Heatsink
 

I don't suppose anyone knows a good (think cheap) source for a roughly 10"x16" hunk of heatsink / finned aluminum?

Sucks when you realize when you complete a DIY project that your design was wrong from the start. Acrylic is a very effective thermal insulator... I need to get the heat away from the LED lighting I'm going to use on the new 5g tank... :rolleyes: 8 destroyed hunks of acrylic... over 2400 holes marked and drilled by hand and at the end I realize the error of my ways. :redface:

Andy

Have you looked at surplus places like princess auto? or maybe a computer junk dealer? I saw heatsinks and such on sale at princess auto awhile ago... and you could probably pull off old computer heatsinks from old/dead computers. If you were closer, I'd give you a couple of cpu heatsinks I have sitting around.

-Rich

The only heatsinks I've seen at princess were CPU coolers (too small) and welding heatsinks (way too big/bulky).

I've thought of the CPU heatsinks, but about the biggest I've seen is 4", the overall design works for me - but the price for a larger hunk of it from the electronics shops is pretty insane (300-500) I'd go MH before I spent 300$ on a heatsink for my 5g's lighting :)

Andy

where is all the heat comming from?

Steve

The LEDs themselves put out a fair amount of heat. (They aren't quite as "Cool running" as some might have you believe). 300 of them together, will probably warm things up pretty good.

Andy

I have at work a stainless steel tape. It's 6" w and 1/16th thick. We use on helicopters as patch work. I don't know off hand where you can buy it but I'll ask on monday if you are interested. I used some inside my canopy on the side panels, it's not 100% reflective but does the trick. I don't think it's cheap though. If you don't need much I could see if I could barrow some if you know what I mean. :rolleyes:

LMK.

cheers

I know they put out heat, I use them for a lot of things, but they do not get hot enuf to melt plastic. this is why I am asking what else is putting heat there?

Steve

Not worried about them melting plastic... They don't get that hot.

But 300 of the 20,000mcd units in a limited space are going to put out a fair amount of heat. Excessive heat can dramatically reduce the life of the LED, thus I definitely want a material that will wick the heat away.

Andy

I think the best way would be a small fan to blow accross the aray and remove heat from under the hood. a heat sink on plastic isn't going to do anything realy as the plastic is an insulator.

on another note where is the pics of your creation? :mrgreen:

Steve

I would talk to places that build/repair industrial motor controllers or variable frequency drives. I deal with these controllers on a daily basis and they have huge heatsinks. I am sure if you asked for a heatsink from a destroyed vfd you could get a good price, If I lived in Calgary I could probably get you one for free but alas, I am not there.