper or alluminium???
cheers
 
daguin

daguin

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milantheone said:
so, which matterial will be better for heatsink??? copper or alluminium???
cheers
Click to expand...

Copper has a better heat transfer rate, but it oxidizes very rapidly. It is also much more costly than aluminum.

Peace,
dave
 
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