Anyone tried air cooling a heatsink/host with a tiny fan?

[boscoj]

Was dreaming last night and thought a core i 7 heatsink

would be ideal and probably easy to fit into a D cell Maglite or even a bog standard plastic D cell flashlight. Figure out a way to hold your 18650 or whatever inside and there would be plenty of room for a larger fan . . .

actually fits perfectly into this plastic D cell flashlight . . .

 

[BShanahan14rulz]

off-topic, I have that same rayovac flashlight at my desk has great illumination! All I do is put my flashlight inside instead of the batteries.

Fan might be useful if you, for some reason, have a finned heatsink inside the host. Otherwise, a handheld host will probably get more airflow from simply being moved around in free air.

 

[boscoj]

well I was thinking of cutting the end off this one and using a larger fan to pull air through the trimmed to fit fins, over the driver and 3 sub c Ni-Mh cells . . .

off-topic, I have that same rayovac flashlight at my desk has great illumination! All I do is put my flashlight inside instead of the batteries.

Fan might be useful if you, for some reason, have a finned heatsink inside the host. Otherwise, a handheld host will probably get more airflow from simply being moved around in free air.

 

[Meatball]

This is the smallest, most practical fan I could find:

There are two air intakes in the side of the enclosure. Using fog confirmed their functionality.

 

[boscoj]

I have one similar but it's 12V . . . what wavelength/ma, driver and power supply is that?

 

[hakzaw1]

I picked up two finned HSs very similar to that one from Mitches 'astrotoo' -- he has a case of them new w/ 12vdc fans tell him Hak sent ya!!--ps shipping would about be same for 8 as for one so....do a GB w/ ur Buds IMO
ps
Mitch gives a discount to LPF members

 

[Dregan]

I've built a few active-cooled LED enclosures - including a 3-star sti-rebel into a singo 54mm heatsink (LOTS of heat there) - I've used fans to great effect on those. The highest power laser I currently own is a 300mW 660nm, which really doesn't demand as much of a heat sink.

I am repurposing an old host that I made from a timing light turned LED strobe for my 445 build. It has 3 25mm 12v fans built into it, and the housing is all metal (pot metal, but still a better heat dissipator than plastic...)

I'll post something when I get it built.

 

[StridAst]

Hmm anyone find a location to buy those tiny fans in quantities less then 200?

 

[Dregan]

I get mine from DigiKey or Mouser.

 

[millirad]

Re: Was dreaming last night and thought a core i 7 heatsink

I like your inquisitive mind. Here on the right is my Labby(lab laser). It is a pure copper heat-sink and may be gimble mounted to give 360 degree horizontal movement and nearly the same for vertical movement. The heat sink measures 2.5" by 1.5" and is purpose built to extract a reliable 1.5w beam with some longevity. This one will use LM317/ddl driver and a computer/ATX 5v source, ala stryropyro build. It will get a nice stand............... PS that is my Daguin built 500mw 445nm handheld. I've been very happy with it.

would be ideal and probably easy to fit into a D cell Maglite or even a bog standard plastic D cell flashlight. Figure out a way to hold your 18650 or whatever inside and there would be plenty of room for a larger fan . . .

actually fits perfectly into this plastic D cell flashlight . . .

 

[goninanbl00d]

Ah, the Intel stock LGA1156 heatsink. It fits the fin profile for what I planned perfectly.

 

[qumefox]

Ah, the Intel stock LGA1156 heatsink. It fits the fin profile for what I planned perfectly.

Looks fairly similar to the stack of radial 775 heatsinks I just ordered to convert into labby heatsinks. Though looking at the the flashlight on top of it. If you machined off the 'thin' outer fins, the rest would fit inside the flashlight housing nicely with plenty of fin area left for air cooling.

though that would have to almost be the ugliest host ever.

 

[goninanbl00d]

The 775 heatsink has swirled fins, whereas the 1156 ones are straight.

The section before the bifurcation starts looks perfect for air-cooling in a Maglite host.

 

[qumefox]

The 775 heatsink has swirled fins, whereas the 1156 ones are straight.

The section before the bifurcation starts looks perfect for air-cooling in a Maglite host.

May be the stock ones have swirled fins, but I can assure you the pile of aftermarket ones I have are straight and quite similar to this other than having four thicker fins every 90 degrees which is how the fan/cpu attachment is done.

I also believe the heatsink in question is a socket 1366, but for all I know it could share the same mounting as the 1156. I don't deal with intel stuff a whole lot. WHen you don't need the 'absolute fastest around' AMD is cheaper for the speed.

http://www.cwc-group.com/e29477.html

 

[boscoj]

So we're not pressing the actual diode into the heatsink, we're pressing the "lens assembly"?

yes it's an i7/1366 heatsink . . .

 

[qumefox]

On the batch I got. I was just going to bore 12mm holes in them for aixiz modules. Other wise i'd have to drill it out, machine a diode pocket, drill a larger bore on the other side, tap it for a lens assembly.. etc.. you get the point i'm sure. heh. Easier just to bore two holes. One for the aixiz module and another for a setscrew, and just install the module with some thermal grease. Saves a whoooole lot of machining.