Guest guest Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Has anyone considered making their own heat sinks from aluminum for use with the CTB16PC? After installing the heat sinks on the CTB16D kits last year, it seems it would be a fairly simple matter to make my own, especially since I do not use the LOR enclosures for my controllers. The controllers that I will build this year will be mounted inside the new shed that I am building and not contained in individual boxes. Any thoughts or discussion on this approach? I planned on getting seven kits this year, but the savings from seven heat sinks would be enough to permit me to get eight and still have money left to buy the aluminum stock to make my own heat sinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Denny; I thought of doing it but i don't trust my fabricating skills that much. I would say if you got the Time ( 8 more controller's to program :shock:) and talent "Go for it"Ray Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 There's a lot of consideration that go into selecting the proper heat sink for a transistor (watts, heat generation, material thermal resistance, etc). I guess for my money, I ain't smart enough to figure all that out, so I'd rather be safe then sorry.Just my $.02 worth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Yes, I actually did make a set. We have a metal bending brake at work. I bent a piece of scrap aluminum, and cut it with a jigsaw. Then I used the low-power heatsink as a drill guide. Eight aluminum standoffs and voila!jeff Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Out of the box... Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 15, 2007 Share Posted May 15, 2007 Jeff,That looks good; that is exactly how I was planning to do it. Glad to see someone else has done this with good results. The low power heat sinks should make it easy to align the holes. Thanks, I feel more comfortable doing it this way. With my current plan, I don't think I will be putting too many amps through the new controllers anyway -- three of them will be used to control only strings of 35 lights. I will use the ones I built last year for the high power consumers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 circus4u wrote: Jeff,That looks good; that is exactly how I was planning to do it. Glad to see someone else has done this with good results. The low power heat sinks should make it easy to align the holes. Thanks, I feel more comfortable doing it this way. With my current plan, I don't think I will be putting too many amps through the new controllers anyway -- three of them will be used to control only strings of 35 lights. I will use the ones I built last year for the high power consumers.Yep the heat sinks are pretty easy to build but for 10 bucks extra, why bother was my feeling. For me, I had bigger fish to fry and for 10 bucks I chose the easy route. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 circus4u wrote: Jeff,That looks good; that is exactly how I was planning to do it. Glad to see someone else has done this with good results.That is what I'm doing as well. But do yourself a favor and order at least one heatsink set to use as a guide. Then you can check the aluminum stock thickness and hole locations. I'm keeping my eyes out for scrap aluminum. You can bend it without a brake, but it's none too easy. A drill press is also handy, but a steady hand with a drill also works. Aluminum does behave a little differently than steel when drilling/cutting, so keep that in mind and practice on a couple scrap pieces. After you've made one set that works, making more becomes a snap!Cheers!Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 This is my first attempt at putting together my own kit (damn newbie)... what is a heatsink? I m assuming that it reduces heat in the control box? If that is the case, can you install a fan (like in a computer) to do the same thing?Any help is appriciated.Whitey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 The heatsink is the aluminum plate that the triacs bolt to... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 FDWhitey wrote: ... what is a heatsink? I m assuming that it reduces heat in the control box? If that is the case, can you install a fan (like in a computer) to do the same thing?Yes, but there needs to be more surface area for the air to move across and "pull" the heat away. And it's the triacs that heat up the most, which is why they conveniently have the little holes for mounting to a piece of metal. Computers do have heat sinks as well. They are the little fin-like projections, usually mounted to the processor.Think of it this way......when you blow across the back of your hand, or fan yourself with a newspaper on a hot day, you are feeling the effects of your skin acting as a heat sink. That's also why we sweat, as the evaporation cools our skin. Wouldn't want to try that with a controller though. :shock:Cheers!Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 25, 2007 Share Posted May 25, 2007 Tony,Thanks for the description. Very good explanation.Whitey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 26, 2007 Share Posted May 26, 2007 Has any body tried water cooling!They use this for radio controlled racing boat speed controls and motors..Just kidding :laughing:If your running that hot your going to have more issues than just trying to keep the controllers cool.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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