Paper clips as TO-220 heat sinks

[jwb]

These are definitely my people

http://tangentsoft.net/elec/diy-hs.html

Bottom line: the paper clip beats the coins.

 

[Nrik]

Amazing

 

[cbdb]

Ever try pieces of aluminum beer cans? You can cut (with siccors) and bend them to custom sizes and shapes.

 

[jwb]

Usually I use cut-off bits of right-angle aluminum extrusions like these

 

[HighTec]

Hmm..

are you sure that those are aluminium extrusions? They look a bit ...rusty. Steel perhaps?

 

[jacco vermeulen]

Gee, i never knew aluminum angles were hot rolled.
Nice round edges, they even have a corroded hot roll skin.

The academic dime article is fun though.

 

[jwb]

No those are obviously steel, but when you search Google for "angle iron" that's what you're likely to get.

 

[wwenze]

The paper clip idea is effective though, because it is "self adhering".

Read this before but forgot totally about it. It just solved my resister cooling problem. Thanks.

 

[taj]

Yes, the beauty of the paperclip idea is that you can use a choice of clip sizes and bend the "fins" in whatever direction is convenient. I love it. Just make sure you have great thermal contact with the device.

I've used "fast-on" connectors wrapped around TO-92 transistors as heatsinks (to reduce thermal variation). Add a [solid] copper wire link between 2 of them for differential pairs, to keep them them [somewhat] thermally 'synchronized'.

I wonder what other household commodities we can use for DIY Audio applications that perform nicely as compared to commercial products.

..Todd

 

[tinitus]

Bottom line: the paper clip beats the coins.

How do you tell

Its hard to imagine with that little contact surface of the paper clips

The copper coins seems nice, but have to be grinded smooth to work

With the coins tho Im thinking that the insufficient cooling surface might just make heating issues worse, as its just holding back the heat, and dont remove it
Might be why paper clips seem to work better, as they still allow the heat to get away


It says, "naked transistor not yet tested", which to me makes conclusion pointless

Very easy to do a nice effective finger heatsink with any kind of metal sheet, be it alu, copper or what ever
As long as its stable enough to make proper contact
A proper heatsink still seems far more effective, so I really dont see the point, other than its fun

Seems to me he made the same conclusion, or maybe I dont understand it right ?

 

[okapi]

can you use a paper clip to hold a coin on?

 

[tinitus]

No point if a coin doesnt work

But you have a good point tho, if the clip is reliable in the long run

I like the idea of using beercan alu
Clamped with a small piece of stable metal

 

[Wavebourn]

I once needed to improve a heatsink, so cut 1/4" aluminum wire on 3" peaces, stuck them between fins of the heatsink, and glued by epoxy. It looked like a hedgehog, but the temperature dropped down significantly.

 

[galaxy786]

Perhaps coins could give better results if hammered to more smoother and thiner surface. Thats easy. I have done it many times but never considered that it could make a heatsink. Not dure if it is cheaper w.r.t the quality.

 

[DigitalJunkie]

I've used coins as heatsinks for some small bridge rectifier modules (those little tiny round ones). I just stuck them on with epoxy (JB weld,lol) and they worked great. I even built up a larger finned 'heatsink' with a stack of off-set pennies all epoxied together,much like in the picture. It actually worked quite well!

(Edit: I think the trick to using epoxy,is to use some that is meant for (and contains) metal.It probably has lower thermal resistance?! Just a thought.)

 

[CBS240]

Ever try pieces of aluminum beer cans? You can cut (with siccors) and bend them to custom sizes and shapes.

To cool a TO-18 transistor. It worked, the trany didn't blow out as it did without the beer-sink.


As for pennies, you need to get some old ones, pre-1980. They are solid copper. The new ones are only plated.

 

[GPG]

The fastest TO-220 heat sink is a small binder clip. It is much better than a lowly paper clip!

You can also arrange the little levers for the best appearance.
For production, you can even remove the levers to prevent tampering.

Greg