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FrozenGate by Avery

painting heat sink

TheTeslaWarrior

TheTeslaWarrior

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hi, i'm building a laser and i don't want a boring aluminum look and thought i might paint it but would painting a heat sink completely defeat its purpose?

thanks,
 





Anodizing aluminum gives it a heat coefficient nearly equal to copper. I don't think painting it would help at all, if anything it would insulate it and hold the heat in.
 
thats what i thought, i knew it wouldn't help and i was afraid that it would hurt. the paint would be for looks. i don't rely know how to anodize it, do you know a way to paint without losing thermal conductivity?
 
powder coat may work. I'd still recommend anodizing if you want it a color. There are plenty of local machine shops that can anodize metal. Check your yellow pages.
 
I actually think painting it could improve the heatsinking. A, "Flat Black", paint, of certain emissivity, would help radiate more heat and make it more efficient. I plan to try this myself at some point. There is a famous experiment by a Scottish scientist called Leslie that is now synonymous to demonstrate heat radiation. It involves a metal cubic receptacle with faces of different finishes and colours. It is filled with hot water and measurements taken from each of the sides to determine which radiates the heat best. Here's a link that shows a graph of the black side to silver side and it's clear which radiates better -

http://ccgi.dcpmicro.plus.com/DCPMICRO/files/pdf/teacherresources/s/Leslie_cube.pdf

Some research is needed to find the right type of black paint but it kind of makes sense when you think about the colour of most of our measuring equipment, (LPM sensors and the like).

I couldn't tell you how much painting would improve things but I wouldn't toss the idea out just yet.

Hope this helps.

M
:)
 
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Unless the heat sink is significantly "finned" and there is air movement over it, the metal-to-air transfer of heat is VERY slow. For most of our hand held builds, the "mass" of the heat sink is where the heat goes, NOT into the air. That is why it is called a "sink."

A light coating of paint will not create a significantly adverse condition for the laser.

IIRC, Hemlock Mike painted one of his Krytons and a LeadLight purple

Peace,
dave
 
Can Stainless steel be anodized-?-like the aurora SS host--it would look nicer with the logo buffed off and color changed to 445blue.imo
 
thank you guys very much... i have decided to paint the heat sink and sand off the paint on the fins, it will give a good look and add a little bit of thermal transfer if a gust comes by or i decide to add a fan. i'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow :D
thanks again for your help
 
I have painted several of mine flat black and I realy don't think it affects a thing, go ahead and paint if that is what you want ;)
 
alright its painted and drying this thing is really coming together. its kinda like labby but not a labby. when its done ill get some pics but for now sleep.
thanks again
 
stainless steel goes through a process called pickling. and that is to ensure its stainless ness.

michael
 
Just one suggestion ..... if you know some car repair site (where they repair and repaint externals), you maybe can ask them if, the first time that they have to paint a car with the color that you want, they can paint together also your host, and how much they want (no sense in asking to paint only your host, none do this, due to the usual complexity of the setup ..... but where they are already doing the work, maybe they can accept to add an item) .....

Usually, "cabin-painting", as we call this here, is much more resistent to scratches and handling that handmade one or spray-can paint, cause it's a 2-components paint, dried under infrared heater ....

Just a crazy idea, maybe ..... but, after all, the maximum that you can risk is that they say you "no" ..... ;)
 
good advice himnl9:wtf: also if you do choose that route. get an acrylic enamal.. it is an all in 1. it has a super hard finish. i use it here at work when I rebuild circuit breakers.

michael
 
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