How with heatsink?

[itsmei]

Hi I a making about a 1.5W laser, I just want to know what size heatsink I should have for a long duty cycle. I want it to be on at 3min at a time. I am currently using an aluminium heatsink which is 10cmx4cmx4xm. I think this is too small. What size do you think I should have???

Thanks a lot for all ur help

 

[DJNY]

Also depends on the host you´re using.

If you wanna get long duty cycles, you should consider a copper heatsink. Mohrenberg has them cheap right now.

There are also a few tricks to get longer duty cycles, search for "coin mod" for example.

 

[alf638]

Try this. If it is not enough you can sit it on a cpu heatsink or an alluminium/copper block.
The only problem with this is that it a labby heatsink. If you want a handheld try a guidesman. It can provide a 6 minute duty cycle.

 

[itsmei]

I am currently building a "lab Style" laser, so space is not a problem. I may actually have some copper lying around. What size do you recommend, i am using a LM317 driver so i will need to heatsink that too.

What size heatsink?

Thanks

 

[BennyF]

an old heatsink for a Computer power supply works great for me for my LM317 and I'm pushing about 1.2W so I'm sure it will handle 1.5W. It gets a little warm but works like a champ.

 

[alf638]

I am currently building a "lab Style" laser, so space is not a problem. I may actually have some copper lying around. What size do you recommend, i am using a LM317 driver so i will need to heatsink that too.

What size heatsink?

Thanks

Well as far as size and labbys goes, the bigger the better .
I like to use a small to medium heatsink like the one I linked to and then sit copper or alluminium on and around it for extra heatsinking, and as was said earlier CPU heatsinks are great.

 

[NetGod3Com]

One of the large round CPU heatsinks from around the pentium iii era will work. They can often be found at any place that accepts computers to recycle. I recently acquired 2 for 5 dollars at a surplus computer dealer near me. One is copper core with aluminum fins the other was all aluminum.

 

[itsmei]

Ok thanks, I will see if I can get a nice finned heatsink off thesump or somewhere like that