After many years of searching coatings, I am thinking that Graphite paint in a spray can maybe the ultimate off the shelf candidate for coating heatsinks, I have not tried it yet but I do have some I got from tractor supply to try on some things and coating a heatsink is one of them.
The stuff sticks rather well, I sprayed my plastic trash can with it and tried to wipe the stuff off, and it just graphite stained the surface, permanently I bet, and the surface of the can is now conductive as well.............................I sprayed a piece of paper for testing and it conducts very well too!!
I am thinkin' I am gonna try and use it as a plate in a Bromine Battery !!
So it seems that the product is fairly pure and it dawned on me the other day that if I laid it upon some bare ALU or Copper it should help to conduct heat as well directly contacting the surface of the fines.
If it rubs off too much then the outside could be sprayed lightly with some Satin type to seal it from rubbing off and then just keep the bare graphite coating on the inside of the fins or something maybe.
I am building my own Huge heatsinks as we speak and I plan to setup a small control and see if the added coating of Graphite will help or not, if not I do like the color anyhow.
Cheers !!
jer
The stuff sticks rather well, I sprayed my plastic trash can with it and tried to wipe the stuff off, and it just graphite stained the surface, permanently I bet, and the surface of the can is now conductive as well.............................I sprayed a piece of paper for testing and it conducts very well too!!
I am thinkin' I am gonna try and use it as a plate in a Bromine Battery !!
So it seems that the product is fairly pure and it dawned on me the other day that if I laid it upon some bare ALU or Copper it should help to conduct heat as well directly contacting the surface of the fines.
If it rubs off too much then the outside could be sprayed lightly with some Satin type to seal it from rubbing off and then just keep the bare graphite coating on the inside of the fins or something maybe.
I am building my own Huge heatsinks as we speak and I plan to setup a small control and see if the added coating of Graphite will help or not, if not I do like the color anyhow.
Cheers !!
jer
Indeed! I have a rotary one from back in my slotcar racing days to clean, 'spit shine' my scratch built brass/piano wire chassis, modded motor cans, etc., modded plastic hand controllers, jewelry, bullet shells, you name it, just change the media, grit to suit and a vibrating one for fine jewelry, watch parts, etc..
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However, you might need a larger tumbler and different abrasive materials suited for metal. If you're curious about how to adapt a rock tumbler for this purpose or need more tips, you might find some helpful insights at https://rockstumbling.com/guide.
A solution of lye and water will give aluminum a nice, satin, finish. Rinse thoroughly after the lye bath, and best to finish with a clear coat, or paint before it oxidizes.
Read about that years ago, tried it and it worked. Sorry I can't provide times and/or solution mixes. I may have the original article buried somewhere on a hard drive.
Read about that years ago, tried it and it worked. Sorry I can't provide times and/or solution mixes. I may have the original article buried somewhere on a hard drive.
Metal Finishing Journal (tm) used to come out with a yearly compendium of who was doing what and what current best practices were. They concluded that there was noting new under the sun about 10 years ago and ceased publishing. I guessing they are probably on line somewhere, and they were the bible on how you applied any finish, conversion coat or etc.
Yeah, the OP mentioned he used caustic soda (lye) prior to anodising. I've done it and agree it gives a nice frosted finish.
@Jacruzer787 I believe the only option given is the cut length and number of pieces... Pick your profile and go. I'm looking around for something a little different without breaking the budget too badly. Striking out
I've tried many of their profiles. All their profiles are extruded, you choose the length, but the width and thickness and shape of is whatever profile you chose. They tend to have a lot of large profiles, and not much if you need smaller width profiles. So I wish they did have some smaller profiles. Being able to buy heatsink by the length is very handy and economical though. They cut them perfectly, glass smooth and the sqareness of the cut will be within a 4/1000 of an inch which is incredible.