would this works as a good heatsink ??

[newbie noob]

Hello all
I have recently built my first 300 mw red laser , I placed it inside a hand-watch box , i ran it on 250 ma and it all worked good using only 12x30mm Aixiz laser housing , it didn't got burned as it didn't also burn as i wanted it to , so i saw that i can run it under 400 ma with a good heatsinking , so iam wondering , would a cubic heatsink (as the attached file) works well ?
what would be the best material i can use with this heatsinking method if its any good ?

 

[bennett326]

aluminum or copper would work great just make sure the axiz module has a tight fit and use a liitle heat-sink grease :beer:

 

[Isoleucine]

You can probably ask one of the forum members here to produce such a heatsink that you must require. Typically, people here like to use cylindrical heatsinks because they can put it in flashlights and so forth.

As for the material, you have two options. Low price and high price. Aluminum is cheaper, although copper can conduct heat faster than aluminum can at a price.

 

[proud2deviate]

I like this page for comparing thermal conductivity - Thermal Conductivity of some common Materials and Gases

It's nice to be able to put a number on it. Copper has a big advantage over aluminum in this arena, and it is second only to silver as far as metals go. It's heavier, prettier, and more efficient than aluminum, and for those reasons I generally prefer it.

However, copper heatsinks have a steep premium over aluminum in terms of price. In addition to the raw materials being much more expensive, copper is more difficult to machine than aluminum.

Whatever you decide to go with, give your module a nice smear of thermal grease (note - more is not better! Use as little as possible while still getting good coverage,) before mounting it in your heatsink. This will fill in all the little pits and voids (air sucks hard for conducting heat,) and generally makes the process work better.

ETA - I forgot to mention shape. It doesn't much matter. Blocks, cubes, cylinders. . . Each will work pretty much as well as the other. Now, when you start talking about cooling the heatsink off, you generally want as much surface area as possible. That's why you'll see fins and other fancy shapes. Air doesn't pull heat away very well, so the more air you can put on the surface of a heatsink, the better. If you read up on the matter, you'll find builds with forced air (fans,) and thermo electric cooling (TEC,) Water cooling is more common in the area of Big Scary Lasers; CO2 systems, multi-Watt diode bars, etc. A lot of thought goes towards moving heat around!