Diode cooling from old hard drive

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Just do a google image search for "Hard drive motor" (Can't post links yet)

This is the electromagnetic aluminum motor that a hard drive spins on. When all the magnet ring is removed, how effective would this be to cool a diode? (I had a copper heatsink from an old laser pen that the diode fit into and it fits extremely snug in the opening (after removing ball bearings and rings). Thanks.

 

[Benm]

I'm not sure about harddrive motors, but bascially any piece of aluminum or copper that fits the module well and its large enough in size will make a usable heatsink.

Beware of really smooth, polished aluminum though: it conducts heat well, but has very low emissivity, so radiant cooling is limited. As long as there is airflow, convective cooling still works to some degree, so it should still be workable, but not perform like a real heatsink of equal size.

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Alright thanks.

 

[lasersbee]

If you want your shiny polished or natural finished aluminum heat sink
to dissipate its heat even faster then... black satin anodize it or at the
least put a light coat of Flat Black paint on it's radiating surfaces..

Jerry

 

[Benm]

Anodizing is a good plan... but paint is very tricky! Flat black paint does usually* have good emissivity, but its also a thermal isolator... so too thick a coat will certainly ruin performance.

* the visual color of paint doesnt affect performance really. It is important that paint has good emissivity in the long and mid infrared - this is why white radiator paint does an excellent job (its pitch black from a mid-IR perspective) while still appearing white to the eye.

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Well I have made my new host with the hard drive part. Since its a safely set phr-803t module from jake21, It wont provide THAT much cooling, but it will be more than enough for that diode especially on the usage i'll be giving it. Not like I need to keep it on for an hour straight lol.

 

[Benm]

Nice.. make some pictures

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

I needs to get me 10 posts so I can share my pixels with everyone ...HEY! That's number 6 right there what do you know lol. When Jake's module comes probably monday I'll have pics up. It's basically ready to throw in the host.

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

I got 10 posts so here goes the images of my host without module.

Disassembled 14 LED Flashlight I got for 99 cents at meijers (90 percent off )

Side view of my ready host

Looking down head where module will go (probably need to make hole bigger)

Battery Holder I rigged with 3.6v rechargeable I had (Easy to take out and makes great contact)

 

[Benm]

Somehow that looks really cool using the harddrive part as a contact ring - since it just fits the flashlight host so nicely.

But drilling out that hole might prove a real pain - and it would be too much luck to expect it to both fit the flashlight exactly on the outside, and the aixiz exactly on the inside

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Yeah, possibly. What drillbit sizes are suitable for an aixiz size hole? I'll probably put some arctic silver in between the heatsink and the module as well.

My first picture post and I "Somehow" managed to not have my pictures poster size...hmm lol

*edit* I'll probably drill it out while its in the flashlight cap to prevent having to shove it back in there

 

[Benm]

The aixiz is roughly 12 mm, but those modules arent really machined to exact exterior specifications, and often not even really round. It could be required to drill a small hole and tap thread from the side to put in a fixing screw - but thermal compound might hold if you get the size to a snug fit.

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

The hole its going into is roughly that too. I'll probably just dremel around the hole with a diamond bit and keep trying til it feels like it fits nice.

 

[Krutz]

looks nice! with that much metal-mass and what looks like decent contact between the parts, it should provide really nice heatsinking. i dont see a problem with long-open-can red diodes at 500mA with that setup. we are talking about one, two watts heat, which is ridiculously little, for anyone but laserhobbyists!

manuel

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Thanks, I like the look of it. I can't stress enough how perfect the operation of the side button is. No stick WHATSOEVER. When everything is screwed together I can shake it as hard as I can and not hear a bit of rattling. A 1.5v AA battery is held perfectly in place (Will be using two 1/2 AA 3v batts). I drilled out the hole where the module will go and its roughly 12mm. But I have some good thermal putty junk that will end up holding it in place. I plan on using a rubber spacer with a spring at the wire end of the module so when the cap screws in the driver makes contact. I love when stuff goes on uber clearance lol. 99 cent host and I also got a 29.99 rechargeable halogen spotlight 90 percent off for 2.99

 

[Lotus_Darkrose]

Here is a good picture of about the same exact thing I used. Here is the hard drive motor:

Here is what I did with the actual hard disk itself with some tin snips and a dremel for sharpening:

Notice the data-written ring still on it, lol.