does glue transmit heat??

[SuicideKing]

Is it really worth your time over-doing a heatsink for a $10 diode? It sounds like you all want him to put $50 of work into it. Yes, you could obtain a 3 pound block of copper and drill a hole in that and cool it with peltiers... but why? It's a $10 diode that will operate sufficiently with layered aluminum.

But I thought that was kinda the point.
To take a $10 diode and overdrive it beyond specs so that it ends up being more than just a $10 diode.

If he's only going to power it within specs, then I guess he could just wrap the thing in tin foil and call it a day.

 

[Benm]

Oh well, you can try TEC too ofcourse.

But on the aluminium story: It depend on how good and flat your surfaces actually are. If you bond 2 complete flat surface with the minimum required amount of cyanoacrylate, heat transfer will be fine - possibly better than putting a blob of arctic silver in between.

As soon as there are holes and bumps to be filled, you really need good conductive material to do the job.

 

[Cyparagon]

But I thought that was kinda the point.
To take a $10 diode and overdrive it beyond specs

Yes - hence having a heatsink at all. My question is why does it need to be top notch? Why spend double the time and money when a simple layered design will sufficiently cool it?